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Low Level format hard drive

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7 replies

by rschleg1

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I have inherited a very tired compaq Armada 4131T laptop and I am trying to reformat the IBM 2G hard drive. I just can't seem to get all the origional Compaq proprietary garbage off the boot sector so I can start fresh. There are a number of corrupt DOS files and writing over them (Command.com for example) doesn't work. I should know this but I haven't worked in DOS so long that I can't remember how to do a Low Level format to clear all registers. What are the commands to get this done? Anyhelp will be appreciated

7 replies

by ann777

Boot to DOS boot floppy.
Run FDISK from the boot floppy
Delete all partitions
Set up your active partition
Format /u/s/v

by rschleg1

I probably should have added that I have re-formatted this drive several times and have even done a C:del*.*. Still there is garbage in the boot sector (some of it unrecognizable characters that look like hebrew). I have done a low level format before (years ago)that sets all the disk registers to 0000. A simple FDISK process does not do this. How can I do the LOW LEVEL format?

by opatzg9

fdisk /mbr - clears the master boot record.
Normally you don't perform low level formats of drives. If there are still things in there try using:
attrib *.*
To show what their settings are and remove the rsh(ReadSystemHidden) flags by running
attrib *.* -r -s -h
Then del *.*
I thought with drives since the 1200meg range low level formats were no longer done other than at the factory. Am I wrong in this?

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