|
lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
|
sooooo...
#7773695 - 12/18/07 12:46 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
how long does it take to format your hard drive to the latest windows format?
|
trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
|
Varies...
But in general, these days I accept a 30-60 minute time to do a full format of a drive.
It will be more/less depending on how big your drive is.
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
|
Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: trendal]
#7773760 - 12/18/07 01:08 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
> But in general, these days I accept a 30-60 minute time to do a full format of a drive.
Ouch... I'm spoiled by the server world... a minute or two per hundred gig. Those RAID arrays with 15,000 RPM drives are expensive, but fast.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
|
lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Seuss]
#7773778 - 12/18/07 01:15 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
is that using the latest windows format?
|
Boom
just a tester

Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,252
Loc: Cypress Creek
|
|
isn't it still ntfs?
|
Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
|
|
> is that using the latest windows format?
Yes, full ntfs format, but with very expensive hardware... For consumer class computers, much slower.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
|
trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Seuss]
#7773856 - 12/18/07 01:35 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Those RAID arrays with 15,000 RPM drives are expensive, but fast.
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
|
lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
|
|
any idea why it takes so long?
|
trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
|
Because it has a lot to do 
Basically the drive has to go over the entire surface area and write 0 to each bit in sequence. That takes some time!
Be thankful the days of the low-level format are gone! I remember back on my 386 doing a low-level format of my 100MB (I think...may have been smaller) hard disk...then returning to my computer several days later to find the format still in progress
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
|
lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: trendal]
#7776861 - 12/19/07 09:17 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
but why does it have to write 0s over the entire drive?
|
trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
|
Because that's what a format is? 
You can do a "quick format" if your drive is already formatted to the type you want. It will only format the file allocation tables and such, and should only take a minute or two. That only works if your drive has already been formatted to the type you want (NTFS for example) and is still usable.
Note that a "quick format" does not erase any data in the data portion of your drive...so it isn't very secure. It just deletes the pointer to the files...and leaves the actual files.
A good standard format will always take a while.
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
|
lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: trendal]
#7776967 - 12/19/07 09:54 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
i'm a little rusty when it comes to comparing FAT based file systems and inode based ones, but however an individual file is stored, the filesystem needs to know that it is there
if you format a drive and create file on it, the fact that it occupies an area of the media isn't what means that it's known to exist, it's that the FAT or inode tree held within the special areas of that filesystem know the file is there and has a certain name, site, ownership etc...
if an older format left data in certain locations, then the current filesystem has no idea / interest in that data and so it's just free space
|
trendal
J♠



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
|
|
Exactly!
However, a full format shouldn't leave any data on the drive.
--------------------
Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
|
Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Seuss]
#7778477 - 12/19/07 05:11 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
That's a "quick-format" which only writes the file system tables but doesn't scan the entire physical disk surface. A regular full format takes a lot longer even on fast RAID disks.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
|
Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Diploid]
#7778536 - 12/19/07 05:26 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
> That's a "quick-format" which only writes the file system tables but doesn't scan the entire physical disk surface.
Nope, full format. I know the difference.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
|
sidewayz6.6
Bewildered White Boy


Registered: 07/27/07
Posts: 1,348
Loc: USA
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Seuss]
#7778604 - 12/19/07 05:47 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Mine took like 20 minutes to do a full NTFS format, for a 320-gig hard drive.
--------------------
Anything I post is purely theoretical, and not based in reality. All pictures are from google. A big part of me has died inside and I don't know if it will ever come back. Nothing makes me happy anymore. I use drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, and my sense of humor to hide the rest. I don't share these feelings with anyone in real life.
|
Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Seuss]
#7779040 - 12/19/07 07:17 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Nope, full format. I know the difference.
Wow. That's damned fast. What interface do they use?
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
|
Frosty_Storm
Wandered off inwonderland



Registered: 01/20/07
Posts: 353
Loc: Pennsylvania
Last seen: 13 years, 9 months
|
Re: sooooo... [Re: Diploid]
#7780659 - 12/20/07 07:38 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
I use quick format, But thats only my system partition and it is a dumb idea, im just impatient when i gotta reinstall.
-------------------- Shrowded in an angelic white veil of darkness ~Frosty Storm~
|
|