Editing Disk formatting (section)

==== Command-set support ====
SCSI provides a {{tt|Format Unit}} command. This command performs the needed certification step to weed out [[bad sector]]s and has the ability to change sector size. The command-line sg_format program may be used to issue the command.<ref>{{man|8|sg_format|Linux}}</ref> A variety of sector sizes may be chosen, but are not available on all devices: 512, 520, 524, 528, 4096, 4112, 4160, and 4224-byte sectors.<ref>[http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/whitepaper/tp595_building_faster_more_flexible_infrastructure.pdf Seagate SAS drives] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129180307/http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/whitepaper/tp595_building_faster_more_flexible_infrastructure.pdf |date=2010-11-29}}</ref> Although the SCSI command provides many options, even resizing, it does not touch on the track layer where low-level format happens.<ref>{{cite web |title=INCITS 506-202x - Information technology - SCSI Block Commands - 4 (SBC-4) draft revision 22 |url=https://standards.incits.org/apps/group_public/download.php/124286/livelink |access-date=22 May 2023 |date=15 September 2020}}</ref>

ATA does not expose a low-level format functionality, but they allow the sector size to be changed via {{tt|SET SECTOR CONFIGURATION}} ({{tt|--set-sector-size}} in <code>[[hdparm]]</code>). (Consumer drives usually only support 512 and [[Advanced Format|4096-byte sector]]s.) Although sector-size change may scramble data, it is not a safe way of erasing data, nor is any certification done. ATA offers a separate {{tt|SECURITY ERASE}} ({{tt|--security-erase}} in <code>[[hdparm]]</code>) command for erasure.<ref>{{man|8|hdparm|Linux}}</ref>

[[NVMe]] drives have a standard method of formatting, available in, for example, the Linux command-line program {{tt|nvme format}}. Sector size change and secure erase options are available.<ref>{{man|1|nvme-format|Linux}}</ref> Note that NVMe drives are generally solid-state, making this "track" distinction useless.

[[Seagate Technology]] drives offer a [[TTL serial]] debugging console.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seagate Serial Talk {{!}} OS/2 Museum |url=https://www.os2museum.com/wp/seagate-serial-talk/}}</ref> Among other things, the console can format the "system" and "user" partitions while performing defect checks (re-initialization over pre-established logical blocks) and modify track parameters (managing the ''real'' low-level format).<ref>{{cite web |title=F3 Serial Port Diagnostics |url=https://dokumen.tips/documents/f3-serialport-diagnostics.html?page=1}} older version available from </ref>