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Formatting questions

K

Korialstrasza

Gawd
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
561
Heya,

With windows XP, what's the difference between quick format and normal format? I've always used normal, but have wondered exactly what the difference is.

Secondly, if I am installing windows and I just formatted the HD (normal not quick) then exit the xp installation, restart computer, re-enter the installation, do I have to reformat the HD again? or is it still fine from the last formatting a few moments ago and I can use the "leave as be" option or whatever.

Thanks dudes.
 
You can leave as be if it's been formated already to some filesystem that windows recognizes.

Quick format just blanks out the meta data of what's where I believe, full format(I could be looking at this wrong) actually blanks each sector on the drive.
 
That's what I would have said too. Quick formatting for the win, what's the point in waiting ages for a normal format ?
 
A full format will mark bad sectors so they don't get data written to them, which is a good thing.
 
defakto said:
A full format will mark bad sectors so they don't get data written to them, which is a good thing.
Click to expand...

And here's the link to MS saying the same:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

"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."

Just figured i'd add a reference so that all of us can see that defakto knows his stuff :)
 
Thanks for that link drizz. I have always wondered why windows format took hours when WD data lifeguard format tools only took about a minute max. Cheers!

 
blksun000 said:
Thanks for that link drizz. I have always wondered why windows format took hours when WD data lifeguard format tools only took about a minute max. Cheers!

Click to expand...
Well, defakto did the thinking, I just did the linking ;) *rhymes*
 
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