Quick question - Formatting.

[miker1]

Getting a samsung 500gb on Friday [I hope!].
Is there a tool that will let me format it quicker than the time XP will do it?

 

[Deluxe1]

Just do a normal quick format.

 

[miker1]

Just do a normal quick format.

Unless things have changed, it is always best to do a full format of a new disc - it checks and marks any duff tracks.

 

[Deluxe1]

ive never done a full format with a new drive (must have had 15 over the years) and havent had any problems.

 

[DavidS14]

I've always done a full format on a fresh drive but then used quick on subsequent formats.

 

[ByteJuggler]

Unless things have changed, it is always best to do a full format of a new disc - it checks and marks any duff tracks.

Not been really neccesary on modern drives for quite some time. Modern drives do automatic sector re-allocation of bad sectors on the fly. You'll only see actual bad sectors from the filesystem/operating system level (chkdsk/scandisk level) when the drive run out of spare sectors, by which time I wouldn't trust any data to it anymore anyway. The number of actual remappings done can be monitored with a S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool.

 

[miker1]

Not been really neccesary on modern drives for quite some time. Modern drives do automatic sector re-allocation of bad sectors on the fly. You'll only see actual bad sectors from the filesystem/operating system level (chkdsk/scandisk level) when the drive run out of spare sectors, by which time I wouldn't trust any data to it anymore anyway. The number of actual remappings done can be monitored with a S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool.

So a quick format is fine then now, before installing an operating system for the first time?

 

[sammie377]

So a quick format is fine then now, before installing an operating system for the first time?

Absolutely, I must have built 400-600 PC's and never done a full format on a new drive.