How to perform low-level formatting of a USB flash drive

What is low-level formatting

Initially, this process meant an operation for marking disk blocks and recording service information. On early models of hard drives, this procedure had to be performed at regular intervals. Modern drives are formatted in this way only once - during the initial setup - on special equipment at the factory. Therefore, now, low-level formatting is understood as the complete erasure of information from disks, after which it cannot be recovered in any way.

If we are talking about USB-drives, then the low-level formatting with the help of the manufacturer's specialized software is also considered. It allows you to perform a deeper erase than with regular formatting, and reconfigure the flash drive.

During low-level media cleaning, zeros are written to all disk blocks - junk information that replaces old data and makes it recovery impossible.

In addition, unlike usual formatting, manipulations are carried out not with a separate partition, but with the entire drive. And this process lasts much longer.

When to do low-level formatting of a flash drive

Obviously, this operation should not be resorted to just like that. It is recommended to perform it only in case of problems with the flash drive. For example, when you can't clear the drive in the usual way using standard OS tools, with messages that the disk is write-protected or needs to be formatted for further work with it, as well as other errors.

Another scenario is data erasure, when you need to transfer a USB flash drive to another person, or when important information needs to be irrevocably destroyed.

What programs are suitable for low-level formatting of a flash drive

Best of all, proprietary utilities from flash drive manufacturers will cope with this. They have such Kingston, Transcend, Samsung, Apacer and other vendors. Unfortunately, the programs are usually only available for Windows. Therefore, if you have a different OS, you will have to use other methods or ask for help from friends.

There are also universal utilities from third-party developers that can interact with different flash drives. One of the most popular programs is HDDGURU. The limitations of the free version are 180 GB of data per hour and a speed of 50 MB / s. More than enough for USB sticks.

In addition, you can use the standard OS tools. Data erasure and overwriting disk zeros are supported on macOS, Linux distributions, and Windows. But in case of serious problems, the system resources may not be able to cope.

How to perform low-level formatting of a USB flash drive in Windows

Microsoft OS users have the largest selection of tools. For example, let's use HDDGURU as the most versatile option.

Download and install the application by link or use the portable version without installation. Launch HDDGURU and click Continue for free.

Select a USB flash drive from the list of disks, guided by the model name and size. Click the Continue button.

Click Format this device and confirm your agreement that all data will be permanently deleted.

Wait until the end of the process and close the program window.

Now go to the This PC menu in conductor and by right-clicking on the flash drive, select "Format".

Check the box next to "Quick (clear the table of contents)", click "Start" and confirm your intention to erase the data.

The drive will be ready for use in a few seconds.

How to perform low-level formatting of a flash drive in macOS

On a Mac, you can format a USB flash drive using the built-in disk tool. Navigate to Applications → Utilities and launch Disk Utility from there or via Spotlight search.

Select your flash drive in the side menu and click "Erase" on the toolbar.

Set the drive name, format and partition scheme (it is better to leave the default settings). Click "Erase".

Wait for the end of the process and click "Finish". After that, you can work with the flash drive.

How to perform low-level formatting of a USB flash drive in Linux

Popular Linux distributions there is also a utility for working with disks, just like in macOS. It is called “Disks”.

Launch "Disks" through the menu or search.

Select the USB stick and select "Format Disk" from the drop-down menu.

Specify the cleaning method "Overwrite existing data with zeros (Slow)" and click "Format ...".

Confirm the action by clicking the "Format" button again.

Wait for the process to finish.

Now click on the plus button.

Specify the size of the partition and click Next.

Set the name and type of the disk, and then click "Create". In a few seconds flash drive will be ready to go.

Artyom Kozoriz