![]() The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume. I haven't taken intro to OS's lately, but as I recall this operation scales ~log2(drive_size) in time and space, or better. Differences between a Quick format and a regular format 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. On the other hand, a 'quick' format just clobbers the FS metadata and ignores the rest of the drive. making Yeti noises, on fire, or with a hole drilled through it). Moreover, the only NTFS format failures, quick or otherwise, that I have seen have been on disks that are very obviously damaged (e.g. Then again, I don't really know how HDs typically fail - I simply know that no matter what the actual defect is, the typical way to handle it is to avoid the affected block. That only tests one bit pattern per block - its probably sufficient to find full-block failures but not single stuck bits. To write and then read the entire drive - the operation required to perform a very basic 'full test' will take just over two hours. A beautiful new 750 GB barracuda has ~200MB/s of read/write bandwidth ( ). Some may call me naive for assuming that the drive doesn't arrive in a damaged state, but I generally buy fairly high-quality drives.Īs far as how effective a 'full' format is, however, I'm doubtful. I almost always do a full format if a drive has been previously formatted - after all, damage in drives accumulates. Such HDD is not reliable as undetected bad sectors can damage the whole drive.I generally use quick formats on new drives only. Using a HDD that contains undetected bad sectors can result in data loss. ![]() You shouldn’t mind waiting as this operation will ensure security of your data and stability of your PC. The only drawback is that it takes more time. How can you make sure your brand new HDD have no bad sectors? To avoid any room for speculations and to be 100% sure that you are choosing the safer option, you should full-format your new HDD. I once bought a brand new HDD and it failed after one week. Unchecking this option means that you choose to perform full format, which will erase data, scan the partition for bad sectors, and change the file system. ![]() Quick format means that Windows just delete the data and change the file system. So if this is true, then we should full format new hard-drives too because they may contain few bad sectors. When you format a partition in Disk Management, Windows offers you the option to 'Perform a quick format'. A brand new hard-disk you pull out from a factory sealed box, can have bad-sectors. However, experts say that new HDD can have bad sectors too. Theoretically, you don’t need to full-format it a quick one is all it needs this is because our goal isn’t erasing data or scan for bad sectors. When it comes to formatting a brand new HDD, things get a bit confusing. You can find links to websites of such tools at the end of this post. If you are selling or disposing your HDD and you want to make sure that all its data is erased, then you should use a good HDD erasing software instead of relying on Windows built-in full-format feature. If you want to erase data from an old HDD or if you are formatting an old drive in preparation to install new Windows, then using full-format option makes more sense. the format command writes zeros to the whole disk when a full format is performed, says Microsoft. Writing zeros means all previous data on your HDD is erased. A Quick Format will rebuild the file system, volume label. ![]() Full format scans for bad sectors and it writes zeros to the whole drive. The question of what happens in a full-format is up for debate, but most people agree to the following points. The full-scan process marks, or labels, all bad sectors it finds your HDD stores this information in allocation table so that the operating system knows not to write data on these sectors. When you perform a full format, your hard drive checks its surface for bad sectors. All the actual data remains intact inside your hard disk when you do a quick-format it just removes the data-sheet that contains information about where files and folders are stored inside your HDD. It is like deleting just the beginning and end of sound tracks on a DVD without changing/deleting anything in between. ![]() I bought a new hard drive should I full format it or is it enough to do a quick format? My hard drive is brand new, so is there any reason why I should wait for hours to do a full-format?Ī quick format resets the partition tables in a HDD making all the available space writable again. ![]()
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