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Unable to format Dell USB. Jump to solution. When I got my alienware 17 in the box they give me a USB key with softwares on it, after I used them I want to format but I can't because there is a write only feature. Thank's in advance. Go to Solution. 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0. All forum topics. Accepted Solutions. To format (SanDisk) USB drive in Windows 10/8/7, you can first try Windows native formatting methods. The built-in Disk Management, DiskPart, Windows File Explorer are able to help format hard drive, but they don’t work in some situations. Thus, many users are more likely to use a third-party formatting tool, which is always more powerful.

My hard drive is no longer recognized correctly. When I connect it to the computer appears a message saying that the disk needs formatting. After troubleshooting on another machine I discovered a lot of bad sectors on the hard drive. So is there a way to somehow 'correctly' format my hard drive in a simple way like low level? So it would be recognized after it.

Yes, it can be easily done. For a low level hard disk formatting we recommend using HDD Low Level Format Tool. The free version contains all the needed options. You can remove the limit of reading speed (180 GB per hour) by paying $3.30.

According to its title HDD Low Level FT is designed for low level formatting of hard drives from such manufacturers as Samsung, Hitachi, Maxtor, Fujitsu and etc.

Besides for low-level formatting USB flash drives, memory cards and other storage devices are also suitable. Actually it supports all removable media that can be connected via usb interface to a PC.

In addition to performing the basic functions HDD Low Level Format Tool program displays the diagnostic information using the HDD Smart info.

Be careful! During low level formatting the program will delete all data on the HDD leaving no possibility to recover it even with specialized programs.

Also if you don't know how to use HDD Low Level Format it's easy to erase boot record (MBR) which can be recovered with the help of TestDisk. Carefully follow the instruction and choose the device for formatting.

Other features of HDD Low Level Format Tool program:

• It works with SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, FIREWIRE interfaces
• Supports the formatting of hard drives of large volumes (LBA-48)
• Works on the protocols of USB and Ultra-DMA drives and external hard drives
• Low-level formatting using a card reader
• Extended low-level formatting of a flash drive
• Defines HDD serial number

Alternative to HDD Low Level Format Tool

If the program for low-level formatting didn't help to solve the problem try to regenerate the hard disk and run diagnostics. For this purpose you can use the program HDD Regenerator. It will detect problematic clusters and bad blocks.

In addition to this read the instructions for formatting in NTFS and FAT with the help of various hdd format tools.

Knowledge About Low-Level Format (LLF)

Low-level formatting is recognized as one of the three disk formatting processes, the rest of which 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 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 low-level format a hard drive of 320GB takes about 20 hours or even longer.

Approaches

Do you know how many ways of low-level formatting a hard drive? In conclusion, there are three typical approaches, including DOS command, inbuilt disk utility of disc or USB drive, and third-party low-level format tool.

Best Low-Level Format Tool

Here comes to the crucial part, what's the best low-level format tool that facilitates a low-level formatting manner? Regardless of 5-star reviews from CNet download site, HDD Low Level Format Tool from HDDGURU receives positive feedbacks from personal/home users as well as commercial/professional users, which both promote it as the best low level format software for the most popular hard drive brands, like Seagate, Samsung, Western Digital, Toshiba, Maxtor, etc.

By using the HDD Low-Level Formatting tool, the low-level formatting shall become easier and faster. Even a computer novice could make full use of it. It can erase and low-level format a SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI or SSD hard disk drive, and will also work with any USB and firmware external drive enclosures as well as SD, MMC, MemoryStick and CompactFlash media.

Simply follow the guide to low-level format an entire drive:

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

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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.

How to Use HDD, USB Drive or Memory Card After Low-Level Formatting

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 didn't finish yet after low-level format your hard drive as long as you decide to put it in normal use. For your information, the low-level format is the previous action before the high-level one. In other words, only by high-level formatting, you can use the drive for data storage after performing a low-level format.

Hence, take one more step after using the best low-level format tool to bring your troublesome hard drive back to its life. You need EaseUS free partition manager to format your hard drive with a file system, such as NTFS or FAT32, to make it usable on a specific device.

Step 1: Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose 'Format'.

Step 2: In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: Then you will see a warning window, click 'OK' in it to continue.

Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting the partition on your hard drive.

By combining both low-level format and high-level format, your hard drive can be perfectly put in use even after experiencing a dead moment. By the way, apart from disk formatting, EaseUS Partition Master offers more hard drive management solutions, such as disk partitioning, disk wipe, etc.