Low level formatting no longer exists for modern HDs because modern drives do not use stepper motors to locate tracks, and hence there is no way to determine where tracks should be recreated on the media. Instead in modern drives locate tracks based on special servo control data permanently written to the drive platters at the factory by the hard drive manufacturer, using highly specialized equipment. They can only be re-initialized and the surface checked for errors.
A "quick format" is the process of setting up an empty file system on the disk, and installing a boot sector and is fast but if, as well, the entire disk may be scanned for defects, it takes considerably longer, up to several hours on larger hard disks.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by green granite; 2nd November 2008 at 06:52.