What does formating an HDD with P-list and G-list mean ?

[Matiw]

I can understand what regenerating the Translator with P-list and G-list mean; but, does formating an HDD with P-list and G-list make sense ? I have seen this option in some HDD repair tools.

Thanks for any explanation.

[guru]

If your drive had prior grown defects and you format with PLIST only you will not have defect free logical media as the relocated defects revert back to their original "physical" location

[Matiw]

Thanks guru.

I may be wrong but this is what I have understood so far: when it comes out of the factory, an HDD has a translator that is generated in such a way that it skips the Bad Sectors, and numbers the rest of the sectors serially. The Bad sectors that grow during the life of the drive, those in the G-lis,t are simply mapped. Now, if for some reason, one has to regenerate the translator, he can just regenerate the translator with the P-list and leave the G-list intact. Or regenerate the translator with the P-list and G-list and clear G-list. This will make the drive 100% accessible, or so I believed.

Now, what does "formatting an HDD with P-list and G-list" exactly do ? We can do High-Level or Low-level formatting, but why do we even have to mention those parameters again (P-list and G-list) during formatting ? Or are we talking about one more type of "formatting" ?

If your drive had prior grown defects and you format with PLIST only you will not have defect free logical media as the relocated defects revert back to their original "physical" location

[guru]

Question > Now, what does "formatting an HDD with P-list and G-list" exactly do ?

Factory Format with P-list and G-list writes sequentially from MINLBA to MAXLBA ignoring factory found defects and grown defects (In some cases FW will also try to write to original G defect locations but this depends upon flags and mode of operation)

Question > why do we even have to mention those parameters again (P-list and G-list) during formatting ?

If you don't take into account P+G defects your format will probably fail