reformat or low level?

[Roderick Trottie]

what is the difference between a low level
format and reformating your hard drive?

[stevet]

In practical terms, a normal format will only erase the data that is on the drive and will not affect your drive's partition information. A low-level format is a much more destructive process that will erase ALL information on the drive, including all partition info. It basically returns the drive to the condition it was in when it was shipped from the factory. A good use of a low-level format is to get rid of a disk overlay that has been installed.

There are plenty of tech-heads out there who can give you a more detailed answer than this, but I hope this helps.

Steve

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