Comments on: Hard Disk Low Level Format http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/ A technology news blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:27:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Fefuhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-1364524 Fefu Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:53:26 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-1364524 This is *not* a low-level format tool. This tool does the same as Darik's Boot and Nuke[1] ("DBAN", quich is free software (GPL) and a much better approach. [1] http://www.dban.org/ This is *not* a low-level format tool. This tool does the same as Darik’s Boot and Nuke[1] (“DBAN”, quich is free software (GPL) and a much better approach.

[1] http://www.dban.org/

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-1345780 Anonymous Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:58:42 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-1345780 bro. ur hdd is now corrupted or damaged. bro. ur hdd is now corrupted or damaged.

]]> By: shravan wadhwahttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-1234151 shravan wadhwa Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:21:17 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-1234151 I have 250 gb of hitachi hard disk which does not work properly.i format the whole drive but same poblem arise.sometimes when i boot from xp cd they said no hard disk installed in this system.what can i do......my window take 1/2 an hour to start and sometime shutdown automatically and error message dispayed-memory dump.................what can i do..pzzzzzzzzzzzz help I have 250 gb of hitachi hard disk which does not work properly.i format the whole drive but same poblem arise.sometimes when i boot from xp cd they said no hard disk installed in this system.what can i do……my window take 1/2 an hour to start and sometime shutdown automatically and error message dispayed-memory dump……………..what can i do..pzzzzzzzzzzzz help

]]> By: lazerzaphttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-962302 lazerzap Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:10:55 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-962302 I had a 200 gig WD2000JB-00FUA0 full of data. I took the drive to a knowledgable? friend to retrieve some data. Under protest I had to leave the drive with him. Looks like his bios wasnt compatible with the drive. (Older bios?) But instead of stopping right there so that he didnt loose my valuable data. He allowed his PC to see the drive in the bios as only 130GB?? He then determined to run various disk manager programs on the drive. He also informed me that NTFS was "unreliable" so (somehow) he managed to "convert" it to FAT. (OMFG KILL ME NOW) Anyway.. the drive was stuffed. The partitions weren't accessable to XP. After many "plays" I gave up on the data. Tonight I decided to try and get the drive back into a usable state. Tried Linux distros. I couldnt get a linux to see it either. In desperation I searched for a low level formatter on the net. (hoping that may sort it..) I ran the above program on it about an hour ago. After a large delay. The program started to spit many errors. (indicating the drive wasn't functioning properly) So I reset the PC. Went into XP Disk Management and OMG the drive was there now!! But still not able to use it. So I ran the program again and this time.. It seems to be formatting properly. (It's about 5% in without an error.. So far) Wish me luck.. :) I also tried the software on a Seagate 13 gig earlier tonight. It didnt seem to actually do anything. The existing partitions on the seagate certainly weren't wiped out. But I have a feeling that a CDROM I had as a slave on the same IDE cable.. may have been interfering. (Some drives either need to be jumpered to accomodate a slave properly.. and visa versa.. otherwise results could be compromised. I'd suggest always running the drive to be low levelled, alone, on its own IDE cable. And thats exactly what I will do with the Seagate 13 gig when the (yawn) low level format on the 200 gig finishes.. (sometime later today.. the way its going now..) Hope this info helps someone. (ps: I couldn't count how many times I have recovered drive previously using low level software. pps: In the old (386/486 days) some bios's had low levelling software built in!) I had a 200 gig WD2000JB-00FUA0 full of data. I took the drive to a knowledgable? friend to retrieve some data. Under protest I had to leave the drive with him. Looks like his bios wasnt compatible with the drive. (Older bios?) But instead of stopping right there so that he didnt loose my valuable data. He allowed his PC to see the drive in the bios as only 130GB?? He then determined to run various disk manager programs on the drive. He also informed me that NTFS was “unreliable” so (somehow) he managed to “convert” it to FAT. (OMFG KILL ME NOW) Anyway.. the drive was stuffed. The partitions weren’t accessable to XP. After many “plays” I gave up on the data. Tonight I decided to try and get the drive back into a usable state. Tried Linux distros. I couldnt get a linux to see it either. In desperation I searched for a low level formatter on the net. (hoping that may sort it..) I ran the above program on it about an hour ago. After a large delay. The program started to spit many errors. (indicating the drive wasn’t functioning properly) So I reset the PC. Went into XP Disk Management and OMG the drive was there now!! But still not able to use it. So I ran the program again and this time.. It seems to be formatting properly. (It’s about 5% in without an error.. So far) Wish me luck.. :) I also tried the software on a Seagate 13 gig earlier tonight. It didnt seem to actually do anything. The existing partitions on the seagate certainly weren’t wiped out. But I have a feeling that a CDROM I had as a slave on the same IDE cable.. may have been interfering. (Some drives either need to be jumpered to accomodate a slave properly.. and visa versa.. otherwise results could be compromised. I’d suggest always running the drive to be low levelled, alone, on its own IDE cable. And thats exactly what I will do with the Seagate 13 gig when the (yawn) low level format on the 200 gig finishes.. (sometime later today.. the way its going now..)
Hope this info helps someone. (ps: I couldn’t count how many times I have recovered drive previously using low level software. pps: In the old (386/486 days) some bios’s had low levelling software built in!)

]]> By: Aaronhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-924459 Aaron Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:29:33 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-924459 I've used this program 2 times on two different computers. One a 10 year old Athlon desktop, the other a brand new Centrino Dell Laptop. Both times it worked flawlessly whereas every other program/method I tried hasn't worked (especially Microsofts own products). Not sure why my experience is different from those above but I don't care. About to use it for a 3rd time :o) I’ve used this program 2 times on two different computers. One a 10 year old Athlon desktop, the other a brand new Centrino Dell Laptop. Both times it worked flawlessly whereas every other program/method I tried hasn’t worked (especially Microsofts own products). Not sure why my experience is different from those above but I don’t care. About to use it for a 3rd time :o)

]]> By: Jay Patilhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-770133 Jay Patil Wed, 06 May 2009 09:49:30 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-770133 do not use this do not use this

]]> By: anil manekarhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-770110 anil manekar Wed, 06 May 2009 09:38:45 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-770110 I think that low level formatting is a last way to recover from bad sectors.but this process will harmful for your system so,may be don't use low level formatting. I think that low level formatting is a last way to recover from bad sectors.but this process will harmful for your system so,may be don’t use low level formatting.

]]> By: ScarecroWhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-710763 ScarecroW Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:50:54 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-710763 A low level format is used to repair bad sectors from a drive and to clear it back to factory default, if you are experiencing issues with your drive freezing, crashing or losing sectors randomly then a low level format is a warranted course of action but if you are just trying to get rid of data you dont want others to see or to be able to recover then using other programs that can run during normal windows/linux/unix operation can be downloaded from several sites on the internet. With that being said if you are needing to perform a low level format then please see your drive manufacturers site for the appropriate tools due to the possibility of damaging your drive while using a third party program. A low level format is used to repair bad sectors from a drive and to clear it back to factory default, if you are experiencing issues with your drive freezing, crashing or losing sectors randomly then a low level format is a warranted course of action but if you are just trying to get rid of data you dont want others to see or to be able to recover then using other programs that can run during normal windows/linux/unix operation can be downloaded from several sites on the internet. With that being said if you are needing to perform a low level format then please see your drive manufacturers site for the appropriate tools due to the possibility of damaging your drive while using a third party program.

]]> By: Bilalhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-653116 Bilal Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:49:19 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-653116 To do low level format and to completely wipe out HDD data. Use the format software from http://www.killdisk.com, download the CD ISO image , burn to CD, ad boot from CD , the rest can be found in the menu.. To do low level format and to completely wipe out HDD data. Use the format software from http://www.killdisk.com, download the CD ISO image , burn to CD, ad boot from CD , the rest can be found in the menu..

]]> By: Michaelhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-590874 Michael Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:42:19 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-590874 Dave, you must repartition your hdd to see the partitions (make sense??) Mahesh get @active killdisk. Dave, you must repartition your hdd to see the partitions (make sense??) Mahesh get @active killdisk.

]]> By: krishnahttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-489554 krishna Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:24:09 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-489554 To do low level format and to completely wipe out HDD data. Use the format software from www.killdisk.com, download the CD ISO image , burn to CD, ad boot from CD , the rest can be found in the menu.. To do low level format and to completely wipe out HDD data. Use the format software from www.killdisk.com, download the CD ISO image , burn to CD, ad boot from CD , the rest can be found in the menu..

]]> By: maheshhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-489290 mahesh Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:08:40 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-489290 i want to do Low level format give me step how would I do that? i want to do Low level format give me step how would I do that?

]]> By: Armandohttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-486937 Armando Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:10:25 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-486937 DONT DO THAT !!!!!! The electrostatic shock is possible that may cause damage the HDD as it did for my 200 Gig MAXTOR HDD and it fucked off. DONT DO THAT !!!!!!

The electrostatic shock is possible that may cause damage the HDD as it did for my 200 Gig MAXTOR HDD and it fucked off.

]]> By: Krishnahttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-439953 Krishna Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:28:53 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-439953 My Toshiba HDD of notebook is formatted and it is detected only in BIOS, can not be used as slave HDD, if used primary HDD won't boot. Any solution mail me at: krishna.net.np@gmail.com My Toshiba HDD of notebook is formatted and it is detected only in BIOS, can not be used as slave HDD, if used primary HDD won’t boot. Any solution mail me at: krishna.net.np@gmail.com

]]> By: Bobhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-429442 Bob Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:43:47 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-429442 Sorry DIDN'T Recognise any drives Sorry DIDN’T Recognise any drives

]]> By: Bobhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-429441 Bob Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:43:18 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-429441 Tried to use it did recognise any hard drives. Limited user functionality. Tried to use it did recognise any hard drives. Limited user functionality.

]]> By: DAVEhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-276343 DAVE Sun, 09 Mar 2008 05:37:59 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-276343 I have used this program and it failed to format my 320 GB Seagate Hard disk. The program runs for an hour long but and gave a hard disk format confirmation as well but I can still see the partitions and even the data as well. HAHA.... This program do not works at all. I have used this program and it failed to format my 320 GB Seagate Hard disk.

The program runs for an hour long but and gave a hard disk format confirmation as well but I can still see the partitions and even the data as well.

HAHA…. This program do not works at all.

]]> By: Toby Wilkinshttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-270014 Toby Wilkins Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:29:54 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-270014 Rarst - "Low level format is total overkill for secure erasing of data" No its not, if you dont do a low level format or destroy the drive physically most of your data is still there. You dont want to sell a drive on ebay with private info on the drive. Rarst – “Low level format is total overkill for secure erasing of data”

No its not, if you dont do a low level format or destroy the drive physically most of your data is still there. You dont want to sell a drive on ebay with private info on the drive.

]]> By: paulhttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-256821 paul Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:15:05 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-256821 got hdd that crashed,will trying this program help to sort it out?have tried normal formatting but hasn't worked. got hdd that crashed,will trying this program help to sort it out?have tried normal formatting but hasn’t worked.

]]> By: Rarsthttp://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/comment-page-1/#comment-253177 Rarst Sun, 03 Feb 2008 11:28:45 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/03/hard-disk-low-level-format/#comment-253177 Low level format is total overkill for secure erasing of data. It is not needed for this (mentioned programs for erasing do just fine) and could (if used repeatedly WILL) damage HDD. It is really used for repairing drives and actually requires person with knowledge of what it can and what can't fix. Low level format is total overkill for secure erasing of data. It is not needed for this (mentioned programs for erasing do just fine) and could (if used repeatedly WILL) damage HDD.

It is really used for repairing drives and actually requires person with knowledge of what it can and what can’t fix.

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