low-level format

Nick Madcat · 12-26-2003, 09:40 AM

Hey guys. Well it seems I STILL dont have a new pc. Everything was fine until I wanted to replace the floppy. Crossed wires...floppy and old hd fried. Friend handed me a Quantum Fireball 2GB. I tried using it and we both found out it was loaded with bad clusters. Im assuming low level format neccessary. Know where to find low-level format programs?

Colin-uk · 12-28-2003, 10:08 AM

ive never tried a low level format
ive been told there quite dangerous and should only be attempted if you know what your doing

about 6 months ago my friend needed to do a low level format, i think he used somthing called KillDisk
(cant remember whwere he got it though)

good luck

Nick Madcat · 12-28-2003, 07:41 PM

Ah killdisk. I came across it but was discouraged when it was shareware. I got me a new 40 GB Maxtor so I dont think my friends 2gb Quantum will matter. I still want to try it but of course on my old pc.

Hollowpoint · 12-29-2003, 03:46 PM

I once did a low level format accidentally on an ide drive.

my friend used the bios util (low level format) , then I came and fdisked after , without knowing he had done it.

for a 400mb hard drive it took a very long time (45 minutes) to format, but the worst was yet to come.

Whilst trying to reinstall DOS onto it , we noticed the drives read / write speed had slowed down to a grinding crawl, so we decided to boot the PC with a boot floppy.

It booted fine, but "sys c:" (the command used to copy the system files to the hard drive to make it bootable) took over 25 minutes to complete, and a small text file (2kb) took over 11 minutes.

Further analysis revealed that we had managed to wipe the boot partition, boot sector, logisitics sector, both FATs and lots more.

We checked in bios and the heads, cylinders and sectors didnt register, the drive itself was detected in fdisk, but not bios, it was almost as if we had wiped the drive parameters section right off the hard drive. It was never recovered, and cost £200 to replace.

1. always check the pc is working before you work on it, this way the customer cant tell you it was working, when it wasnt.
2. never low level format an ide drive.

if you attempt any of the above, on your own head be it.

Nick Madcat · 12-30-2003, 01:33 PM

Well I did the low level format with killdisk. It was just a one-pass zero write. I hope it works but I gotta do other work first. *cough*games*cough*

esdxc37 · 01-21-2004, 06:33 PM

low level format is available in some old machines bios's if it is not in the bios try the drive makers site for a low level formater if that does not work try going here http://grc.com/ guy does an utillity called spinrite that runs from dos and indeed does recover bad sectors but on one I did about 3 years ago it took over 3 days to complete and gave me a 850 MB drive with 560 MB's usable wheras before it could not even be read.

12-26-2003, 09:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
Nick Madcat NY'er Supreme Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: In you home.....muhahaha Posts: 451	low-level format Hey guys. Well it seems I STILL dont have a new pc. Everything was fine until I wanted to replace the floppy. Crossed wires...floppy and old hd fried. Friend handed me a Quantum Fireball 2GB. I tried using it and we both found out it was loaded with bad clusters. Im assuming low level format neccessary. Know where to find low-level format programs? __________________ Of course violence is the answer!

12-28-2003, 07:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
Nick Madcat NY'er Supreme Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: In you home.....muhahaha Posts: 451	Ah killdisk. I came across it but was discouraged when it was shareware. I got me a new 40 GB Maxtor so I dont think my friends 2gb Quantum will matter. I still want to try it but of course on my old pc. __________________ Of course violence is the answer!

12-29-2003, 03:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
Hollowpoint Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: a small molecule called earth in a vast blood system called the universe surrounded by a heavenly body... maybe Posts: 108	I once did a low level format accidentally on an ide drive. my friend used the bios util (low level format) , then I came and fdisked after , without knowing he had done it. for a 400mb hard drive it took a very long time (45 minutes) to format, but the worst was yet to come. Whilst trying to reinstall DOS onto it , we noticed the drives read / write speed had slowed down to a grinding crawl, so we decided to boot the PC with a boot floppy. It booted fine, but "sys c:" (the command used to copy the system files to the hard drive to make it bootable) took over 25 minutes to complete, and a small text file (2kb) took over 11 minutes. Further analysis revealed that we had managed to wipe the boot partition, boot sector, logisitics sector, both FATs and lots more. We checked in bios and the heads, cylinders and sectors didnt register, the drive itself was detected in fdisk, but not bios, it was almost as if we had wiped the drive parameters section right off the hard drive. It was never recovered, and cost £200 to replace. 1. always check the pc is working before you work on it, this way the customer cant tell you it was working, when it wasnt. 2. never low level format an ide drive. if you attempt any of the above, on your own head be it. __________________ <anamexis> oh man <anamexis> I was opening a coke, right --> Beefpile (~mbeefpile@cloaked.wi.rr.com) has joined #themacmind <anamexis> and it exploded <anamexis> ALMOST all over my keyboard <anamexis> but I got it away just in time <-- Beefpile has quit (sick ****ers) <anamexis> :<

12-30-2003, 01:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Nick Madcat NY'er Supreme Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: In you home.....muhahaha Posts: 451	Well I did the low level format with killdisk. It was just a one-pass zero write. I hope it works but I gotta do other work first. coughgamescough __________________ Of course violence is the answer!

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12-28-2003, 10:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
Colin-uk Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Posts: 928	ive never tried a low level format ive been told there quite dangerous and should only be attempted if you know what your doing about 6 months ago my friend needed to do a low level format, i think he used somthing called KillDisk (cant remember whwere he got it though) good luck

01-21-2004, 06:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
esdxc37 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 20	low level format is available in some old machines bios's if it is not in the bios try the drive makers site for a low level formater if that does not work try going here http://grc.com/ guy does an utillity called spinrite that runs from dos and indeed does recover bad sectors but on one I did about 3 years ago it took over 3 days to complete and gave me a 850 MB drive with 560 MB's usable wheras before it could not even be read.