In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will look at how to prepare storage for its first use. I will focus on hard disks; however, the same principles apply to other media types. Once you format a storage device, some of the options you choose you are stuck with unless you reformat the storage device, so it is important to understand what these options do. Download PowerPoint: https://itfreetraining.com/handouts/ap/3b60.pptx Formatting To prepare a hard disk for use, it needs to be formatted. Although I will focus on hard disks for this video, the same process applies to other storage devices including solid-state drives. Formatting is the process of configuring and preparing the hard disk for data. There are essentially two categories of formatting hard disks. The first is low-level formatting. In the old days it was possible to low-level format a hard disk. This was sometimes required if the motors controlling the hard disk were not moving to the same location as they did previously, or the platters on the hard disk changed shape. In old hard disks, the platters were more susceptible to changing size due to factors such as heat. Nowadays, hard disks are more reliable, so they don’t have these problems and the data is very tightly packed. So packed in fact, there is no room for the data to move around once it has been put in place. For these reasons, low-level formatting is done in the factory using specialized equipment. You may see software that is advertised as a low-level formatting tool; however, this software essentially just erases all the data on the drive, it doesn’t change the underlying structure of the hard disk, which is what low-level formatting does. To understand a bit better what low-level formatting does, consider that you have a hard disk platter. In order to be able to store data on the drive, you first need to organize how you are going to lay the data out on the platter. At the factory, the platter will be divided up into sectors. Data is written on the platter so the hard disk can tell where these sectors start and where they stop. Once these sectors are written in the factory, they are fixed and can’t be changed. These sectors form the basic building blocks for storing data on the hard disk. A single sector is the smallest unit or block of data that can be stored on the hard disk. If the hard disk wants to access the data, it must read the whole block. It is possible for an operating system to divide the sectors into smaller parts, but if it does this, it will reduce the performance of the hard disk. This is because, if the sectors are subdivided, the hard disk will still be required to access the whole sector, even if only a segment of the sector is required. This results in more reads and writes to the hard disk. In order for an operating system to store data on a hard disk, it needs some way to keep track of how data is stored using these sectors. To do this, a high-level format is needed. The high-level format will determine the allocation unit that will be used for that hard disk. In older operating systems this allocation unit may be referred to as a cluster. Description too long for YouTube. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. https://itfreetraining.com/ap/3b60 References “The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1001)” Chapter 6 Paragraph 188 - 191 “CompTIA A+ Certification exam guide. Tenth edition” Page 370 “Advanced Format” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format “Picture: Hard disk” https://pixabay.com/photos/hard-drive-hard-disk-hdd-disk-4699797/ “Picture: Sectors” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_sector#/media/File:Disk-structure2.svg “Picture: Hard disk”https://pixabay.com/photos/hard-disk-drive-hardware-data-2477/ “Picture: Blocks” https://pixabay.com/photos/partition-brick-perspective-3369706/ “Picture: Scales” https://pixabay.com/photos/scale-question-importance-balance-2635397/ “Picture: Light Design” https://pixabay.com/illustrations/uhd-wallpaper-laser-light-design-6686660/ “Picture: Advanced Format” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Advanced_format_logo.png “Picture: Hard disk drive format efficiency with Advanced Format 4K technology and distributed ECC” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format#/media/File:Advanced_format_(4Kib)_HDD_sector.svg “Picture: Paper Mesh” https://unsplash.com/photos/79T37JljDZ4 “Picture: Pixels” https://pixabay.com/vectors/pixel-square-background-halftone-2658014/ “Picture: Hard disk” https://unsplash.com/photos/GNyjCePVRs8 “Picture: Cargo containers” https://pixabay.com/illustrations/shipping-containers-cargo-containers-6607770/ “Picture: Woman in room” https://www.pexels.com/photo/pensive-female-standing-near-window-in-dark-room-7258440/ Credits Trainer: Austin Mason http://ITFreeTraining.com/ Voice Talent: HP Lewis http://hplewis.com/ Quality Assurance: Brett Batson http://www.pbb-proofreading.uk/