Negatives of low-level format?

[KillaKilla]

I'm looking to do a low level format of my 60GB HDD, and I was wondering if there are any negative side affects. I know that it takes a while, and that (of course) it will do all that a high-level(standard) format will.

 

[LeadMagnet]

why? If you are trying the "scrub" you HD so the FBI cannot find anything, - they will, unless you use the Gutman 35pass random overwrites.

 

[Luthien]

I know another way but it will destroy your HD use your VHS electromagnet tape eraser on it.

 

[dcdomain]

I don't know of any negatives, but somehow it got rid of the bad sectors on my Maxtor, but I'm sending it in for RMA anyway.

 

[KillaKilla]

Do I have to do anything special after this, like restoring a master boot record, or boot sector, or somesuch?

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: dcdomain
I don't know of any negatives, but somehow it got rid of the bad sectors on my Maxtor, but I'm sending it in for RMA anyway.

Same, except with a more general SMART error. I ran the Maxtor utility and it wouldn't give me an error code again. Been running fine for over a year.

 

[KillaKilla]

Originally posted by: KillaKilla
Do I have to do anything special after this, like restoring a master boot record, or boot sector, or somesuch?

*bump*

 

[JackBurton]

You're not going to do a low-level format even if you wanted to. With modern drives (after 1995) you can not truely do a low level format. This can only be done by the manufacturer. Manufacturer may offer a tool that says it will do a low level format, but it's not a true low level format. So knock yourself out, low level format it all you want. 😉

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: KillaKilla

Originally posted by: KillaKilla
Do I have to do anything special after this, like restoring a master boot record, or boot sector, or somesuch?

*bump*

No, it'll just be like you have a brand new HD off the shelf. So, proceed to install your OS as normal.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
You're not going to do a low-level format even if you wanted to. With modern drives (after 1995) you can not truely do a low level format. This can only be done by the manufacturer. Manufacturer may offer a tool that says it will do a low level format, but it's not a true low level format. So knock yourself out, low level format it all you want. 😉

Yeah, it's probably more like a full zero-write.

But once the drive is wiped, you repartition and format it, and it's good to go.

Negative side effects? Only one I can think of is that you lose all the data on the disk, and maybe you get a little downtime. That's about it though.