Low level/zero HDD/SDD format benifits

[Custos]

Besides the obviousness of clearing data permanently and fixing corrupt sectors. Are there any real noticeable improvements performance wise? Would this make an HDD behave differently than a normal format with previous data being overwritten? Please forgive my ignorance as I am sure this has been covered. Also would this be different on an SSD? This is mostly pertaining to os9. I am fully aware that some OS can't even do this type of format natively.  Any and all info or even a link covering this is very much oblieged.

[IIO]

for OS9? i dont think so.

IMO low level formatting tools most interesting application is when you have a problem with a drive.

for example you can certify drives with it and see if the number of physically corrupt blocks raises after overwriting the second time, which would be an indicator for shrapnel.

[Custos]

Thanks for the heads up. I got an os9 drive that causes system hang ups/instability but hopefully it's nothing major.  I also got a 1tb laptop HDD that Windows insists has suffered excessive shock. Should I even waste my time attempting to revive them?

[FdB]

Easy enough to reformat/erase and then check them again for problems.
Afterwards (if questionable) maybe place them in an external case for further use?

Nothing gets a funeral 'round here... except for catastrophic failures.

[IIO]

such infos are interesting when you sell a drive - or just bought a new one. but since it usually requires windows or DOS, i dont use it either.

[Custos]

Well osx was able to mount the os9 drive no problem. I didn't have anything on the drive which is a plus. It was taking forever to fix the drive. I got impatient and canceled. The drive is only 80gb and it is really loud. Not worth my time. As for the 1tb drive I still have yet to mess with it outside of Windows. Seems that it won't even let win7 fully boot even as slave. Causes a system hangup during disk check even if i cancel it. Might try and see if osx can mount it. If not I'm out of ideas.

[IIO]

Easy enough to reformat/erase and then check them again for problems.

a bad block in the driver partition for example will not be found by reformatting. there are a few more things which you can only track with LLF or repair tools by the vendor.

[Custos]

What about Linux? There is a distro geared towards data recovery. I would imagine it has some tools for disk repair/diagnostics as well. Then again I've never had any bad HDD's in the past. So it's one of them distros I always skipped over.

[OS923]

I had excellent results with HDD regenerator 1.71 for Windows. Place the HD in a Windows PC and use this program.

[FdB]

Besides the obviousness of clearing data permanently and fixing corrupt sectors...

Errr, ummm…
thought that the discussion was about salvaging questionable drives for use and not so much about data recovery.
Of course “fresh” OS 9 driver install would also be undertaken… unquestionably...
and especially in the case of the Windoze HD (and yes even for the OS 9 drive too).

If this is more about data recovery and the Windows drive is slated to stay in that PC - see OS923's post above.
If the drives still mount on their respective platforms, I'd move all moveable data off and then reformat 'em...
and test before trusting for any further use.

[Custos]

Sorry about that I was still on topic just worded it wrong. I'm not trying to recover data. I just figured a Linux distro built with tools for recovering data would have tools for HDD repair and maintenance as well. 

[Custos]

I had excellent results with HDD regenerator 1.71 for Windows. Place the HD in a Windows PC and use this program.

I wish I could.
 Windows hangs on disk check with the 1tb drive. Even when canceled as mentioned above. I might try that with the os9 drive just to see if it works better/faster than osx. Os9 won't mount it most of the time and if it does it freezes when clicking on drive setup. Had to pull the drive just to use os9. Osx slows down but doesn't freeze when reading from it.

[DieHard]

Any hard drive that needs to be "low-level" formatted and is less that 10 years old has issues, back it up and throw it out.

It the old days... and I mean old days... like MFM,RLL and SCSI... yeah that old; there were many benefits of a low level format to map out errors and mark them (since ALL hard drives has some errors at inception), but when IDE came along... the manufacturers would map out the errors with a greater degree of precision (than MFM or RLL) and store them in a table before you purchased it, also "SMART" was born and the rest is history.

I would be extremely weary of any drive in the modern world that accumulates "hard" or "soft" errors (soft errors being OK if generated from a power failure); throw it out, you have been warned

[Custos]

Thanks diehard. I had a gut feeling it wasn't worth messing with. God knows what that old ass drive has endured over the years. It's one of them really loud drives too. That's more than enough of a reason to toss it out the window.

[IIO]

i think so, too.

if a drive reads slow or has corrupt files and you cant fix that by reformatting, it is probably lost. recover data, then stop using it. a 1 tb disk is 25 USD.

[Custos]

Right on. It's just that a HDD in my stash of old computers is free! 😆

[DieHard]

Thanks diehard. I had a gut feeling it wasn't worth messing with. God knows what that old ass drive has endured over the years. It's one of them really loud drives too. That's more than enough of a reason to toss it out the window.

Yeah, just make sure your NOT on the 8th floor

[Custos]

Bahaha! Oh of course not. That would be uncivil like. Seems it's only right that it be the 9th floor.

[IIO]

i didnt mean to argue against theoretical solutions for nonexistent problems and similar metatalk. most of what i do is completely useless, even subjectively.

[DieHard]

most of what i do is completely useless, even subjectively

LMAO... Yeah, I know the feeling