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Formatting question

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Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
959
I am going to format my drive today was wondering when is the right time to do a zero level format? And how is it any different then a normal format?
 
Never?
Someone with a bit more technical knowledge should chime in with the exact details of a LLF, but it is my understand it is performed at the factory and then you never have to do it again. It actually alters the physical drive when you do one, destroying and creating sectors and tracks. Not something to just go doing for fun
 
Low level format essentially writes all 0's to the drive. It's really not something you need to do on your own unless you have a need to destroy the data on the drive. Regular formats just perform a cursory check of all the space and create new FAT tables. Any data on the drive is still there, just not accessible through normal means.
 
Bzzzt wrong. link link2

What you mean is a zero fill. You probably never need to do one of these, unless you *really* want to wipe the partition table, MBR, etc., and even then the first meg should be enough, no need to zap the whole disk.

 
Well I was sort of right... if you use the more "modern" interpretation of low-level formatting hehehe

Thanks for the links though, learned something I didn't know.
 
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