Programs for formatting hard drives. How to format a hard drive Formatting a hard drive c

Formatting a hard drive is the process of creating a logical layout of a data storage area located on a magnetic medium and necessary for further filling with information and working with it. Typically, formatting is carried out before starting to work with the HDD, to completely destroy information or to eliminate damage caused by a virus.

Types of hard drive formatting

Low-level formatting is the layout of the HDD at the physical level, which usually remains unchanged throughout the life of the media. It is carried out at the manufacturer's factory and cannot be done at home. Programs that claim to allow low-level formatting are usually, at best, only able to overwrite control information.

Partitioning is necessary to create a layout into logical drives, which will allow you to store information in a more organized way. For example, the only hard drive of a laptop can be divided into two disks, one of which can be used for the operating system, the other for storing files. This will allow you to reinstall the OS without erasing information stored on the non-system partition. Partitioning non-system disks can be done from under Windows.

High-level formatting is divided into full and quick. Fast only involves clearing file system tables, which are kind of directories for storing files. Full formatting (verification), in addition to destroying information in tables, also includes searching for broken blocks and replacing them with working ones. There are several formatting options.

Formatting the HDD during Windows installation

In order to begin installing the operating system, you should set the settings in the BIOS so that the first device from which the computer starts booting is the installation disk. To enter the BIOS, you must restart the operating system and press the Delete key several times after the computer starts up again.

In the window that appears, go to the Boot section and specify there, as the device from which the computer will first boot, the disk drive where you insert the installation disk.

After setting the necessary boot parameters, insert the installation disk into the drive, save the changes to the BIOS and restart the computer. Typically the F10 key is used for this. If you have done everything correctly, the operating system installation and recovery window will appear in front of you.

Press Enter to begin installation, click Windows. After this, the text of the license agreement will appear in front of you, press F8 to continue further work.

After this, you will need to delete all the partitions into which the hard drive was divided in order to create a single partition on the HDD with an unallocated area. To do this, select each of the available sections one by one and press the L key.

After you delete all the partitions on your hard drive, only the single inscription “Unallocated area” will remain in the list.

Press Enter and you will be presented with options for file systems into which you can format the hard drive. Select Format partition in NTFS.

After a few minutes, formatting the hard drive will be completed. This method is good primarily because it allows you to format the system disk, while programs running under Windows do not allow you to do this. If you are going to format a HDD where there is not a running operating system, but some files, then it will be much more convenient to use another method.

Formatting a hard drive using the built-in Windows program

Open "My Computer" and right-click on the required drive and select "Format" from the pop-up menu.

In the window that appears, you can specify the necessary formatting parameters. Quick formatting takes much less time compared to full formatting, but occurs without completely erasing information, which allows, if necessary, to restore some of the information using special programs.

After you set the necessary parameters and click Start, a window will appear warning you that all data on the disk will be destroyed. Click the OK button and wait for the formatting completion message.

Using the command line to format the HDD

One of the simplest ways to format a hard drive is to use a special command on the command line. Click Start -> Run or press the Win+R key combination. A small window will appear in front of you, where you should enter the name of the cmd program and press Enter.

In the black window that appears, type the command format and the drive letter followed by a colon, for example, format d:, and press Enter. A question will appear with the warning “Attention, all data on the fixed drive d: will be destroyed!” and the question “Start formatting?” Press Y and Enter to continue. The formatting will begin.

Formatting using the built-in Disk Management program

The Windows operating system has a special built-in program that allows you to perform various operations with disks and their partitions. The program is located at Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.

Right-click on the required drive and select Format. In the window that appears, you can specify the formatting method (quick or full) and file system type.

Using the Partition magic utility to format the HDD

One of the most convenient and functional programs for working with disks and logical partitions is the Partition magic utility. The program can be used even if the built-in Windows software fails to cope with the task.

In order to format a disk using Partition magic, you need to create a boot disk, insert it into the drive and after restarting the computer, working in the program itself, perform all the necessary operations - formatting, as well as deleting or creating a new partition.

The need for formatting usually arises in two cases: when installing an operating system on a new hard drive and when cleaning the disk from old or virus-infected files. The initial formatting of a new hard drive is performed by the operating system itself when it is installed. If the user installs the OS on an already used disk, during installation he will have the opportunity to keep the existing formatting or select a new one. The Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems use NTFS formatting. This means that when formatting, the order of organizing, naming and storing files on the disk will be established, corresponding to the principles of the NTFS system. Linux operating system uses ext2 and ext3 system formatting. Formatting is a necessary operation that prepares a hard drive or flash drive for recording information. How to format? If you have multiple hard drives or a disk with multiple partitions, you can format any disk and partition except the one on which the operating system is installed - it simply will not allow this. To format, open: “Start - My Computer”, select the disk you need and right-click on it. From the menu that appears, select Format. In the window that opens, select the file system type and formatting method. If “quick” formatting is selected, then only the file allocation tables are cleared, but the files themselves are not deleted. Something similar will happen if you tear out a page with a table of contents from a book - despite the absence of a table of contents, the text can still be read. Do not use quick formatting when installing the OS, especially if you are installing Windows XP after Windows 7. Remaining Windows 7 files may cause errors during the installation process. The same is true when cleaning a disk infected with viruses - if you cannot remove viruses in any other way, perform a full format. Sometimes there is a need to securely delete some information. Remember that even after a complete formatting, you can restore the vast majority of information stored on the disk; special recovery utilities are used for this. Therefore, to guarantee the removal of information, special methods and programs are used that allow not only to delete information, but to write several times in its place and erase a random sequence of numbers. It is believed that for guaranteed deletion it is necessary to apply up to seven cycles of recording and erasing information. You can format a disk and ensure that information is erased using Acronis Disk Director. There are two main versions of it: one runs under Windows, the second runs from the installation disk. Otherwise their capabilities are the same. With this program you can perform any operations with disks - split them, merge them, format them, assign drive letters.

Today, there are several storage media, each of which requires mandatory regular storage, these are: hard drives (HDD) installed directly on the computer, regular discs (CD, DVD and Blu-ray), as well as USB flash drives.

What is formatting and why is it needed?

The very concept of formatting any medium implies a change in its file system. As a rule, such a procedure leads to complete cleansing of the media, that is, all information stored on it will be completely deleted. The question naturally arises: “Why format the media at all if all the information on it is deleted?” This is done so that the user can correct its integrity, optimize its operation, that is, increase the speed of certain tasks and, of course, change the file system (if necessary). Formatting is required in several cases, these are:
- infection of the host with a virus;
- the speed of performing various tasks with the medium (for example, transferring information to a computer) has decreased many times.

How to format a flash drive?

As for the actual procedure for formatting a flash drive, this can be done even using standard Windows operating system software. In order to use the standard functionality of the OS, you need to open “My Computer” and select the removable media on which you need to right-click. Next, select the “Format” function in the context menu. Once clicked, a new window will open where the user can select “File System”, “Cluster Size”, as well as “Format Method”.

A flash drive is characterized by the FAT32 file system, since it is used for storing and using small files. If you are going to store large files on a flash drive, then choose NTFS. The cluster size indicates the speed of execution of various commands for files (the optimal value is set by default by the system itself). As for the formatting method, there are several of them, these are: quick and complete. It is advisable to do a full format so that damaged sectors of the removable disk are restored and the file system is successfully changed. If this is not necessary, and you regularly format your flash drive, then you can select “Quick Format”.

All new hard drives are already low-level formatted by the manufacturer and do not require reinitialization. In practice, under normal circumstances, you are unlikely to need to perform low-level formatting on your hard drive, since technically only the manufacturer can perform this kind of real formatting.

What computers call low-level formatting is actually more of an initialization and testing of the disk surface, as the process writes and reads to all sectors of the disk. If there are no problems with the disk, there is no need for a full initialization or surface check.

What is low level formatting?

First, let's understand the concepts of low- and high-level formatting.

Low level format- an operation during which servo marks (information that is used to position the hard drive heads) are applied to the magnetic surface of the disk. It is performed during the manufacturing process of the hard drive, using special equipment.

When the process of low-level formatting a hard drive is started for the first time, the hard drive platters are empty, that is, they contain absolutely no information about sectors, tracks, and so on. This is the last moment when the hard drive has completely empty platters. Information recorded during this process will never be rewritten again.

Old hard drives had the same number of sectors per track and did not have built-in controllers, so the low-level formatting was handled by the external hard drive controller, and the only information it needed was the number of tracks and the number of sectors per track. Using this information, the external controller could format the hard drive. Modern hard drives have a complex internal structure, including changing the number of sectors per track when moving from external to internal tracks, as well as built-in servo information to control the head drive.

Due to this complex data structure, all modern hard drives are low-level formatted only once - at the factory.

There are two types of high-level formatting:

Formatting in normal mode – a process that consists of creating a master boot record with a table of partitions and (or) empty file system structures, setting the boot sector, and similar actions. The formatting process also checks the integrity of the media to block bad sectors.

Quick format - the same process as formatting in normal mode, only without checking the media for bad sectors.

The use of the term low-level formatting in relation to hard drives has given rise to many myths. For example, there is an opinion that it is impossible to perform low-level formatting of a hard drive and that attempting such an operation will lead to the destruction of the disk. In principle, there is some truth in this misconception. It consists in the fact that when low-level formatting old disks from the late 1980s, the optimal settings for the bevel of heads and cylinders established by the disk manufacturer, as well as the map of disk defects, were violated.

All this had a negative impact on the performance of the devices. The problem described has long been resolved, and all devices using zone recording (with a variable number of sectors per track) are immune to any problems that low-level formatting may cause, since real markers cannot be replaced by a sector.

So low-level formatting of discs made in the 1990s and later will prevent it from disturbing its settings.

At the same time, there is often a real need to perform low-level formatting of ATA and SCSI drives. Now we will talk about programs that will help you do this.

Programs for low-level formatting of ATA disks (SATA, PATA, etc.)

ATA drive manufacturers defined and standardized extensions to the original WD1002/1003 hard drive controller, creating the AT bus interface (known as the ATA interface). The ATA specification is implemented for unique vendor-specific commands that are an extension of the standard. To avoid performing incorrect low-level formatting, many ATA devices have special commands that must be sent to the device to enable formatting procedures. These commands vary by device manufacturer, so you'll need to look for low-level formatting and defect management programs created by the drive manufacturer.

These programs are most often intended not only for devices from a specific manufacturer, but also for their individual models. So before performing a search, make a note of the manufacturer name and model number of your hard drive.

Modern hard drives are protected from the possibility of changes in the skew factor or defect map, since they are always in conversion mode. Devices with zone recording are always in this mode and are thus fully protected.

Most hard drives have an additional set of commands that are used during the formatting process, and the standard ATA specification commands do not work (especially for ATA devices with zone recording).

Spare sectors can also be allocated automatically using programs provided by the device manufacturer. Without knowing the correct manufacturer-specific commands, it is impossible to replace defective sectors with spare ones, specially allocated in modern devices for these purposes. A detected defective sector is replaced in the distribution structure by the closest spare sector.

Some hard drive manufacturers offer low-level formatting programs. They can be found at the following addresses.

• Seagate
  ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/seagate_utils/sgatfmt4.zip
  http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools
• Hitachi/IBM
  www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
• Maxtor/Quantum
  http://www.maxtor.com/softwaredownload/default.htm
• Samsung
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/sutil.htm
  www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm
• Western Digital
  http://support.wdc.com/download/

First of all, you should try the programs provided by the device manufacturer. All of them are free and often allow you to work at a low level in a way that large-scale programs do not allow.

If the drive manufacturer does not offer an initialization/verification/formatting program, you can use the Drive Fitness Test program from Hitachi (formerly IBM). This program works great with drives from other manufacturers and performs detailed, full testing of the entire hard drive. This is one of the best general purpose programs because it allows you to perform a non-destructive test. Although it can test any device, there is one limitation: destructive read/write tests can only be performed on Hitachi and IBM drives.

Advice!

All of the listed programs for initializing, testing and formatting a hard drive, as well as many others, can be found in the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) collection of utilities. This is a fantastic collection of diagnostic tools contained in one downloadable CD! A copy of this CD can be downloaded from www.ultimatebootcd.com.

Non-destructive formatting tools

I strongly advise against using BIOS-level non-destructive formatting tools such as Calibrate (formerly included with Symantec Norton Utilities) when low-level formatting is truly needed. Such funds are characterized by a number of limitations and problems that reduce their effectiveness. They perform low-level formatting on individual tracks using BIOS functions; This backs up and restores individual tracks.

These programs also do not create a defect map, as low-level formatting programs typically do. Moreover, they can remove defect map markers added by standard low-level formatting programs. As a result, it becomes possible for data to be stored in bad sectors, which in some cases may void the warranty.

Another limitation is that these programs can only be used when working with hard drives that have been previously formatted using BIOS functions.

A low-level format program created by drive manufacturers bypasses the system BIOS and passes commands directly to the controller. Therefore, many such programs are designed to work with specific controllers. Having one such program that could be used when working with different controllers is almost impossible to imagine. Many hard drives may be incorrectly identified as defective simply because the wrong program was used.

Low-level formatting of Western Digital HDD and SSDs

Let me make a reservation right away that in this case, low-level formatting means testing the disk surface for bad sectors through reading and writing. As mentioned above, factory low-level formatting of a modern hard drive can only be done by the manufacturer.

Hard and solid state drives can be formatted at a low level using several methods. Let's consider one of them, applicable to PC. Mac computers are not suitable for this example.

To low-level format a hard drive we need:

1. The hard drive, in this case, is from Western Digital (in this example, the Maxtor drive was tested, and the procedure was successful)
2. Data Lifeguard Diagnostics Software for Windows

Before the formatting process, connect the device to the computer. This can be done either through the IDE, SATA, USB or Firefire interface. In this case, low-level formatting will be carried out in the Windows system, without first loading using special boot disks. This is the easiest method for the average PC user.

Once the device is connected:

1. Download Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics from http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=113&sid=3&lang=ru

2. After downloading the application, launch it and follow the installation wizard.

If after installation a dialog box appears with a message stating that the program cannot be started, close it and click the OK button. The program must be launched in a different way.

3. A program shortcut will appear on the desktop, double-click on it.

4. Check the box next to I accept this... and click the Next button.

The program will display all connected drives. Despite the fact that in my example, the Maxtor test hard drive was formatted, and it was successful, I recommend that you use this program only for Western Digital drives, to avoid possible problems with the media. If you have a Seagate hard drive, use a similar program from Seagate.

5. Select the disk that needs to be diagnosed and click on the to run tests button. BE SURE to double-check that you have selected exactly the right disk, otherwise you will lose all data on this media, without the possibility of recovering it, since this process is destructive and irreversible.

7. In the next window, select the EXTENDED TEST option and click the Start button.

8. Close all files that are open on the selected hard drive and click the OK button.

9. The testing procedure on a 20 GB hard drive took approximately 10 minutes. At the end of testing, click on the Close button.

10. But that's not all. Now again click on the to run tests button and in the dialog box select the WRITE ZEROS option and click on the Start button. This procedure will overwrite all sectors with zeros.

10. Depending on the condition of the drive, you will receive one or two prompts reminding you that this action will destroy all data currently on the drive. Click Yes button.

10. Then choose which method you would like to use to write the zeros. The QUICK ERASE option is much faster, but does not completely erase the disk. This is suitable for users who plan to rewrite the disc multiple times. A FULL ERASE erases the disk completely. This takes longer, but ensures that no data on the drive can later be recovered using data recovery methods. This method is designed for people who need to permanently delete data from their drive, such as hackers ;).

Once you have determined which method you would like to use, select the OK button to begin the formatting process. I recommend choosing FULL ERASE.

11. Start of the rewriting process. For example, it took me about 10 minutes to overwrite a 20 GB hard drive.

12. After the process is completed, click again on the to run tests button and in the dialog box, select the VIEW TEST RESULT option and click on the Start button.

13. The window will display information about the hard drive and the tests that have passed. To be honest, the information in this report is very sparse.

14. If the process was successful, the low-level formatted hard drive will not be available in the system. Now it needs to be initialized, partitioned, and formatted at a high level.

14. Open Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Run and enter the command in the window diskmgmt.msc .

15. The Disk Management program will launch and the Initialize Disks window will automatically appear, where the required disk will be selected. Specify the Master Boot Record parameter and click the OK button.

This completes the low-level formatting process.

A similar process can be used for media on hard drives from other manufacturers. For example, Seagate offers a very convenient diagnostic tool for its media.

In conclusion, I will give an example of how the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics program displays a failed drive. As an example, a Fujitsu hard drive was taken. The program has determined that the media is faulty, as indicated by SMART STATUS.

Using EXTENDED TEST, the program showed that bad sectors were found on the disk.

The program tried to fix them, but nothing worked.

There may be two reasons for this: firstly, the hard drive and the diagnostic program are from different manufacturers, so some commands may not be processed correctly, and secondly, this disk cannot be restored, since it has begun to “crumble,” i.e. physical damage appeared on the surface of his discs; it was already on my inspection table before.

In the process of using computer technology, sooner or later, every user is faced with the need to format a hard drive. This is due to the fact that any technical device, if used for a long time, inevitably wears out, which leads to a breakdown in functionality. And hard drives are no exception from this point of view. On a hard drive, information is written and erased many times, which eventually leads to disk errors, including the well-known “fatal error”. This signal indicates that it is time for the user to take an interest in restoring its normal functioning.
Many experts recommend that before starting the hard drive reformat process, resort to alternative methods, such as defragmenting the hard drive or using free cleaning programs that can be freely downloaded on the Internet. However, if the measures taken do not bring the desired result, and the user again receives information about the presence of a fatal error, the hard drive will need to be formatted.

The formatting process itself is not very difficult, but some care must be taken during its implementation. This is because formatting a disk erases all data stored on it. In this way, you can permanently delete the operating system, software applications, and most importantly, photographs and other valuable personal files. Below we will look at the most effective ways to how to completely format a hard drive.

Formatting a hard drive during the Windows installation process is the most effective, but not always available, method, since users rarely have the opportunity and desire to reinstall the operating system. But if you have this opportunity, then let’s get started.
In this article we will not consider the entire process of installing Windows OS; you can find information on this issue yourself, so let’s move straight to formatting. This operation can be performed when choosing a location to install the OS. Depending on the system version, this window looks different, for example in Windows 7 and Windows 8 it looks like this:

Select the desired hard drive partition, then click “ Formatting" and click " OK" Please remember that this operation will delete all your files!
You can also divide your hard drive in this window. To do this, you need to delete the partitions, and then create new volumes and specify the desired size.

To format a separate partition, you can use Windows tools. This way, the areas where the operating system is stored are not affected. This method is similar to formatting a flash drive. Before how to completely format a hard drive, in the “My Computer” section, select the hard drive partition that needs to be formatted, to do this, right-click on it and click “ Format».

After this, the following window will open:

To perform this operation more efficiently, you need to uncheck the “Quick (cleaning table of contents)” checkbox, then click on the “Start” button and “ Ok" The formatting process in this mode can take quite a long time, so you need to be patient and wait for the process to complete.

In order to format a hard drive using the command line, you need to open Start and in the “Search programs and files” field type “ cmd" In the proposed list, select the option of the same name and left-click.

So we will open the command line:

Enter the following command here:
Format x:
Where x is the letter of the partition you want to format. Then press “Enter” 2 times and wait for the formatting process to complete.

Programs for formatting your hard drive

You can also format your hard drive quickly and efficiently by using special utilities. To do this, you need to download a free hard drive formatting program called Paragon Partition Manager.
This program is a professional hard drive management solution that is absolutely free for home use. Not so long ago we already talked about this program and discussed in detail the process of installing it, so below we will simply provide a download link, and you can read about the installation in the article.
We would like to note that the formatting procedure using Paragon Partition Manager takes a little longer than using standard Windows tools, but in return we get formatting of incredible quality! You can also try to restore a faulty flash drive using this program.

We run the program and get the following window:

Select " Format Partition" Then this window will open:

Click " Next».

Here we can select the partition file system, its name and letter.
Partition type– file system type
Volume label– name of the hard drive partition
Assign the following drive letter– partition letter
Having set the necessary parameters, click on the button “ Next».

Here we select “ Yes, apply the changes physically" and click " Next».

Click " Finish" Formatting is complete!

In this article we talked in detail about how to completely format a hard drive. We considered 3 formatting options:

1. When installing Windows
2. Using built-in Windows tools
3. Using a utility to format your hard drive.