Short Format vs Long Format?

[N E Day Pc Repair]

I have searched the forums and have not found anything really on this topic. I am curious of the differances because I have never done a short format. I was always taught when you buy a drive-used, or new long format it before doing any OS Install.

Soooo.......the debate begins.....what's your preference and why?


Which way is better?

And in what circumstance would you choose either?


Let the fun commence


Edit: and yes I know I could just Google it, but I wanted all of your thoughts on this topic

 

[joydivision]

As far as I can understand it, a long format checks for bad sectors and then tells the file system to ignore them when it is formated, a short format doesn't do any error checking so the file system could try and write to the bad sectors.

If you know the drive is good (e.g you have tested it before hand) then a quick format is fine.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Old drives that I'm re-using...I like to blow away partitions, create new partitions using the native tools that the installing OS has, do a long format.

Servers with proper hardware RAID...I'll do quick formats because the hardware controller takes care of the minor details.

Joydivision is correct in saying that a regular format scans for bad sectors....a quick format does not.

 

[Rob_NNCC]

From a technical point of view, a short format writes the partition structure and that's about it. A Long or full format writes the partition structure and zeros to all unused space on the hard drive. It is difficult and not likely to recover much data after a full format.

I never do a full format unless like yeoldstonecat it is a cheap RAID setup or I am working with a POS NAS. For used drives I DBAN it.

 

[gikstar]

And What About...

I prefer to do the long format. Now that drives are 2 - 3 - 4 Tbs, the long version takes a loooooooog time to finish.

So, what happens in this scenario: you have some free time so you take an older drive and do a long format and then set it aside. Later on you go to use it and install an O/S on it like Win XP and you end up not selecting long format so it does a short format. Does the short formatting clear out the memory and marking of those bad sectors and thus now allow the O/S to try writing to the bad sectors?

By the way, if a client comes into the shop with a hard drive showing bad sectors, we advise them to allow us to replace it.

 

[Rob_NNCC]

So, what happens in this scenario: you have some free time so you take an older drive and do a long format and then set it aside. Later on you go to use it and install an O/S on it like Win XP and you end up not selecting long format so it does a short format. Does the short formatting clear out the memory and marking of those bad sectors and thus now allow the O/S to try writing to the bad sectors?

A hard drive that has bad sectors and is caught by the drive will be marked as pending reallocation. After that is done, it will be reallocated after it is attempted to be used again.

why is that relevant? Well, if you read all the sectors, you would see any that any that are bad and would eventually be remapped. This is handled by the hard drive low level firmware. Any formatting, or anything done though standard operating system tools can not change those mappings. In short, NO, no formatting can unmark a bad sector.

 

[Tekguy]

A Long or full format writes the partition structure and zeros to all unused space on the hard drive. It is difficult and not likely to recover much data after a full format.

A full format with Vista or Win 7 zeros the entire drive, not just the unused space.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941961

 

[ArtemusComputerTechnology]

I do long formats because I want to make sure all of the data is completely eradicated.

 

[Rob_NNCC]

A full format with Vista or Win 7 zeros the entire drive, not just the unused space.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941961

Not to split hairs, but if it wrote zeros to the entire disk, it would have no file structure or partition table. Just zeros...

 

[Tekguy]

Not to split hairs, but if it wrote zeros to the entire disk, it would have no file structure or partition table. Just zeros...

I would imagine that when performing a full format Windows zero fills the entire drive first then partitions & formats it.

 

[cypress]

I almost always use the Long format option.