Format Vs Quick Format

[Jesus Pimp]

Is there any difference between Format and Quick format especially for hard drives besides format takes a helluva longer?

[SiN]

google found this -

A full format does three things:
erases all previous data
sets up a system for recording what is stored where on the disk
checks the disk for physical and magnetic errors.

A quick format skips the check for errors, so it is a much faster process. You can quick format a disk only if it was already formatted. When you suspect there may be a problem with a disk, you will have to do a full format to find out. Be cautious about using quick formats since you will be skipping an important safety check.

i always do a quick format, and if i am concerned about the integrity of the hdd, i'll run chkdsk or other such type util.

[hrdwareguy]

And I thought all the quick format did was erase the MBR and Fat Tables

[BUDD206]

I always use the full format on disk, I used the quick format on a 3.5 and lost 35 pictures that could not be replaced.

[The_Dude]

i think that the quick format only deletes the first letter of the files on the disk.

so, it is pretty easily recoverable.

[munchini]

if you really wanna format.. do a zero fill - replaces every bit with a zero - ensures that everything is erased if you're paranoid about that kind of thing

[oberon]

Originally posted by munchini
if you really wanna format.. do a zero fill - replaces every bit with a zero - ensures that everything is erased if you're paranoid about that kind of thing

Actually, a skilled person with a STEM (scanning tunneling electron microscope) could still extract the data.

The tried-and-true way to get rid of data permanently is to write 00 and then FF (hex digits - two is one byte).. 7 times in a row. Why the magic number 7? Not sure...

Well, if you want to be extremely paranoid... you can melt the drives.

[mpedrummer2]

7 isn't really a magic number, it's the government specification for data shredding.

[reverendjay]

hrdwareguy I believe that you are correct sir. In the DOS Days all a format /q did was wipe FAT and MBR. I believe that the XP/2k holdover is very similar. Wipe out the File Table and Boot record and Whammo, clean drive.