Definition: Format


A process that prepares a hard drive to store data. Low-level formatting sets up the locations of sectors so user data can be stored in them. Most hard drives are low-level formatted at the factory and therefore do not need to be low-level formatted by the end user. You need to perform a high-level format (with EZ-Drive or the Format command) on your new hard drive before you can use it. Formatting erases all the information on a hard drive and it sets up the file system needed for storing and retrieving files.




DID YOU KNOW?  DATA RECOVERY FACTS AND TERMINOLOGY:

Data Recovery Fact

Disk

A portion of a computer's RAM set aside for temporarily holding information that has been read from a disk. The disk cache does not hold entire files as does a RAM disk, but information that has either been recently requested from a disk or has previously been written to a disk.

Please visit our Data Recovery Knowledgebase for more facts and terminology.