For all new hard drives, low-level formatting has already been implemented by manufacturers, so it does not require reinitialization. It is unlikely that under normal circumstances you will have to practice this action yourself, since technically this type of procedure can only be performed by the manufacturer.
Low-level formatting inherently represents initialization and testing of the disk surface, since during this process, recording is performed with read verification in all its sectors. In the absence of any problems, there is no need to re-check and initialize the surface. First, you can figure out how the formatting process differs at a low and a high level.
Low-level formatting is an operation in which the magnetic surface of the disk is covered with servo tags, which are special information labels used to position the read head. It is made using special equipment at the stage of physical manufacturing of a hard disk. At the first start of this procedure, the plates are completely clean, that is, they do not contain any information at all. The information that is recorded as a result of this process is never subject to change.
There are two types of high-level formatting: quick formatting and normal formatting. With quick formatting, the device is not checked for bad sectors. In normal mode, it creates the main boot table, which contains sections and the structure of the file system, sets the boot sector, and so on. The integrity of the medium itself is checked for defective sectors, which are then blocked.
Regarding the term low-level formatting, there are currently several myths. Despite the fact that many of them are already dispelled, there are still problems with the formatting of old ATA and SCSI disks. There are special programs that can do this. Since the ATA specification was created for unique teams of specific manufacturers, there is a set of special commands for many of these devices that do not allow unauthorized formatting. All these commands were created by device manufacturers, so you need to find them before you begin the process. Very often they are intended not only for disks from a specific manufacturer, but also for individual models of hard drives.
Since modern discs are constantly in conversion mode, they are protected against the possibility of changing the defect map or the bevel coefficient. Devices with the property of zone recording are in this state constantly, therefore they are fully protected. For most models, there is a special command set used in the formatting process. At some manufacturers, you can see the offer of programs for low-level formatting. It is recommended, first of all, to test the program that is offered by the manufacturer, especially since all of them are provided for free. If no special initialization program has been released from the manufacturer, you can use the very convenient Drive Fitness Test application. It does an excellent job with any drive, offering detailed, thorough testing of the hard drive.
If you are more concerned about the issue affecting the low-level formatting of a flash drive, then the HDD Low Level Format Tool application is perfect for such a case. The peculiarity of this program is that it allows you to restore not only flash drives, but also hard drives. This tool is universal. A user-friendly interface allows the user to quickly learn the principles of work and try out the low-level formatting of flash drives.