Quick format or normal format?

technicks · Jan 21, 2007

Hi there.

I'm going to format and install fresh Windows. What is the best way to format btw.
I have done it many times always quick format. But i want to know what is better.

Thanks

peach1971 · Jan 21, 2007

Normal format additionally scans for bad sectors.

I run Active@KillDisk before formatting my own C: partition.
But that´s just a personal habit.

Jimmy 2004 · Jan 21, 2007

There is a slight risk of having problems with a quick format, so I personally prefer to do a normal format. That way it ensures I don't have disk-related problems on a fresh install.

VulkanBros · Jan 21, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
There is a slight risk of having problems with a quick format, so I personally prefer to do a normal format. That way it ensures I don't have disk-related problems on a fresh install.

A full format does three things:
Erases all data
Sets up a system for recording what is stored where on the disk
Checks the disk for physical errors.

A quick format skips the check for errors, so it is a much faster process.
You can quick format a disk only if it was already formatted.
When you suspect there may be a problem with a disk, you will have to do a full format to find out.

Wile E · Jan 21, 2007

I always Quick format first. But, if I have a new drive, a drive formatted in something other than NTFS or FAT32, or otherwise encounter a problem with quick format, I do the normal format.

technicks · Jan 21, 2007

I will try a normal format this time. Thanks. :toast:

W1zzard · Jan 21, 2007

on modern drives there is no point in running regular format for initial installation

ide hdds automatically detect bad sectors and relocate the sectors to a spare sectors area

technicks · Jan 21, 2007

That saves me a lot of time. Thanks W1zzard. :toast:

Deleted member 24505 · Jan 21, 2007

i always quick format,you know how long it takes to normal format a 250gb drive? lol

Wile E · Jan 21, 2007

tigger69 said:
i always quick format,you know how long it takes to normal format a 250gb drive? lol

I have a 500GB drive in my iMac, to format 250GB for boot camp and Windows took around 45min. I tried quick format first, but it didn't work. So, yes, I feel your pain. lol

Darksaber · Jan 21, 2007

Actually: A quick format only gets rid of the allocation table, so the data is still on the drive, but not accessible any longer. So windows thinks the drive is empty and fills the allocation table with new data pointing to new sectors with new data. Thus overwriting the old sectors.

cheers
DS

TLH · Jan 21, 2007

Darksaber said:
Actually: A quick format only gets rid of the allocation table, so the data is still on the drive, but not accessible any longer. So windows thinks the drive is empty and fills the allocation table with new data pointing to new sectors with new data. Thus overwriting the old sectors.

cheers
DS

Full format only does that aswell afaik plus the checks discussed earlier,the checks being what takes the long time to complete.The only way to totally get rid of the info is to zero it.

Jimmy 2004 · Jan 21, 2007

TLH said:
Full format only does that aswell afaik plus the checks discussed earlier,the checks being what takes the long time to complete.The only way to totally get rid of the info is to zero it.

The only way to get rid of data is to burn it, then smash it up as much as you can (even then some of it could probably still be recovered with enough effort). But in this case there isn't sensitive data, so if W1zz says bad sectors aren't a problem a quick format should be sufficient.

Darksaber · Jan 21, 2007

*ehehe* *phew* so I was not completely off with my statement LOL wasn't completely sure bout that...

cheers
DS

TLH · Jan 21, 2007

Jimmy 2004 said:
The only way to get rid of data is to burn it, then smash it up as much as you can (even then some of it could probably still be recovered with enough effort). But in this case there isn't sensitive data, so if W1zz says bad sectors aren't a problem a quick format should be sufficient.

Darik's Boot'n'Nuke has a high level sweep (takes ages mind) that is secure enough to stop even the CIA recovering the data.

Smashing it up seems rather terminal if you want to use it again.That wasn't my point though.All I was trying to say was full format isn't any better than quick,it just has a few checks thrown in.

Wile E · Jan 21, 2007

TLH said:
Darik's Boot'n'Nuke has a high level sweep (takes ages mind) that is secure enough to stop even the CIA recovering the data.

Smashing it up seems rather terminal if you want to use it again.That wasn't my point though.All I was trying to say was full format isn't any better than quick,it just has a few checks thrown in.

Read my above post. Normal format apparently has it's uses. Quick format just would not work at all when I used Boot Camp to install Windows on my iMac. Normal format fixed it, haven't tried quick format since the install however. I'll try it again when I decide to redo the windows install. My best guess is that it has something to do with going from the HFS+ file system to NTFS.

TLH · Jan 21, 2007

Now that you're in NTFS you'll probably find a quick format will work fine,I could be wrong though.

Wile E · Jan 21, 2007

TLH said:
Now that you're in NTFS you'll probably find a quick format will work fine,I could be wrong though.

That's at least what I'm hoping for. I'm probably gonna have to reinstall it already(I've only had it for a week). I built a custom version of XP using nLite, with a ton of stuff removed. Unfortunately, I seemed to have removed a service necessary for streaming content to my 360. lol. Oh well, back to the drawing board I guess. lol

cdawall · Jan 21, 2007

if you hae the disk that came with you HDD it has the quick format stuff on it and like darksaber said it only rewrites thee allocation table which doesnt erase your data so its not very secure but take 10sec vs 1hr

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Quick format or normal format?

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cdawall

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