Editing Disk formatting (section)

==== Transition away from LLF ====

Starting in the late 1980s, driven by the volume of IBM compatible PCs, HDDs became routinely available pre-formatted with a compatible low-level format. At the same time, the industry moved from [[Hard disk drive interface#BSDI|''historical (dumb) bit serial interfaces'']] to modern (intelligent) [[Hard disk drive interface#BSI|''bit serial interfaces'']] and [[Hard disk drive interface#WSI|''word serial interfaces'']] wherein the low-level format was performed at the factory.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The NOSPIN Group, Inc.|url=http://freepctech.com/pc/001/007.shtml|title=Low level formatting an IDE hard drive|website=FreePCTech.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716043736/http://freepctech.com/pc/001/007.shtml|archive-date=July 16, 2012|access-date=December 24, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|website=The PC Guide. Site Version: 2.2.0 - Version Date: April 17, 2001|url=http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities-c.html|title=Low-Level Format, Zero-Fill and Diagnostic Utilities|access-date=May 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103014814/http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities-c.html|archive-date= January 3, 2019}}</ref>  Accordingly, it is not possible for an end user to low-level format a modern hard disk drive.