DIfference between formatting

WillTech105

Hello everyone.

When first installing a Windows XP, you get the option of formatting the HDD as NTFS (quick) or normal NTFS. What exactly is the difference between the two? I got this answer from Velocityforums.com

"the quick format isn´t really a format. It is more like a clearing out of
the pointers to the files. Which is why is is so quick. Deleting 10M of
file pointers versus setting up 60G cylinders and sectors. This is why you
can only do a quick format on a drive that has been previously formatted."

Does this statement hold truth or is there another side to the story?

dynamik

I believe the regular format inspects the drive while the quick doesn't, but I'm not sure about the technical details. I think a quick format followed by chkdsk would be equivalent to a regular format.

I believe I've performed quick formats on drives that haven't been previously formatted (probably not the best practice, but they were 500gb drives and didn't hold any critical data). I'd go with the full format whenever you can.

sthomas

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302686

JDMurray

The bad sector checking is what takes 95% of the time in the regular formatting. Formatting large disks takes so long I still can't believe that Microsoft didn't offer quick formatting in setup starting with Windows 2000.

WillTech105

Thanks a lot guys, I always had that question lingering in the back of my mind.