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Quick format or Full format?

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VerizonDSL_Tech

Registered
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Location
Ontario, Canada
When installing Windows XP, I've noticed that doing a Quick format (as opposed to a full format) will make the OS very unstable. I'm assuming everyone will suggest a full format, but why is a quick format not sufficient? Does it not wipe everything off the drive physically?
 
A "Quick" format has always been sufficient for me, although if you suspect bad sectors or that the disk might possibly be damaged...then perform a "Full" format. A Quick format removes files from the disk but doesn't scan the disk for bad sectors...use this option only if the disk has been previously formatted and you're sure the disk isn't damaged.
 
Strange... I tell ya, every single time I tried a quick format, I'd notice that in the early stages of using Windows XP, it would seem to either freeze a lot, crash, or is excessively slow. I would always do a full format afterwards and it would work fine. I know my hard drive has no bad sectors and is almost new. Yesterday I formated the computer 3 times. First 2 times were quick formats and the 3rd was a full format. I don't know... I'll try a quick format again next time. Maybe it's my imagination. It's hard to tell if Windows is stable or not after an install, since overall it's always unstable.
 
Quick format = clears/writes a completle new partition file alocation table,
Full format = deletes the data of every sector by overwring it... to bad only once. While in the progres, it tries to verify the health of the sector, by reading it back.

Both ways should be good enough, if quick format gives you errors, try spinrite, and see what it makes of your drive... If nothing else, the problem should go away...
B!
 
If you have stability problems after a quick format, you should suspect a hardware problem. Either the harddisk itself has problems or you have other marginal hardare. I would suspect in order of probability: RAM, CPU, Video card, PSU.
 
My practice?

"New" disk : Full format
One you've had a while : Quickie

That way I usually get an idea if the disk I just installed is defect or not.

Cheers, Flix
 
If I think the drive could use a scan for bad sectors, I will pick full format. But on hard drives that I know are running fine and just need a quick delete, I will use quick format. If they are new / used hard drives that I just bought, I will do a full format.
 
All a quick format does is erase the allocation tables. It does not get rid of any information on the drive itself. Problem is, if you have a well written virus present on the hard drive a quick format will not get rid of it. A well written virus will re assert itself after a quick format is done. Seen it a few times. A full format tries to wipe the data out and check for drive consistency. A true "low-level" format will go through and zero out everything and is definately going to put a drive back in proper configuration and no virus will surive it.
 
DocGiggs, the differeance on quick, and full format is allready stated earlyer, but you did put it in a bit clearer typings.. and then, to get rid of boot sector viruses, you dont really need a fullformat.. Fdisk /mbr will fix that, without even a quick format. (if thats all the virus you got, that is)

B!
 
Thing is... To my knowledge, it IS actually possible to retrieve much of the information that was originally on the drive, after a quick format, if you're a professional. But with a full format, I'm thinking it's like "shredding paper", rather than simply throwing it in the trash, so to speak... making it much more difficult, if not impossible to retreave any data that was stored on the drive. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Only full "wipe" of a hard drive will actually destroy all of the data. It takes a special program to do that. There are federal specifications that define what a "wipe" entails. It consists of multiple writing of ones and zeroes on the entire drive. A good disk recovery company or a geek with the right software can easily read all of the data on a hard drive that has had a full format performed.
 
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