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Blakhart · 04-23-2003, 09:35 PM

A true low level format will take many hours, often 5 to 9 or more, depending. You had better have a stable system and a ups to ensure you do not ruin the drive.
I do low levels all the time and have yet to ruin one. Have seen many drives that had "bad" sectors recovered by low level runs.
They are great when you need em, otherwise shave off 6 hours and do a format or zero fill. The WD ute I use to zero fill has a quick fill and a full fill. The quick just erases the first and last million sectors, taking about 15 secs. The full erases every sector, and takes 16 mins.

04-23-2003, 09:35 PM	#12
Blakhart Banned Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: in harms way Posts: 2,768	A true low level format will take many hours, often 5 to 9 or more, depending. You had better have a stable system and a ups to ensure you do not ruin the drive. I do low levels all the time and have yet to ruin one. Have seen many drives that had "bad" sectors recovered by low level runs. They are great when you need em, otherwise shave off 6 hours and do a format or zero fill. The WD ute I use to zero fill has a quick fill and a full fill. The quick just erases the first and last million sectors, taking about 15 secs. The full erases every sector, and takes 16 mins.