How long should it take to format a 500Gb HD?

Legless · 4 May 2007 at 17:09

Just installed a new 500Gb Western Digital - 5000AAKS HD and have set it up in windows, now i need to format it before using it, but it seems to sit @ 1% for ages??? Am i just being impatient or does it take a long time to format a fresh drive in windows? Am using XP+SP2...

Thx for any help...

Will_3rd · 4 May 2007 at 17:12

when I formatted my 500GB Seagate it took so long that I left and went for a night out

in my experience it can take up to about 2 hours

Legless · 4 May 2007 at 17:16

Well i'll leave this for a couple of hours and post back... Just seems worrying that its not moving past 1%... :confused:

Will_3rd · 4 May 2007 at 17:34

Sorry forgot to ask are you doing that in Windows Disk Management or in Windows Setup? (assuming your posting from another computer)

jbloggs · 4 May 2007 at 20:01

Legless:

I have 2 x 500GB WD AAKS HDDs, also formatted them within XP, I chose to do a quick format, and this only took 1-2 minutes.

killer_uk · 4 May 2007 at 20:06

Well I always thought you needed to do the long format when you've installed a new hard drive, but I did the quick one yesterday and my new drive is working fine?

ByteJuggler · 5 May 2007 at 00:49

killer_uk said:
Well I always thought you needed to do the long format when you've installed a new hard drive, but I did the quick one yesterday and my new drive is working fine?

You don't have to do a full format. And note this is not the same as a so-called "low level" format. Most modern drives don't need "low level" formatting as in days of yore, as this is done at the factory.

A "full format" in Windows terms is however essentially just a full surface check. You therefore don't need to really do this unless you expect the drive to be faulty for any reason.

Legless · 5 May 2007 at 10:51

Thanks for the replies guys... As it turns out, the drive was faulty... It's died during formatting in windows, which caused XP to crash...

Now it doesn't show up in the bios/posting (which it did when i 1st installed it), it just sits there clicking away, thus preventing windows to load with the drive installed...

Time for an RMA... :eek:

Jeeze this sux... :mad:

FireBIade · 5 May 2007 at 13:29

ByteJuggler said:
You don't have to do a full format. And note this is not the same as a so-called "low level" format. Most modern drives don't need "low level" formatting as in days of yore, as this is done at the factory.

A "full format" in Windows terms is however essentially just a full surface check. You therefore don't need to really do this unless you expect the drive to be faulty for any reason.

Agreed, afaik it doesnt change the surface data at all, it just runs a sequential read of the entire drive and marks out any bad blocks along the way. Quick formats should be fine on brand new drives and any drive unless you suspect it's got defects.

basmic · 5 May 2007 at 13:42

Legless said:
Thanks for the replies guys... As it turns out, the drive was faulty... It's died during formatting in windows, which caused XP to crash...

Now it doesn't show up in the bios/posting (which it did when i 1st installed it), it just sits there clicking away, thus preventing windows to load with the drive installed...

Time for an RMA... Jeeze this sux...

Whenever I get a drive, I always run the quick and full/advanced tests with the manufacturer's software. After that, it's a full format.

For the sake of a couple hours testing, it's worth it for my data's sake.

Legless · 5 May 2007 at 14:29

Well drives being RMA'd... Pickup on tuesday... Damn bank holidays... :mad:

On the subject of wheather or not to format a new drive, i thought you had to? As when i installed the new drive in XP and went through the process of initialising it (else it wouldn't show up in explorer etc), it asked me to format it at the end, and if i said 'NO', it wouldn't let me access it, so it seems that a format WAS required in my case?

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just a problem with WD drives, that require a format? :confused:

basmic · 5 May 2007 at 14:40

Legless said:
Well drives being RMA'd... Pickup on tuesday... Damn bank holidays...

On the subject of wheather or not to format a new drive, i thought you had to? As when i installed the new drive in XP and went through the process of initialising it (else it wouldn't show up in explorer etc), it asked me to format it at the end, and if i said 'NO', it wouldn't let me access it, so it seems that a format WAS required in my case?

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just a problem with WD drives, that require a format?

Every single drive needs formatting before use, whether it's a quick or normal format.

TBH, I thought that was basic knowledge.

FireBIade · 5 May 2007 at 14:45

you'll find if you ever install a server o/s then it will demand a full format, the idea being the data being put on a server has higher value in business terms. desktop o/s will normally give you the option of quick or full format.

what I said previoulsy about the format not changing 'any' data was not 100% correct, it will change the fat table to say there's no files on this drive

Legless · 5 May 2007 at 14:53

basmic said:
Every single drive needs formatting before use, whether it's a quick or normal format.

TBH, I thought that was basic knowledge.

Well thats what i've always believed, and what i've always done when installing a new drive... But some people say that their drives come pre formatted? Not that i would trust it, i would reformat it myself to make sure its 100% working before filling it with important files...