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Formatting a hard drive
Low-level and high-level formatting, partitioning into logical drives, reset the data on your hard disk.
Most PC users are of the opinion that the hard drives, just like any other storage media must be formatted before use. In the matter of formatting there is some confusion as to what and how to make the procedure of formatting the hard drive, which we'll examine in this article. In today's hard drives are used technique is fundamentally different from the old methods of formatting hard drives.
Two-step format
Formatting a hard drive consists of three phases:
Low-level formatting the hard drive
Low-level format - is the process of applying information about the position of tracks and sectors, as well as a record of service information for the servo system. This process is sometimes called the "real" formatting, because it creates a physical format that defines the location of further information. When I first started the process of low-level format the hard drive, hard disk plates are empty, ie do not contain absolutely no information about the sectors, tracks, etc. This is the last moment, when the hard drive completely empty plate. The information recorded during this process will never be overwritten.
Older hard drives had the same number of sectors per track, and had no built-in controller, so that low-level formatting takes an external hard disk controller, and the only information he was the number of tracks and number of sectors per track. Using this information, the external controller to format the hard drive. Modern hard drives have a complex internal structure, including a change in the number of sectors per track when moving from the outer to the inner tracks, as well as built-in servoinformatsiyu to control the actuator. Also, modern hard drives use a technology called "invisible" bad sectors, ie be transparent to the user and the system automatically skip the bad sector. As a result of such a complex data structure, all modern hard disks are low-level format only once - at the factory. There is no way at home to make this low-level formatting of any modern hard drive, whether it is IDE / ATA, IDE / SATA or SCSI hard drive. And it is not possible even in a good service center (in the service center can make a kind of "mid-level" formatting that can replace the information on the skip bad sectors, but overwrite the physical distribution and service sectors servoinformatsiyu not work).
Older hard drives were in need of repeated low-level formatting throughout his life, in connection with the effects of thermal expansion that is associated with the use of stepper motors in the drive heads, who heads the movement was divided into a grid with a fixed pitch. Over time, these drives was shifted physical location of the sectors and tracks that are not allowed to read the information correctly, using a stepper motor to drive magnetic heads. That is, Head left on the right, according to the controller position, while the position of a given track is shifted, resulting in the emergence of bad sectors. This problem was solved by reformatting the drive at a low level, overwriting the tracks and sectors on the new grid moves the drive heads. In modern drives that use voice coil actuator, the problem of thermal expansion has gone by the wayside, causing the temperature to produce a recalibration of working actuator parameters.
If you still want to experiment and start the low-level format on modern hard drive, the only thing that you can get, except for the lost time, this loss of data. Some of today's drives on low-level format command does not respond at all, and some of them are simply filling a sector of information, while leaving intact a service and servoinformatsiyu. A modern hard drive can be restored to a value of "almost like new" with the aid of any tools, recording zero or any other information on the entire volume of the drive, or, more simply, a utility, "reset the" hard drive.
High-level formatting the hard drive
After completion of the low-level format the hard drive, we get a CD with tracks and sectors, but the contents of the sectors will be filled with random information. High-level formatting - is the process of writing the file system structure on the disk, which allows you to use a disk operating system for storing programs and data. In the case of the operating system, DOS, for example, the command format does this job by writing such a structure as the master boot record and file allocation table. High-level formatting is performed after the process of partitioning on the partition (partitions), even if it is used only one section of the entire volume of the drive. In modern operating systems, the process of partitioning the hard drive partitioning and formatting can be executed in the process of installing the operating system and the already installed system using a graphical user-friendly interface. For example, in the case of Windows XP, this can be done as follows: Right-click the My Computer icon and select manage, then opened the Storage tab, select Disk Management, then you can split, formatting, repartition the hard disk partitions. However, be aware that changes in partitioning and formatting to lead to loss of data stored on a changeable disk.
The difference between high-level and low-level formatting is very huge. There is no need to produce low-level format to erase data from your hard drive as high-level format is suitable for most cases. It overwrites the file system information utility, making the hard drive clean, but the files themselves in this process are not erased, erased only information about the location of the file. That is, After a high-level formatting the hard drive containing the files, we will have a blank disc, free from any files, but using different methods of data recovery, you can reach the old files that were on the drive until it is formatted. The only condition of success in recovering data is that the files on the disk before formatting should not have been fragmented. For a complete erasure of data from the hard drive, we can recommend to use the tools, vanishing disk (such as prescribing, zero, the entire surface of the drive) and then have to re-break on the drive wheels and high-level format it means, but you will have a complete guarantee that that no data survived.
All operating systems use a variety of programs for high-level formatting, as They use different types of file systems. However, the low-level format, the process layout of tracks and sectors on the disk is the same. Differs only by the technology of recording tracks and sectors on the disk. This is done by a special device called a servo-vraytery.
Most PC users are of the opinion that the hard drives, just like any other storage media must be formatted before use. In the matter of formatting there is some confusion as to what and how to make the procedure of formatting the hard drive, which we'll examine in this article. In today's hard drives are used technique is fundamentally different from the old methods of formatting hard drives.
Two-step format
Formatting a hard drive consists of three phases:
- Formatting a disk at a low level (low-level format). This is the only "real" method of formatting the disk. In this process, the hard disk are the physical structure: the tracks, sectors, the control information. This process is performed by the manufacturer on the plates that do not contain any information yet.
- Partitioning. This process divides the volume of the hard drive into logical drives (C, D, etc.). This is usually responsible for operating system and a method of partitioning is strongly dependent on the operating system.
- High-level formatting. This process is also controlled by the operating system and depends on the type of operating system and from the utility that is used for formatting. The process writes the logical structures that are responsible for proper storage of files, and, in some cases, system boot files to the top of the disc. This formatting can be divided into two types: rapid and complete. If you quick format a table is overwritten by the file system, with full well - first performed verification (check) the surface of the drive, and only then is the file system table entry.
Low-level formatting the hard drive
Low-level format - is the process of applying information about the position of tracks and sectors, as well as a record of service information for the servo system. This process is sometimes called the "real" formatting, because it creates a physical format that defines the location of further information. When I first started the process of low-level format the hard drive, hard disk plates are empty, ie do not contain absolutely no information about the sectors, tracks, etc. This is the last moment, when the hard drive completely empty plate. The information recorded during this process will never be overwritten.
Older hard drives had the same number of sectors per track, and had no built-in controller, so that low-level formatting takes an external hard disk controller, and the only information he was the number of tracks and number of sectors per track. Using this information, the external controller to format the hard drive. Modern hard drives have a complex internal structure, including a change in the number of sectors per track when moving from the outer to the inner tracks, as well as built-in servoinformatsiyu to control the actuator. Also, modern hard drives use a technology called "invisible" bad sectors, ie be transparent to the user and the system automatically skip the bad sector. As a result of such a complex data structure, all modern hard disks are low-level format only once - at the factory. There is no way at home to make this low-level formatting of any modern hard drive, whether it is IDE / ATA, IDE / SATA or SCSI hard drive. And it is not possible even in a good service center (in the service center can make a kind of "mid-level" formatting that can replace the information on the skip bad sectors, but overwrite the physical distribution and service sectors servoinformatsiyu not work).
Older hard drives were in need of repeated low-level formatting throughout his life, in connection with the effects of thermal expansion that is associated with the use of stepper motors in the drive heads, who heads the movement was divided into a grid with a fixed pitch. Over time, these drives was shifted physical location of the sectors and tracks that are not allowed to read the information correctly, using a stepper motor to drive magnetic heads. That is, Head left on the right, according to the controller position, while the position of a given track is shifted, resulting in the emergence of bad sectors. This problem was solved by reformatting the drive at a low level, overwriting the tracks and sectors on the new grid moves the drive heads. In modern drives that use voice coil actuator, the problem of thermal expansion has gone by the wayside, causing the temperature to produce a recalibration of working actuator parameters.
If you still want to experiment and start the low-level format on modern hard drive, the only thing that you can get, except for the lost time, this loss of data. Some of today's drives on low-level format command does not respond at all, and some of them are simply filling a sector of information, while leaving intact a service and servoinformatsiyu. A modern hard drive can be restored to a value of "almost like new" with the aid of any tools, recording zero or any other information on the entire volume of the drive, or, more simply, a utility, "reset the" hard drive.
High-level formatting the hard drive
After completion of the low-level format the hard drive, we get a CD with tracks and sectors, but the contents of the sectors will be filled with random information. High-level formatting - is the process of writing the file system structure on the disk, which allows you to use a disk operating system for storing programs and data. In the case of the operating system, DOS, for example, the command format does this job by writing such a structure as the master boot record and file allocation table. High-level formatting is performed after the process of partitioning on the partition (partitions), even if it is used only one section of the entire volume of the drive. In modern operating systems, the process of partitioning the hard drive partitioning and formatting can be executed in the process of installing the operating system and the already installed system using a graphical user-friendly interface. For example, in the case of Windows XP, this can be done as follows: Right-click the My Computer icon and select manage, then opened the Storage tab, select Disk Management, then you can split, formatting, repartition the hard disk partitions. However, be aware that changes in partitioning and formatting to lead to loss of data stored on a changeable disk.
The difference between high-level and low-level formatting is very huge. There is no need to produce low-level format to erase data from your hard drive as high-level format is suitable for most cases. It overwrites the file system information utility, making the hard drive clean, but the files themselves in this process are not erased, erased only information about the location of the file. That is, After a high-level formatting the hard drive containing the files, we will have a blank disc, free from any files, but using different methods of data recovery, you can reach the old files that were on the drive until it is formatted. The only condition of success in recovering data is that the files on the disk before formatting should not have been fragmented. For a complete erasure of data from the hard drive, we can recommend to use the tools, vanishing disk (such as prescribing, zero, the entire surface of the drive) and then have to re-break on the drive wheels and high-level format it means, but you will have a complete guarantee that that no data survived.
All operating systems use a variety of programs for high-level formatting, as They use different types of file systems. However, the low-level format, the process layout of tracks and sectors on the disk is the same. Differs only by the technology of recording tracks and sectors on the disk. This is done by a special device called a servo-vraytery.
