01-04-2005, 10:31 PM
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#1 |
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Lieutenant Junior Grade
 Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: California
Posts: 138
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difference between quick format and regular?
like the title states, what exactly is the difference between a full format and a quick format? reason i'm asking is because i'm reformatting my friend's computer, and windows gives me an error when i try to do a full format when i try to install xp. it's a 15 gig western digital ide hd and i'm trying to install xp pro. any worries about the hd not being able to do a full format? xp installed fine when i did a quick format.
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01-04-2005, 11:34 PM
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#2 |
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Chief of Naval Operations
  
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: woah... why is welfareloser here with me so early in the morning and more importantly why am I wearing her clothes?!?
Posts: 13,754
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quick format doesn't delete everything... just hides it so to speak
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01-05-2005, 09:38 AM
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#3 | |
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Lieutenant Junior Grade
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: California
Posts: 138
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Quote:
 also, do you think the drive could be to blame for not being able to do a full format? or is it just some shortcoming of xp? or is it too hard to tell at this point? |
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01-06-2005, 12:06 AM
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#4 |
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Rear Admiral Lower Half
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: halfway between lost and found
Posts: 2,948
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i also thought that doing a full format checks the disk for any bad sectors, whereas a quick format does not...
__________________
 "it's more fun than it looks" - Red Foreman "trying is the first step in failing" - Homer J. Simpson "the world needs more dumb people...dumb people can't start wars" - mike lam |
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01-06-2005, 12:08 AM
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#5 |
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Lieutenant
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 364
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since we are on this topic...is it better to do a quick format or a regular format.
__________________
"Life is like a race. You are running so quickly that you don’t seem to enjoy or pay attention to the people or objects around you." |
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01-06-2005, 01:53 AM
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#6 |
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Chief of Naval Operations
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: woah... why is welfareloser here with me so early in the morning and more importantly why am I wearing her clothes?!?
Posts: 13,754
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it's better usually to do a full
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01-06-2005, 06:09 AM
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#7 | ||
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Fleet Admiral
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Michigan
Posts: 9,390
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Quote:
If you're worried about them interfering with the new install, that's not an issue. Once the drive has marked the space as available, there's no way for an old file to resurface accidentally. However, if you're worried about old data files being recovered by someone who should not see them, that's a more legitimate concern. Erased files are easily recovered from a quick format. Heck, in many cases they're easy to get even after a full format. If you have a concern with this, there are utilities that you can use to fully wipe data from your drive, but they take a while to run. Quote:
If the drive is unable to do a full format, chances are that there is a physical problem with the drive. Probably would be a good idea to download a diagnostics program from the drive mfr & see if it comes back with errors. |
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