[techtalk] Low level formatting

[shad]

Well Lillis, as far as it goes, there are two types of partitions on any
hard disk. A low level format which prepares the disk surface for a
controller type and generates the disk interleaves and a high level format
which creats the filesystem et al. The low level format is called a
physical format, while the high level format is usually called a logical
format.

Physical formats shuld and always are done by the factory, a low lwvwl
format done from the bios is usually completely destructive to the disk as
that type of format is a legacy item from the days of RLL and othe large
form factor hd's. They are no longer used and most bioses no longer support
that option.

Best
Shad

PS, the way this mailing list is set up, if you wish to have messages go
back to the list, use the "reply to all" function as opposed to the "reply
to sender option" :-) 

Cheers

Lillis Long wrote:
> 
> Im not really new to computers but i do seem to be a bit naive. That or it
> just never came up. Can i ask, what exactly is a low-level format? Why is it
> so evil? To my thinking low-level would be Fdisk, but its obviouse thats not
> what your thinking.
> 
> Thanks for the info.
> 
> Oh, im lissell. Im new to the group and have been lurking for a bit. Nice to
> see a group of linux folk who are willing to answer simple questions ;-)
> 
> Lissell
> 
> www.lillislong.net