What is Low Level Format?
| Low-Level Formatting Hard Drives |
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Low-level formatting divides the surface of the disk into tracks and sectors. This sets up a kind of a grid so that the controller knows how to access each individual sector. For instance, it might store part of a file at 'head #2, track 40, sector 16'. It's almost like a 3D game of battleships. It used to be necessary to individually low-level format the older drives before they could be used by your computer. This is no longer the case. On all the drives you'll see (unless you're working on a very old computer), low-level formatting is done at the factory. You may see a choice in your CMOS setup program called 'Low-Level Format'. I would suggest against using it. It's a dinosaur from days gone by. There are, however, 3rd party programs which claim to safely low-level format IDE and EIDE hard drives. If you wish to try them, that's your choice. I'm certainly not one to discourage experimentation. Just take into consideration the value of the data you plan on storing on them afterwards, and the fact that the manufacturers recommend against it. |
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