12379f3ea1bc
tech



Hello Jean - 

CA>> I will be interested in any knowledgeable response to your
CA>> inquiry. 

JP> Did you read it ? 

I read one reply, yes. 

CA>> I have since read of people doing a 'supposed' low level
CA>> format using manufacturer supplied software but have also
CA>> been told that this is an emulation. 

CA>> The result is I am confused and uncertain as to whether
CA>> low level formatting even exists or we just _think_ it
CA>> exists. :-\ 

JP> So am I. I was given a " ll " on my new HDD after getting
JP> it mashed by SUE. He was full of what I accepted as very
JP> knowledgeable information while doing it and he convinced
JP> me that this was in fact a ll. I was reading the screen
JP> over his shoulder and the write up indicated that something
JP> serious was being done. It said that the disk would
JP> actually be blank, 0 all over the surfaces, no sector, no
JP> cluster, no cylinder at all. 

That would be a 'wipe' and not really a low-level format. 

JP> A logical format was needed to be able to use the HHD at
JP> all. I did and it runs nice. This is drastic but if one
JP> want to start all a-new, this sure is the way to go. 

The low-level format is putting 'tick marks' that the hard
drive uses as timing marks to determine when to write or read
the platter. The format command you and I use daily uses these
tick marks to place other information between them. It is this
'other' information that the format command supplies, not the
actual timing marks. 

You may recall early floppies having a hole punched in the
cover and in the disk near the center and then it disappeared a
bit later? Something like that. 

My understanding _was_ that IDE and EIDE have these burned into
the platter (laser?) and they cannot be redone by software
alone. 

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