Hard Drive Problem

[prx984]

thanks for that, im doing an LLF right now ( i couldnt get the zero fill thing to work in linux )

[prx984]

thank you everyone, i got it working

i did a low level format and it worked. its reading in my laptop and my dads. (my dad's happy, now he has a 40gb drive in his laptop thats much quieter than the 12gb he had). thanks everyone

regards, cygnus

[03GrandAmGT]

Glad to hear it. Did that low level tool help?? It appears from what I can see that Toshiba does not want people to Low Level their drives which to me sounds a little ignorant to me. If I can't do want i want with my hardware it has a meeting with a 5lb. sledge and sent back to the manf. with a note.

jd

[prx984]

yup, that tool worked, it took a long time to lo level it, but it went. and it worked. thanks again

[dirtwarrior]

I am glad it worked for you I have saved a few HD with zero fill

[prx984]

if you know what your doing on a computer, it can save you a lot of time and money, same goes with a car. you know how t ofix something, you dont have to take it to a mechanic (thank god for support forums lol)

thanks to everyone who replied in here

[Shindo_Hikaru]

Remember, Low LEvel Formats is the last resort, but do not do it on a disk with bad sectors

[jaclaz]

Just for the record, and for future memory, there is NO such thing as a Low-level Format on IDE/ATA drives.

The term Low-level Formatting was related to elder interfaces.

Since a controller is on-board of the drive, REAL Low-Level Formatting is IMPOSSIBLE by normal means.

You would need some special hardware, software and drive info to replicate what manufacturers do, something like these:

http://www.acelaboratory.com/pc3000.htm

http://www.acelaboratory.com/dataextractor.htm

Read these:

http://freepctech.com/pc/001/007.shtml

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq...llfmt_what.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=34575

Low-level formatting, when used with IDE/ATA drives is a Synonym of zero-fill.

A very good source of freeware programs to diagnose and "revive" hard disks is this:

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/

jaclaz

[Shindo_Hikaru]

Low Level Format is old, if the hard drive ever dies, or just gives errors, then just replace the drive. But if you think you can save the drive, get the LLF utility from the manufacturer or a different one, LLF is for well experienced people.

[dirtwarrior]

Just for the record, and for future memory, there is NO such thing as a Low-level Format on IDE/ATA drives.

The term Low-level Formatting was related to elder interfaces.

Since a controller is on-board of the drive, REAL Low-Level Formatting is IMPOSSIBLE by normal means.

low-level formatting, when used with IDE/ATA drives is a Synonym of zero-fill.

A very good source of freeware programs to diagnose and "revive" hard disks is this:

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/

jaclaz

I agree 100% most people confuse zero fill with LLF which is done at the factory. It also can be done in special cases but very risky

[prx984]

Low Level Format is old, if the hard drive ever dies, or just gives errors, then just replace the drive. But if you think you can save the drive, get the LLF utility from the manufacturer or a different one, LLF is for well experienced people.

it would be more worth my while to try and get the drive working again. its not that old of a drive, 2 years old i think. i dont have any money to replace a drive like that, so rather than buying a new one, ill look on the net for answers.

isnt that the purpose of MSFN? to try and save people money? in my case it did, i now have a working 40gb laptop hard drive to use in other computers.

thanks again everyone

Edited July 30, 2006 by Cygnus