I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

[Mattz_GT]

For some drives, there may be a utility from the maker which can verify and spare out bad sectors, Spinrite tries to achieve this, but may not have the same level of access as the maker utility - though TBH, if have bad sectors to deal with, more are likely to turn up.
If the maker utility offers a zero fill, that might also perform bad sector sparing even if it doesn't specifically say so

[stj]

if you use a degausing method the drive will be fucked.
they have calibration data and sometimes the firmware stored on the platters.

[harp]

" You can find much contradictory information regarding this topic. Hard drive manufacturers themselves don't like to talk about it. But generally, hard drives are much more resistant to big magnets than expected. The hard drive coating usually provides a high level of coercivity. This means you would have to bring a very large magnet very close to a hard drive in order to delete files. As long as you don't unscrew the top cover of the hard drive, you won't be able to get close enough. " .................. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G3eURKwqbN8

[stj]

typed it for you

dd --help
Usage: dd [OPERAND]...
or: dd OPTION
Copy a file, converting and formatting according to the operands.

bs=BYTES read and write up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512);
overrides ibs and obs
cbs=BYTES convert BYTES bytes at a time
conv=CONVS convert the file as per the comma separated symbol list
count=N copy only N input blocks
ibs=BYTES read up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
if=FILE read from FILE instead of stdin
iflag=FLAGS read as per the comma separated symbol list
obs=BYTES write BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
of=FILE write to FILE instead of stdout
oflag=FLAGS write as per the comma separated symbol list
seek=N (or oseek=N) skip N obs-sized output blocks
skip=N (or iseek=N) skip N ibs-sized input blocks
status=LEVEL The LEVEL of information to print to stderr;
'none' suppresses everything but error messages,
'noxfer' suppresses the final transfer statistics,
'progress' shows periodic transfer statistics

N and BYTES may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes:
c=1, w=2, b=512, kB=1000, K=1024, MB=1000*1000, M=1024*1024, xM=M,
GB=1000*1000*1000, G=1024*1024*1024, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y, R, Q.
Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on.
If N ends in 'B', it counts bytes not blocks.

Each CONV symbol may be:

ascii from EBCDIC to ASCII
ebcdic from ASCII to EBCDIC
ibm from ASCII to alternate EBCDIC
block pad newline-terminated records with spaces to cbs-size
unblock replace trailing spaces in cbs-size records with newline
lcase change upper case to lower case
ucase change lower case to upper case
sparse try to seek rather than write all-NUL output blocks
swab swap every pair of input bytes
sync pad every input block with NULs to ibs-size; when used
with block or unblock, pad with spaces rather than NULs
excl fail if the output file already exists
nocreat do not create the output file
notrunc do not truncate the output file
noerror continue after read errors
fdatasync physically write output file data before finishing
fsync likewise, but also write metadata

Each FLAG symbol may be:

append append mode (makes sense only for output; conv=notrunc suggested)
direct use direct I/O for data
directory fail unless a directory
dsync use synchronized I/O for data
sync likewise, but also for metadata
fullblock accumulate full blocks of input (iflag only)
nonblock use non-blocking I/O
noatime do not update access time
nocache Request to drop cache. See also oflag=sync
noctty do not assign controlling terminal from file
nofollow do not follow symlinks

Sending a USR1 signal to a running 'dd' process makes it
print I/O statistics to standard error and then resume copying.

Options are:

--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dd>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dd invocation'

[stj]

wipe the drives by booting a linux live-image.
then using the DD command to write 0's to the whole drive.
from a commandline you can type "man dd" for the manual
or "dd --help" for a bit less to read.

[sam_sam_sam]

Yes I am resuming my old post back to life because I recently realized that I had bought a subscription for Spine Rite 6.0 and I can upgrade to 6.1 which is the newer version of this software

I have some very old laptop computers that I might want to put back in to service but I need to format the hard drives because these computers were windows 7 originally but on there on went to windows 10 and made them boot very slow and responsive is very slow as well they were decent when they were running windows 7

But more on that later when I have time to work on them

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

We need to make the distinction between low level format and doing housekeeping maintenance. VC servo tracks have a chicken and egg problem if you're trying to rewrite them, and as this truly is at the lowest level, this can't be done on VC disks.

Fortunately on stepper disks the lowest level does not contain servo data, just sector boundaries, so it's a lot simpler on these older disks.

[brethin]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

If it is mechanical, aka a bad head etc then it shows up fast and I just recycle the drive.

[brethin]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

I have actually LLF many newrer drives using the old manufacturer tools specific to the drive I'm working on. To do this they need to be attached to a pata port (aka ide) so I use ide to sata adapters to connect sata drives to pata ports. I also use this to wipe and reset Western Digital and Seagate drive smart info so I can get a fresh list of anything wrong after the wipe.

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

Even if it's difficult to use a magnet to explicitly erase the platters -- it better be as there's a big neodymium magnet inside all VC hard drives hence mentioning you had to get it directly over -- it still does not negate the fact that low level format needed to be done at some point in its lifetime (i.e. during manufacture) and if it ever needs it again for whatever reason, including temperature shifts, power fluctuations, reliability of recording over the years, or other reason, it's still impossible to do it on VC disks. Because this is impossible, VC hard disks are still trash if it ever loses the tracking data.

[Per Hansson]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

Note 2: I do not accept youtube of any kind as valid references.

You can find much contradictory information regarding this topic. Hard drive manufacturers themselves don't like to talk about it. But generally, hard drives are much more resistant to big magnets than expected. The hard drive coating usually provides a high level of coercivity. This means you would have to bring a very large magnet very close to a hard drive in order to delete files. As long as you don't unscrew the top cover of the hard drive, you won't be able to get close enough. A strong magnetic field, however, can damage mechanical components of the hard drive. A magnet can, for instance,

• block the motor of the reading head
• influence the position of the writing head or
• damage the writing head

All the above may lead to irreparable damages.

Hard drives of PC’s, laptops and notebooks: A magnet is hardly a danger for hard drives built into a desktop computer because you cannot get close enough. Compact hard drives of laptops and notebooks, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to permanent magnets as they are generally located near the bottom cover plate. We cannot provide safe distances due to lack of data and different hard drive designs, but even our biggest magnet should not be able to damage a hard drive at a distance of 20 cm.

Intentional deleting: If you intend to permanently erase data on a hard drive, using a permanent magnet is not a suitable method. Instead, you should use special file deletion software that completely overwrites the hard drive multiple times.

Source: https://www.supermagnete.de/eng/faq/...ces#hard-drive

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

archlinux wiki has a page that explains the procedure for using the ata secure erase command for wiping a ssd's mem cells for returning the drive to its factory default empty data cell state. ArchWiki - Solid state drive Memory cell clearing

occasionally, the command can also be used on some modern self-encrypting hard drives to instantly erase the drive by discarding the encryption key. some drive manufacturers call it instant sanitize erase or some such. im not sure how securely this wipes a hd or ssd such that even the gov fbi or cia cant recover the data... privacy is priceless indeed!

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

This makes no sense: modern drives don't need low level format.
That was a requirement of old drives due to the less accurate servo systems being used.
Basically after a few years the data on the disk would be unreadable and a "low level format" would make the disk usable again.
That does not happen with modern drives, something I am thankful of!

First off: as always people find ways read into ways to think another is wrong, but actually they were right. Old ancient hard drives as a last resort you can low level format to rewrite critical data on the disk, but newer modern disks - they were low level formatted at the factory - and simply cannot be low level formatted and thus need to be thrown away when they lose the format for whatever reason.

Case in point: Take a strong magnet and rub it directly over the platters of a modern disk, eventually you'll destroy the low level format (i.e. tracking information). You simply cannot rewrite this data on a modern disk.
On the other hand on an old stepper motor disk you can rewrite low level data, and you can use the disk once more after the low level format. While using a magnet to destroy the data is a contrived example as well as the fact the recording mode is not MFM on newer disks and the read amplifiers are not as sensitive to DC bias erasures, you can still have theoretically recoverable write failures that could be repaired on an old disk but not on a new one (think temporary thermal and power/rotational issues that could affect any disk).

Yes the chances of needing low level formats are much lower due to higher magnetic coercivity on newer disks as well as other advancements to prevent damage to it. But it's still possible to have the low level data on the disk corrupted or invalidated, and when that happens, the entire disk needs to be thrown away.

Note: We are not talking about data recovery here, rather just the continued use of the hardware.
Note 2: I do not accept youtube of any kind as valid references.

[Per Hansson]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

Before: low level format
Now: throw disk away.

:-(

This makes no sense: modern drives don't need low level format.
That was a requirement of old drives due to the less accurate servo systems being used.
Basically after a few years the data on the disk would be unreadable and a "low level format" would make the disk usable again.
That does not happen with modern drives, something I am thankful of!

Case in point:
Not forgotten: MFM hard drives

MFM drives are really unreliable

Let's try to revive some MFM hard drives!

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

usually the contents of the MBR don't matter when we need to LLF a disk ... it's the option of last resort just before the disk belongs in the round file, when the value of the disk is higher than of the value of the data stored upon it.

[jiroy]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

Low level format would destroy the MBRs in 99% of cases ..I Use "HDD Regenator" for corrupted and bad sectors . Spinrite is good too .

[Topcat]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

For wiping SSD's it is better to use a tool that deletes the cryptographic key. (Called Secure Erase).

I've seen a few SAS controller firmwares that have options called 'secure erase'; assuming that's what it does.

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

Before: low level format
Now: throw disk away.

:-(

[Per Hansson]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

So what is the solution for a hard drive that becomes very severely corrupt by what ever means does this mean that the drive becomes unusable or is there any remedy for this situation

Because in the past there was low level formatting was the answer now days what is the answer now

First you have to fix the root cause: if it is a mechanical (platter) issue the drive is trash.
But see this thread for example: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts.
Then you realize even if you fix the root cause you still need access to the drives firmware and proper commands to delete the growth defect list.
And if you don't have that you can either live with the reduced performance or buy a new drive.
HDD manufacturers prefer the latter option

[eccerr0r]

Re: I am looking for a DOS based low level format-ing hard drive and SSD drive

corruption as in data read wrong or corruption as in unreadable sectors.
The latter usually means these "modern" faster than 30ms disks end up in the round file if it persists after its internal remapping.