Thinkpads Forum

I used to use a tool from Maxtor to low level format my failing harddrive on my desktop once every 4th month.. It had a S.M.A.R.T faliure.. This kept it running for 2 years ..

But right now I'm looking for a good low level format software to format the harddrive on my T60.. Would be nice if someone could suggest something that can be booted from a USB deivce etc..
Even better.. A piece of software that low level formats my hdd, and then itself (if it excist that is)...

Open to ALL suggestions...

Low level format doesn't do anything on an IDE drive. There's no need to do it, and it doesn't help at all.

I suggest that if you do not want to contribute anything usefull in this topic then don't post all.. As most trojans and viruses places themself in Master Boot Record low level format is the most secure way to delete those files since it replaces all 1 and o on a harddrive with only 0's making it completely clean..

But this topic was NOT made for a discussion about this subject.
I need some suggestions from people who are actually willing to contribute and not start a discussion when there is obviously no need for it.

I have lots of things to tell you about this subject, but there is no need to destroy this post by starting a discussion with a 14 year old kid who doesen't read his homework.. IDE drive... come on.

Indeed. Let's not spread misinformation:

http://freepctech.com/pc/001/007.shtml
Let me quote that article if you don't want to read: "...a real low level format would destroy the drive..."

But if you want to scramble the contents of a drive, I find DBAN to be more than adequate. It uses recognized protocols to securely erase data.

If you just want to reformat, instead of redefine the geometry of your drive (which is what a low level format does), writing zeros is as good as you're going to get. Writing other data on top of that isn't going to "erase it more."

And when I wrote IDE drive, I meant every drive since IDE, including the SATA drives on our T60s.

LordCyber wrote:I have lots of things to tell you about this subject, but there is no need to destroy this post by starting a discussion with a 14 year old kid who doesen't read his homework.. IDE drive... come on.

Knock off the insults now.

Check this out: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... vel+format
One of my posts there has the tool you are looking for.

LordCyber wrote: Even better.. A piece of software that low level formats my hdd, and then itself.......

You better start looking into forum FAQs:

Hard drive utility links.

They contain format and low level format tools also.

I have a low level format that tricks the drive into thinking it has been low level formated. It works great and takes only a few moments.

The first sector of the hard drive can be low level formatted to eliminate any virus that may reside there. It makes the computer think the drive has been low level formatted. This is not really a low level format of the entire drive, but it makes the drive appear to have been low level formatted (Ready to be Partitioned and Formatted). This is ALSO useful for preparing a drive which has previously been formatted in NTFS to be repartitioned and formatted with FAT32. It works well and only takes a few moments.
Make sure to follow the spacing as listed below. no spaces needed before hiting the [ENTER].

At the A: Prompt type debug and hit the enter key.

Now, at the prompt type the following.....

FCS:200 400 0 [ENTER]
ACS:100 [ENTER]
MOV AX,301 [ENTER]
MOV BX,200 [ENTER]
MOV CX,1 [ENTER]
MOV DX,80 [ENTER
INT 13 [ENTER]
INT 20 [ENTER] ENTER] YES, HIT ENTER TWICE !

G [ENTER]

MESSAGE SAYS: PROGRAM TERMINATED NORMALLY

Quit DEBUG by pressing the letter Q and then {ENTER}

Hope you enjoy these instuctions and it gets the job done.

Truthfinder