Can I do fast format on a brand new hard drive?

C

cpthk

New Member
I heard from many people, they said if I buy a brand new hard drive. It is highly recommended to do a regular format at the first time instead of fast format.
They said because all hard disks have bad sectors on the disk, if you do a complete format, the hard drive will mark those bad sectors to prevent data written there.
Is that true?
Thanks.
 
Last edited:
The time difference varies with the size of the hard drive. I always have large drives, so I do a quick format. Works fine for me, and I never have any issues.
 
Burgerbob said:
Full format is the only way to go, i never quick format. It doesnt make a huge difference anyways.
Click to expand...

Well, when you get to 250GB+ which isn't uncommon at all now, it takes forever for a full format. If it's one that I use a lot and know that it works ok, or if I did a full format recently I'll just quick format it.
 
Yeah with a new drive I only do quick formats. If it's an older drive I usually do a full format.
 
A new harddrive should never have any bad sectors (not visible from the outside anyway). When shipped from the factory, bad sectors should have been remapped already
 
Wipes everything out. Most of the time anyways, some people use 3rd part programs to wipe out their hard drive so no one can retrieve the info (credit card no.s, personal info. ect ect).
 
It writes some initial filesytem structure. If an old filesystem exists, it's like ripping out the index of a book. The pages are still there, but you lost the index, by writing a new one. That's why you can recovery a formatted harddrive with special tools
 
what formatting does depends on the type of format.

a quick format just recreates the index that tells the computer what sectors the files are in on the hard drive platters. it'll leave all those sectors containing info and they just get overwritten over time. hence the ability to easily retrieve info off them via programs like Stellar Phoenix, although past experiences have shown that these files, although retrieved, aren't always usable (would get MP3s that suddenly change in the middle of the file to what was a different mp3 due to the files being split across sectors and there being no index to specify this)

a full format usually replaces the tables AND remaps the drive, actually erasing all the sectors.
 
Last edited:
zaroba said:
a full format usually replaces the tables AND remaps the drive, actually erasing all the sectors.
Click to expand...

A full format (normal) doesn't erase more than the quick one. As someone said earlier, it checks for bad sectors, that's why it takes so long
 
StrangleHold and tyttebøvs are correct, the only reason a regular format takes so long is the scan for bad sectors, either option 'erases' the files
When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top