Benefits of a full format?

B@Th*nG · 2 Jan 2009 at 16:11

I've just migrated from my old 320gb hdd to a 1tb drive and am going to use the old 320gb drive as storage. Are there any benefits to be had from full formatting the drive, over a quick format, when i'm not going to be selling it on or anything?

B@

Nanobot · 2 Jan 2009 at 16:30

A full format will find bad sectors whereas a quick one wont. If you ever plan to reinstall windows, its worthwhile always doing a full format as it will save you time in the long run as bad sectors will screw with windows setup when copying files etc. Seen it several times as its been the topic of phone calls I sometimes get.

Hatter The Mad · 2 Jan 2009 at 16:36

A quick format simply formats the master file table. A full format enters every single hard drive sector and makes it writeable (as well as deleting the MFT) thereby checking each sector too. If it finds a bad one, it'll close it.

miniyazz · 3 Jan 2009 at 01:45

B@Th*nG said:
I've just migrated from my old 320gb hdd to a 1tb drive and am going to use the old 320gb drive as storage. Are there any benefits to be had from full formatting the drive, over a quick format, when i'm not going to be selling it on or anything?

B@

I heard a good bit of advice a few weeks ago. If you're confident in the health of the drive, do a quick format, but if there might be a problem with it (even if it's just the first format you've done in a couple of years) then it's probably worth doing a full format. Unless for some reason it has to be formatted in the next 10 minutes, it takes a couple of hours to complete a full format

SkeeterUK · 3 Jan 2009 at 02:00

Worth full formatting a new drive at all or just a quick format?

BlackAle · 3 Jan 2009 at 02:20

Not full formatted a drive seen the quick format option was available many years ago.

miniyazz · 3 Jan 2009 at 03:38

SkeeterPSA said:
Worth full formatting a new drive at all or just a quick format?

I've never had a problem with quick-formatting a new drive, but theoretically you might do, as a full format is more likely to pick up errors. Since you can easily go away and do something before setting it up properly (even though you want to start using it straight away), it kindof makes sense to do a full format rather than risk losing data later on.
Do as I say, not as I do

cotton_flex · 3 Jan 2009 at 04:39

When installing Vista, in the setup it does not say full or quick just 'format'. By the speed of it, it is a quick format. Anyway of selecting full format during install?

Even with this format, I'm enjoying a very responsive machine. My raptor hard drive has some breathing space now

miniyazz · 4 Jan 2009 at 01:25

cotton_flex said:
When installing Vista, in the setup it does not say full or quick just 'format'. By the speed of it, it is a quick format. Anyway of selecting full format during install?

Funny, I thought there was *ponders*. I presume you've looked in advanced options, at the point when you're choosing which partition to install on? I thought in there there was an option as to which sort of format to do, but I could be wrong.

fornowagain · 4 Jan 2009 at 02:14

Just a habit I guess, but full format with an OS install. I usually delete all the partitions (or leave blank with a new drive) with and let setup deal with it, click next. It goes off and does a full format before copying files and expanding.

The Halk · 4 Jan 2009 at 02:23

If the drive was formatted in anything apart from Vista you may want to check the offset to make sure it's optimal. Vista formats optimally now, but XP does not.

Nitrojan · 4 Jan 2009 at 02:36

Meh i always quick format - full format takes agessss

gillywibble · 4 Jan 2009 at 12:41

I always full format.

ChrisLX200 · 4 Jan 2009 at 12:59

I always full format a new drive in case it got knocked in transit. After that, quick format unless chkdsk throws an error.

Talrinys · 4 Jan 2009 at 13:18

SSD's will be awesome for this

Deluxe1 · 4 Jan 2009 at 13:28

Never done a full format on countless of new drives and never encountered any problems.

Kanifee · 4 Jan 2009 at 14:45

Never ever done full formats but the principle certainly suggests its wise on older drives.

The Deuce · 4 Jan 2009 at 15:57

ChrisLX200 said:
I always full format a new drive in case it got knocked in transit. After that, quick format unless chkdsk throws an error.

+1

Talrinys · 4 Jan 2009 at 16:21

Deluxe1 said:
Never done a full format on countless of new drives and never encountered any problems.

Me neither but it's really something that should be done, just don't have the patience for it usually, and to be honest i could definitely afford a complete HD fail now, i have so much redundancy on my files.