can any one here have a low level format program. if you have or know where to get it, please let me know. i need one that can do a low level format program and a toshiba hard drive. i can't find one that the toshiba web site. thanks you in advance

www.killdisk.com I don't suffer from insanity, I embrace it.

Be careful here. What is currently referred to as a Low Level Format (LLF) is really more like a Mid-Level-Format (MLF). An MLF writes zeros to the drive and sets it back to factory gate status (more or less). A true LLF is not advised on current drive; it can render them unuseable... Although there are those who say they have used almost any MLF util with no adverse effects... usually the advice is to use the MLF for the make of drive involved... ref: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities-c.html Why the need/decision to run the LLF (or as indicated above preferably an MLF)? Incidentally the Toshiba website does seem to be not very helpful in terms of access; and they do not appear to offer a MLF or an LLF utils (as you ahve already indicated). A general trawl 'out there' brings up a post from an experts-exchange forum to use a Maxtor util; apparently it works fine. The warning from Maxtor seems to be more a legal consideration from their side - to safeguard them from litigation if you use it on a drive other than theirs... The util appears to be: maxllf.exe can be found at: http://www.degen.net/downloads/index.htm scroll down to dos/text-based utilities. Also, I used the search engine: teoma.com instead of google.com; teoma brought up many more and useful responses than google...

Hi The warning from Maxtor is very real!!! Some time ago, I very sucsessfully totally scrubbed a 100MB seagate drive, so well it had no ident for the bios to read. It was useless until I used the seagate diagnostics/repair which mostly fixed it. I have found all other zeroing utilities thus far are safe to use with your hard drive. As Hooner stated, killdisk -- an easy to use Zeroing utility. Try Ontrack for a generic diagnostic.

When in doubt, Don't do it. If you do not have the drive makers software then using aftermarket software will be at your sole discression and your own risk. I bet if you run Belarc Advisor you're gonna find the drive was made for Toshiba by some one else. Sounds like you want to make sure something is real gone. If that's the case then forget the low level format and try cyberscrub. I use that to get things real gone. My inhouse software for testing was written by me and not for public use. So I scrub the drive before it leaves my control. Just select the DoD setting and go to bed. Takes a good while, As does a low level format. If the case is bad sectors/clusters then a low level format ain't gonna help. A bad drive is a bad drive.

Hi. 1st of all, i want to thank all you all here trying to help me out and i really appreciate it. 2nd, the HD is in good health as i just ran Belarc Advisor program and yes the HD is made by toshiba and the laptop is just few month old. it has virus and the regular formmat won't get rid of the stuborn virus. i got the tip from Hooner abut the killdisk program and i went to the killdisk website to download the program and create a boot disk. however, i think i create the kiildisk bootdisk properly but i don't know why the killdisk bootdisj won't run even i set the diskette drive as the primary boot. Hooner, can you show me how to create the killdisk properly. thanks everyone again

Hi Zeroing (commonly refered to these days as a low level format) is a procedure which writes zeros to the drive. Used mainly to see if there is any "burned in" data that is stuck on the drive. [and a couple of tries with a zeroing tool can do wonderous things] If you have a cd burner and software (eg nero) to burn iso then from this URL below is the cd iso link http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm CD ISO with ACTIVE@KILLDISK Enjoy