After you format a drive, are there any files left on it?

[RU482]

I know this might sound like a stupid question, but I am curious. I've heard of "low level formatting?" that completely erases your harddrive. Any help here?

 

[Angrymarshmello]

It comes up blank unless you do "format x: /s" which copies the system files on it

 

[speg]

I think there's an option to copy system files while formatting but im not sure, otherwise it's compeletly empty.

 

[claw]

Actually, format x: /u (unconditional format) will wipe everything. If you just do format x:, it just wipes out the file allocation table and verifies that the drive is still good. With a wiped table, it will appear that the drive is empty, though your files may still physically be there.

 

[Nick Stone]

I think that "drive overlays" such as Disk Manager, or "Easydrive" etc. are written to a portion of the drive that is not normally affected by the normal format command. Of course these "files" can be removed by the drive manufacturers software.

 

[Ulysses]

You are all right and get a prize.

And those "overlays" that Nick Stone mentioned can be a challenge to uninstall, if I'm not mistaken, with out the manufacturer's utility.

 

[herdmaster]

format wipes out the pointers to your data. data is still there just no map to find it. deleting a file is somewhat the same. until new data is written to the disk all your old data may still be there. remember that when deleting stuff you don't want anyone to ever be able to see. use norton or something to wipe/overwrite the data you want to get rid of.

 

[KotchY]

Speg, is that ur real comp specS?

 

[corkyg]

Most of the replies relate to regular formatting. Low level formatting can be done non-destructively. This capability has been in my toolbox now for over 12 years . . . Steve Gibson's "SpinRite," now up to version 5.0 and fully capable of handling all of the new large drives and their LBA schemes.

Low level formatting is often the key to restoring bad sectors on a drive. It is very slow, time consuming, but a test run with SR 5 will give you a detailed picture of your HDD's health and condition.

For complete information on SpinRite, see http://grc.com.

 

[Special K]

If format c: just deletes the FAT but not the data, then what does a quick format do? (format c: /q)

 

[Ulysses]

" format d: /Q " clears the FAT and the root directory but does not check for bad sectors.

------------

In DOS you can get the XXX command's parameter definitions by typing something like this:

" XXX /? " , where XXX is the name of the command, like format or xcopy.

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As pointed out there are two formatting levels:

The low-level format initializes the disk surface by creating the physical tracks and storing sector identification in them as required by the particular drive technology used. Drives are all low-level formatted at the factory.

The high-level format creates the indexes used by the operating system's file system to keep track of data stored on the disk. FAT, FAT32, and NTFS are typical file systems used nowadays.

 

[Sukhoi]

So if I have a drive that I think may have a virus on it, after doing FDISK /mbr and regular FDISK, should I then do "format x: /u /s" if I want to totally clear out the drive, and keep it bootable? Also, when using more than one switch, such as /u and /s, is there a space between the switches (like /u /s) or are they typed right after each other (like /u/s)? Thanks!

 

[BlackFalcon]

Well, to get technical on you when you format a drive using the format command from dos/windows the files are still present somewhat. The first bit (or byte can't remember which) of every file gets reset so that the drive thinks there is no file in that space.
However, a low-level format is completely different. It actually tells the drive to write every bit on the drive as a 0 (sometimes its a 1 depending on the program). This completely erases the data and reverts the drive to the state it was in when you first got it (unless it was pre-formated).
I suppose that if you really needed to get the data off a low-level formated drive you could spend a bajillion dollars on electromagetic equipment to analize the residual field left behind from the original data. Anybody know if this would work?

 

[RU482]

You guys are great!! thanks for the info.

I guess what I really want to know is, is if I just do a Format D: (The D: drive is the one I want to erase) will there be any trace of user identity or anything like that left on the drive? I am swapping a drive with someone and I do not want to leave any data behind that would identify me as the previous owner.

 

[Sukhoi]

I think you might also want to do FDISK /mbr to clear out the master boot record. It all depends how much you really want that data gone. Even if you just do a normal format, the person would have to work to find anything left on the drive.

 

[odog]

i used to have the same thing the DOD uses... i think it was called the DOD 7 level format.. it overwrites your data with 1's then 0's 7 times, it's the only thing the DOD trust's. supposedly even after a low level format(just 1's) you can still see the shadow of the data. kinda like when you write on two pieces of paper that are on top of each other.. the bottom one has an "imprint" of the data.. with a DOD 7 level format.. the data gets written over so many times.. that the chances of someone pulling an useful data of the drive is statistically 0

 

[Ulysses]

For practical purposes format.com should wipe out any traces of your files. As was said somebody is going to have to want that data and work to get it and know what they're doing.

But if you are not satisfied with the format.com effects, then I believe there are shareware programs available, or maybe certain of the Norton/Symantec programs, that will write over any remaining image on your disk . They may not be up to the DOD standard, but they're "almost close enough for government work."

he he he

Sorry - I don't have any links 'cause I never was concerned about this.

 

[Jhhnn]

My norton utilities 2000 will allegedly clear the disk to some DOD milspec blah blah...On the other hand, using the drive mfgr's utility (free download) to write the drive to zeroes (or ones) is probably more than sufficient, unless you keep books for the mafia, and your friend works for the fbi.

These utilities are also a good way to make sure that you got rid of that really nasty virus, although I suspect that someone, somewhere, is working on a way to get around that...