Formatting damages your hard drive?

[deadman_uk]

Ive heard people say that formatting your hard drive damages it.... is this true?

 

[The Bryophyte]

In a word, no.

It might contribute to some wear and tear, but it does not do any physical or otherwise significant damage to your drive.

 

[Mabrito]

At first I didnt believe this. 3 months ago I formatted my Samsung SP1614C hard drive for the first time(except the first time I got it, so I guess I formatted it 2 times if you want to get technical about it). It was a 160 gig hard drive. Now I only get 130 gigs of usable space. Dont know what happened to the other 30 gigs, not that much of a problem either since I really dont even need 80 gigs of space, just kinda sucks that I am shorted 30 gigs. But my other 40 gig hard drive in my old computer, been formatted at least 20 times, and still workd perfectly fine. So I guess this is one of those debates.

 

[compslckr]

i formatt my 200gb external backup drive weekly and it is still going strong, i dont think it has any negative impact on the drive

 

[The Bryophyte]

Your drive probably had bad sectors that the format detected....

 

[ncantador]

At first I didnt believe this. 3 months ago I formatted my Samsung SP1614C hard drive for the first time(except the first time I got it, so I guess I formatted it 2 times if you want to get technical about it). It was a 160 gig hard drive. Now I only get 130 gigs of usable space. Dont know what happened to the other 30 gigs, not that much of a problem either since I really dont even need 80 gigs of space, just kinda sucks that I am shorted 30 gigs. But my other 40 gig hard drive in my old computer, been formatted at least 20 times, and still workd perfectly fine. So I guess this is one of those debates.

Are you using XP, if so you probably formatted your hard disk with the original cd. which will not recognized drives bigger than 130gb. The remainder of your drive is probably on an unformatted partition. To check this go to start>settings>administrative tools>disk management. If the extra space is there, just format it and you'll get your space back.

 

[Mabrito]

Are you using XP, if so you probably formatted your hard disk with the original cd. which will not recognized drives bigger than 130gb. The remainder of your drive is probably on an unformatted partition. To check this go to start>settings>administrative tools>disk management. If the extra space is there, just format it and you'll get your space back.

Really, Its actually 127 gigs I have total. Well I did format it with the installation disk. What do I use to format it, to get my full 160 gigs back? I got 80 gigs left out of 127 gigs. Also, I cannot find that disk management folder you are talking about.

 

[fuelvolts]

. To check this go to start>settings>administrative tools>disk management. If the extra space is there, just format it and you'll get your space back.

ncantador told you what to do Lazy Moron

Or, if you are really a Lazy Moron, then go out and buy Partition Magic. Your HD is not dead.

 

[Mabrito]

Ok found it LOL. Thanks for the help!!!

 

[deadman_uk]

You need to install Windows with SP2 intergrated into it, learn how to do it here http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

the 30GB is not lost, you can access it by going to admin tools in control panel and going to Computer Management then disk management, partition the 30GB and it will create a new drive.

 

[defakto]

If formatting destroys drives...i'd have no harddrives left.

 

[ncantador]

You need to install Windows with SP2 intergrated into it, learn how to do it here http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

the 30GB is not lost, you can access it by going to admin tools in control panel and going to Computer Management then disk management, partition the 30GB and it will create a new drive.

Glad to help you, lazy moron
and thanks deadman for correcting me on that path to disk management, start>settings WTF was that!!

 

[Mabrito]

Glad to help you, lazy moron
and thanks deadman for correcting me on that path to disk management, start>settings WTF was that!!

Yeah you confused me there, and thats why I couldnt find it. Why does the installation CD limit you to only 130 gigs anyways? One day next month, whenever I get my Raptor, and a new motherboard with the 955X chipset in it(no dual core, just want to have that option in a year or so), I plan on formatting it again. How would I go about formatting it, and have all 160 gigs of it formatted at once? I do not plan on running RAID, just want a Raptor for the Operating system, my games, and for all my video editing programs and Visual Studio.NET then all the other Apps I run will be on my 160 right now

 

[E4g1e]

Yeah you confused me there, and thats why I couldnt find it. Why does the installation CD limit you to only 130 gigs anyways? One day next month, whenever I get my Raptor, and a new motherboard with the 955X chipset in it(no dual core, just want to have that option in a year or so), I plan on formatting it again. How would I go about formatting it, and have all 160 gigs of it formatted at once? I do not plan on running RAID, just want a Raptor for the Operating system, my games, and for all my video editing programs and Visual Studio.NET then all the other Apps I run will be on my 160 right now

You probably have a Windows XP installation CD with no Service Pack whatsoever on it.

 

[defakto]

Yeah you confused me there, and thats why I couldnt find it. Why does the installation CD limit you to only 130 gigs anyways? One day next month, whenever I get my Raptor, and a new motherboard with the 955X chipset in it(no dual core, just want to have that option in a year or so), I plan on formatting it again. How would I go about formatting it, and have all 160 gigs of it formatted at once? I do not plan on running RAID, just want a Raptor for the Operating system, my games, and for all my video editing programs and Visual Studio.NET then all the other Apps I run will be on my 160 right now

Windows can only access 137 GB without Large Block addressing this is also true for alot of older ide controllers too. It has to do with the number of bits that can actually be addressed.

 

[delusion_2005]

At first I didnt believe this. 3 months ago I formatted my Samsung SP1614C hard drive for the first time(except the first time I got it, so I guess I formatted it 2 times if you want to get technical about it). It was a 160 gig hard drive. Now I only get 130 gigs of usable space. Dont know what happened to the other 30 gigs, not that much of a problem either since I really dont even need 80 gigs of space, just kinda sucks that I am shorted 30 gigs. But my other 40 gig hard drive in my old computer, been formatted at least 20 times, and still workd perfectly fine. So I guess this is one of those debates.

Lolz you said u just formatted right?
Install service pack 2 it will solve you issue.

 

[delusion_2005]

Ive heard people say that formatting your hard drive damages it.... is this true?

Lolz seriously dount it man, i formatte heaps of time on my old rig and it still working great.

 

[Unperson]

To be honest, i'm not certain that this works in XP but I know it works in Server 2003. Wouldn't hurt to give it a try :-P

Try converting to Dynamic Disk, and then see if you can expand the voume. I've done this on Server 2003 after hot-adding disks to a RAID 5 array.

 

[DruSi3r]

i reformat my raptor about every 2-3 months. Keeps my system nice and fast (and limits the number of games I can play at any given time). And i get the newest CATs and program updates. I recommend formatting often.

 

[Ice Czar]

HDD Mythology @ rojakpot

Myth #1 : Formatting a hard disk too many times will cause it to fail.

Truth : To put it shortly, formatting your hard disk will NOT reduce its lifespan. Yes, formatting is popularly thought to reduce hard disk lifespan but that is nothing more than a myth.

Formatting is NOT a stressful event for the hard disk. The read/write heads do NOT touch the platter surface, so damage to the platter only occurs if there is any shock to the drive during operation. You can format your hard disk 20 times a day, every day and it will not be more likely to fail than any other drive.


Myth #5 : If your hard disk has bad sectors, formatting will cause more bad sectors to appear!

Truth : If your hard disk has bad sectors from recurrent head crashes, then the number of bad sectors is GUARANTEED to increase as time goes by.

The reason for the increased number of bad sectors when you format the hard disk is because formatting your hard disk reveals the new bad sectors! Don't forget, when you format the hard disk, the format utility will check for and reveal the new bad sectors.

So, formatting will not increase the number of bad sectors in a failing hard disk. It just reveals what's going on.

> see link for Myths 2, 3 & 4

in fact all formatting does is "loose" the old metadata and designate where the new metadata will be,
very little actual writting is done, most of the "time" spent is to verify the sectors are good (difference between a quick and full format)

 

[memphis_1220]

I perform a full format once every fortnight. Does not seem to damage this piece. All it does, as someone has already said, is it keeps it fast, fresh and free of junk that you pick up along the way.