kitto3o7sp
Junior Member
He's dead Jim...
Posts: 54
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Post by kitto3o7sp on Aug 30, 2003 22:29:23 GMT -5
The heck is a high and low format?
Just curious....
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Post by AMD on Aug 30, 2003 23:19:09 GMT -5
high level format and low level format?
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Post by moflsh03 on Sept 1, 2003 0:27:27 GMT -5
High level format of a drive only wipes out the file system. All the info is still there and is recoverable with the right software. When you format a drive from a windows, DOS diskette or a partition maneger such as partition magic all it does is wipe out the file structure allowing the 1s and 0s to be over written with new 1s and 0s. Low level format is wiping the drive (or any digital magnetic media) to 0s. This technically makes all the file structure AND the files themselves unrecoverable. (yes, there are ways...but whats recoverable is but a ghost of the files and very little of that. Most of the tales of recovery after low level is but that..tales) Most harddrives come with or have available via download, utilities for performing a low level format. Some mobo BIOs have a built-in low level format for hard drives also. HINT!! If you sell you computer and do NOT want any chance of someone lookin at your files, be sure to run a low level format! Also, there are apps available that overwrite the entire drive with 1 file(usually something like explorer.exe). This can be faster then a low level format. Of course a high level format is then still recomended otherwise the drive will be considered full by your OS. I have run recovery programs to recover important info (goofs!) and also just for fun to see what is there. On my own drives I have recovered files that were there from two or more formats ago! Those clusters just so happen to never be overwritten yet!  BTW, a low level format can often get the funk out of a funky drive. |
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