How can I low level format a hard drive?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Can someone tell me how I casn low level format a hard drive?
I've been having all sorts of problems with my PC and think I have the
source of my problems nailed down to the hard drive.

I've formatted and installed a fresh copy of XP.
But no luck... the system just keeps on rebooting. : (
Everything else seems fine including the memory.

I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?
Would this do me any good?
How long will it take?
Is it a worthwhile option to go for?
Or should u buy a new hard disk?

Thanks.


OM

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Try here:

http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/low-level-format.html

"OM" <om.newsgroup@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1108611165.318603.103910@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Can someone tell me how I casn low level format a hard drive?
> I've been having all sorts of problems with my PC and think I have the
> source of my problems nailed down to the hard drive.
>
> I've formatted and installed a fresh copy of XP.
> But no luck... the system just keeps on rebooting. : (
> Everything else seems fine including the memory.
>
> I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?
> Would this do me any good?
> How long will it take?
> Is it a worthwhile option to go for?
> Or should u buy a new hard disk?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> OM
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

We do not low-level format IDE, ATA, PATA or SATA drives nowadays. What you
should do is download the drive diagnostics from the drive's manufacturer
web site. With this diagnostic utility, you can test the hard drive. If it
passes, then you problem is elsewhere. If it fails, check to see if the
drive is still on warranty. Replace it anyway, if it had fail the tests.


"OM" <om.newsgroup@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1108611165.318603.103910@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Can someone tell me how I casn low level format a hard drive?
> I've been having all sorts of problems with my PC and think I have the
> source of my problems nailed down to the hard drive.
>
> I've formatted and installed a fresh copy of XP.
> But no luck... the system just keeps on rebooting. : (
> Everything else seems fine including the memory.
>
> I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?
> Would this do me any good?
> How long will it take?
> Is it a worthwhile option to go for?
> Or should u buy a new hard disk?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> OM
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Yves Leclerc is right.

Check the drive vendor's site or see if you can find the floppy disk you
maybe received along with your HDD.

If chkdsk doesn't report any errors, then the disk is probably ok.

I've experienced constant rebooting and strange acting pc's in connection
with overheated or defect processors. (In a few cases the cooler was stuck
because of dirt). I'll recommend you to do a check on the coolers on your
processor and video card (just in case).

It's hard to do proper hardware troubleshooting if you don't have spare
parts of all kinds lying around, ideally you should swap one item at the time
and see if it help you out.

"OM" wrote:

> Can someone tell me how I casn low level format a hard drive?
> I've been having all sorts of problems with my PC and think I have the
> source of my problems nailed down to the hard drive.
>
> I've formatted and installed a fresh copy of XP.
> But no luck... the system just keeps on rebooting. : (
> Everything else seems fine including the memory.
>
> I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?
> Would this do me any good?
> How long will it take?
> Is it a worthwhile option to go for?
> Or should u buy a new hard disk?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> OM
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

OM wrote:

>I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?
>Would this do me any good?

Probably not. And is to be done *only* with a matching initialisation
disk from the makers.

>How long will it take?
>Is it a worthwhile option to go for?
>Or should u buy a new hard disk?

Get a test program from the makers and see what it reports

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. Alexn@mvps.D8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"OM" <om.newsgroup@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1108611165.318603.103910@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Can someone tell me how I casn low level format a hard drive?

You can't outside of a lab. Vendor supplied diagnostics come close however.

> I've been having all sorts of problems with my PC and think I have the
> source of my problems nailed down to the hard drive.

And you made this determination how? Unless you've run vendor diagnostics
that's a mighty large assumption.

>
> I've formatted and installed a fresh copy of XP.
> But no luck... the system just keeps on rebooting. : (

That could be for a whole host of reasons.

> Everything else seems fine including the memory.

Power supply? Video card? Sound card? BIOS? Motherboard with cracked traces?
Processor overheating?

>
> I thought the next option would be to low level format the hard drive?

Nope. Run vendor diagnostics on the drive if you suspect that's an issue.

> Would this do me any good?

Without knowing if the vendor diags fail the drive or not, can't answer.
Also, you haven't indicated what else you've done other than something with
the memory.

> How long will it take?

Depends on the size of the drive and how fast it fails, if it does fail. I
have a 250G drive that was a mirror in a RAID1 that was faulting on a
irregular basis. I didn't have time to let it run diagnostics this weekend
and that after waiting 3 hours, since I needed the machine up. It's running
diags now while I'm at work.

> Is it a worthwhile option to go for?

In my opinion no. Once a drive starts to go, it's gone.

> Or should u buy a new hard disk?

If you seriously think it's an HD issue, then yes.

>
> Thanks.
>
>
> OM

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org