Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Low level format tool IDE & Sata

  1. #1
    I am NOT the Messiah!
    SystemRat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2,131
    Thanks
    278
    Thanked 563 Times in 274 Posts
    Rep Power
    332
    Reputation
    3178

    Default Low level format tool IDE & Sata

    In a time long ago it was common to low level format a misbehaving MFM or RLL hard disks to resolve problems. I was pleasantly surprised someone has released a tool to format IDE and Sata drives. Normally these are low level formatted by the manufacture and any bad sectors mapped out and a number of sectors are reserved to replace bad sector growth in some cases.

    I’ve recently had to recovery data from a drive that failed when the monitor attached to the computer self destructed. While there was no other damage to the system the drive became un bootable nor could it be formatted and re partitioned. I suspect the monitor failure spat something across the drive platters rendering the drive useless.

    I then found this it works under 32 bit XP and low level formats IDE and Sata drives.

    I am not sure how good it is at re certifying the surface but I’ve used this to return two dead IDE drives to service now and both pass surface testing and have their full capacity.



Look Here ->
  • #2
    Senior Member cwispy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    In bed sleeping
    Posts
    1,090
    Thanks
    140
    Thanked 296 Times in 114 Posts
    Rep Power
    265
    Reputation
    1581

    Default

    I used to love the old sgafrmt.exe Seagate Format utility for that task. Havnt used it for years now, but this sounds like an interesting tool to keep handy.
    What would you do if your server was stolen or failed beyond repair?
    http://www.2000cn.com.au/shadowprotect.html

  • #3
    Senior Member oyama's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    SA
    Age
    58
    Posts
    662
    Thanks
    305
    Thanked 286 Times in 85 Posts
    Rep Power
    247
    Reputation
    1399

    Default

    nice one will come in very handy
    1x Dm7000, 2x Dm500 SD
    11-11-11 - NOW PoxBox
    ------------------------

  • #4
    I am NOT the Messiah!
    SystemRat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2,131
    Thanks
    278
    Thanked 563 Times in 274 Posts
    Rep Power
    332
    Reputation
    3178

    Default

    It claims to run under Windows 2000 but does not nor will it run under 64 bit XP which as Murphy’s Law would have are what I had available at the time. It does run under 32 bit XP however not sure what Vista would make of it.

    I have a friend with a P4 Intel pearl server board that eats hard disks both IDE and Sata.

    It’s had the power supply replaced and runs on a UPS and has lots of cooling but still did it I think he has retired that now (I hope)

    He has a nice pile of 200 GB sata’s that I hope to try this on. I suspect the drives are not physically damaged but the formatting info has been corrupted.

  • #5
    Senior Member mickc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    newcastle
    Posts
    1,473
    Thanks
    160
    Thanked 201 Times in 139 Posts
    Rep Power
    270
    Reputation
    1154

    Default

    the last low level format i did was some time ago
    a 13 or 15g seagate it took over 2 days wouldnt like to do a 200g
    have had drives loose boot partitians ect and not accessable under windows ect and have found acronis will fix these drives

  • #6
    I am NOT the Messiah!
    SystemRat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    2,131
    Thanks
    278
    Thanked 563 Times in 274 Posts
    Rep Power
    332
    Reputation
    3178

    Default

    The drive I fixed was a 120 gb and the time was around 1 hour from start to finish

  • #7
    Senior Member BCNZ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    In the back of a 50 kW AM broadcast transmitter
    Posts
    1,697
    Thanks
    235
    Thanked 292 Times in 190 Posts
    Rep Power
    304
    Reputation
    2546

    Default

    "The data cannot be recovered after using this utility"
    hmmm .. must try this some time. I have a heap of old and outdated drives kicking around that I've taken out of old machines or salvaged from hard rubbish collections.
    I am sure a couple of them could be used to test the validity of that statement!

  • Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •