Low level format will erase the hidden partition ?

[malafuti]

Hi everybody,

i'd like to make a low level format, but i don't want to lose the hidden partition so i 'd like to know if it's going to erase only the C: partition or if all the hdd (including hidden partition) is going to be erased

[mattster]

Yes, a low level format will erase the entire drive, including the recovery partition....

[richk]

The answer is a definate "it depends". What kind of drive, what model machine and what are you using to do the format? T43 and later T42s use a partition that will be wiped out by anything you will be calling a low-level format. T40 and T41 have a hidden protected area, where the drive's firmware was changed to report back a smaller size. Any tool that uses that size for the formatting will not wipe out the HPA, but you will need do fix the MBR. What are you trying to do?

[Wiz]

Why do you want to do a low level format of your harddisk? Do you have some sort of problem you would like to solve?

[whizkid]

Most modern hard drives will not even really do a low-level format. They will just act like it and politely ignore your request. There is no good reason to ever to a LLF on a hard disk.

Data scrubbing, OTOH, can be worthwhile.

[Wiz]

There is no good reason to ever to a LLF on a hard disk.

That's what i was thinking too so the reason why i asked why do a LLF. Maybe he/she is actually talking about a standard format.

[GomJabbar]

There is a process called zeroing out the hard drive. The hard drive is filled with all zeros. This deletes all partitions (not hidden by the BIOS) and normal formatting. It is often called a low level format.

AFAIK, richk is correct in his post above.

[agarza]

Using DFT tool to zero the drive is also very helpful because if the HDD has damaged sectors, even a Windows format wouldn't let you sometimes boot the machine (i.e. when reinstalling Windows), so zerooing the drive works great because bad sectors would never be used and you data will not suffer)

[richk]

I agree DFT is best IF it is an Hitachi drive. DFT will not hurt the restore stuff only if it is a machine with an HPA. IT will wipe out the restore partition in a later T42 or T43.