[Free] Best Low Level Format Tool in Windows 11/10/8/7

1. Best Low Level Format Tool
2. Low Level Format Hard Drive with HDD Low-Level Format Tool
3. Partition and High-Level Format Hard Drive with a Partition Manager (Recommended)
4. Low Level Format (LLF) FAQs

Best Windows Low Level Format Tool (HDDGURU Overview)

A low-level format of the hard disk is the most thorough way to initialize the hard disk. After the Low-level format of the hard disk, the original saved data will be lost, so it is generally undesirable to perform low-level formatting on the hard disk. But when the hard disk has a certain type of bad sectors, in order to use the hard disk normally, you have to format the hard disk at a low level.

What's the best Low-level format tool that facilitates hard drive formatting? HDD Low Level Format Tool from HDDGURU receives positive feedbacks from personal/home users as well as commercial/professional users.

HDD Low-Level Format Tool is an outstanding disk formatter for low-level hard disk drive formatting.

Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, Server 2003, 2008, and 2008R2
Low-level format a SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI, USB, Firewire, and SSD hard disk drive
Support most popular hard drive brands, like Seagate, Samsung, Western Digital, Toshiba, Maxtor, etc.
Work with any USB and firmware external drive enclosures as well as SD, MMC, MemoryStick, and CompactFlash media.
Free for personal/home use with speed limitation (the speed limit is 180 GB per hour or 50 MB/s)

How to Low Level Format Hard Drive with HDD Low-Level Format Tool

By using the HDD Low-level Format Tool, the hard drive Low-level formatting shall become easier and faster. Even a computer novice could make full use of it. Simply follow the guide to Low-level format a USB drive, pen drive, SD card, external hard drive, and more.

 Warning: Low level format a USB drive or hard disk drive will erase the whole disk surface. After that, you can't recover data from the hard drive even using professional data recovery software.

Step 1. Google "HDD Low-Level Format", pick up an official site or CNET download site to download and install it on PC.

Step 2. Plug your HDD or USB drive into the computer and launch the low-level format tool.

Step 3. Select the desired drive and click Continue. Confirm the option by clicking Yes.

Step 4. Select "Low-Level Format" in Tab to start the low-level formatting process.

low level format hard drive with the best low level format tool

High Level Format & Partition a Hard Drive After Low-Level Format (Free)

The purpose of complete low-level formatting of a hard drive is to zero-filling it so that erased data can never be restored. So, behave cautiously while choosing this type of formatting process.

It doesn't finish yet after Low-level format your hard drive if you want to put it in normal use. The hard disk must undergo three processing steps: Low-level format, partition, and high-level format (hereinafter referred to as formatting) before the computer can use them to store data.

Hence, take more steps after using HDD low-level format tool. Use Qiling free partition manager to help you partition and format partitions on the low level formatted hard drive simply.

Clone whole disk or a certain partition without any data loss
Merge partition to solve the low disk space issue
Wipe your disk completely to save all confidential and sensitive data

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Format and Partition a Hard Drive with a Partition Manager

In the steps of partitioning and formatting the hard disk, it is necessary to create partitions and logical disks to format the hard disk. You can create either FAT or NTFS partition according to the physical hard disk capacity.

1 - How to Format a Partition (High-level)

And don't panic if the partition file is formatted incorrectly, You can still use Qiling Partition Master to convert FAT32 to NTFS on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7.

Step 1. Right-click the hard drive partition and choose the "Format" option.

Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system, and Cluster size for the partition, then click "Proceed".

Step 3. You can see a warning window, click "OK" to start formatting the hard drive partition.

2 - How to Partition a Hard Drive After Formatting

As a professional disk management tool, the Qiling partition management tool can help you easily move or resize the partition so that your hard disk can play maximum efficiency.

Additional Knowledge About Low Level Format (LLF)

Low-level formatting is recognized as one of the three disk formatting processes, the others are partitioning and high-level formatting.

By wiki's explanation, low-level formatting marks the surfaces of the disks with markers indicating the start of a recording block and other information like block CRC to be used later, in normal operations, by the disk controller to read or write data. This is intended to be the permanent foundation of the disk and is often completed at the factory.

Pros

Low-level formatting is extremely helpful and significant when a hard disk drive or some removable storage devices developed bad tracks, such as track 0 bad, or Windows was unable to complete the format due to write protection. Besides, severe computer virus infection.

Cons

Low-level formatting does damage to the hard drive and accelerates its death. What's more, it's incredibly time-consuming. It is estimated that in the low-level format a hard drive of 320GB takes about 20 hours or even longer.

If you have to do low-level disk formatting, there are three typical approaches, including DOS command, inbuilt disk utility of disc or USB drive, and third-party low-level format tool (demonstrated in this article).

To Sum Up

After low-level format, partition, and high-level format, your hard drive can be perfectly put in use even after experiencing a dead moment. For any problem during the process, you can contact our technical support for help via live chat or email support: support@idiskhome.com.

Low Level Format Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few questions related to the low-level format on Windows 11/10. If you also have any of these problems, you can troubleshoot them here.

1. What is low-level formatting?

The low-level format is to reset the contents of the disk, restore the factory state, divide the cylinder and the track, and divide the track into several sectors. Each sector is divided into the identification part ID, the interval GAP, and the data District DATA, etc. Low-level formatting is a job before high-level formatting. A low-level format can only target one hard disk and cannot support a single partition. Each hard drive has been Low-level formatted by the hard drive manufacturer when it leaves the factory, so users usually do not need to perform Low-level formatting operations.

2. Does low-level format erase all data?

The low-level format means clearing all sectors, including partition tables, boot sectors, etc. It is a very long, but quite effective way to delete private data, boot sector viruses, C-Dilla data, and a few more. Low-level formatting is a lossy operation, which has a certain negative impact on the life of the hard disk.

3. What is the difference between low-level format and standard format?

Formatting is divided into high-level formatting and low-level formatting. The high-level format simply clears data on the hard disk, generates boot information, initializes the FAT table, and marks logical bad sectors. The low-level format divides the hard disk into cylinders and tracks and then divides the tracks into several sectors, and each sector is divided into an identification part ID, a partitioned area, a GAP, and a data area DATA. The low-level format is a job before the high-level format.