quick format and "long" format.. what is the diffences?

kaisterkai

kaisterkai

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Hey~

What is the difference between quick format and "long" format?

I guess it does not really matter if the hard drive is empty... does it?

And if the hard drive is full?
 
Quick format doesnt really erase the data. It just marks the sectors so that when data is stored it can overwrite those sectores. Long format completely formats the disk setting all bits to zero.

That is what I believe and always though, might be wrong though :)
 
It makes no difference whether or not the drive is full or empty, I can tell you that.

Afaik a long format will mark bad sectors so that they are not used, quick will just erase everything quickly. Someone else probably can give a better explanation.
 
From Microsoft, link here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

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. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.
 
Quick format removes the FAT (File Allocation Table) it actually doesn't do anything to the actual sectors that the files are on. Easy to recover files from this type of format. Long format actually writes a 1 then a zero (or other way around, can't remember) in each storage bit in each sector. By doing this it checks that all the sectors are good. If not it marks them as bad. A little harder to recover files from.
 
Quick format and full format only marks the disk space as free, ie. it can be overwritten. A full format does the same, and scans the disk for errors, which is why it takes longer. None actually physically removes any data from the disk. That is why programs like 'GetDataBack' can recover files after an accidental format.
To completely erase everything from the disk, it needs to be 'pre-formatted', 'initialised' or 'factory reset'. Zero's are written over the whole disk, and all data is erased. This can take up to several hours depending on the size of the disk. All data and partitions will then obviously be lost forvever.
 
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99 out of 100 times a quick format is adequate, but sometimes it is better to do a full format when installing a new OS. I've only had that problem happen a few times when cloning systems on a network. Also, as hard drive sizes have gone up, full formats take much much longer, so it may not be worth it.
 
I see, So I'll just have to do long formats the whole time just to be safe?

And does that matter of USB? because I see that there is an option to make it a quick format as well.. :P
 
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