As subject. TIA.
- posted
13 years ago
OT: can I quick format (to ntfs) a previous ext3 drive?
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- posted
13 years ago
Quick format doesn't alter the filesystem.
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- posted
13 years ago
Surely formatting a hdd is quicker than posting a question & awaiting reply. What's the actual problem?
NT
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- posted
13 years ago
Surely formatting a hdd is quicker than posting a question & awaiting reply. What's the actual problem?
Well, I started a complete format at ~20:15 and it's now up to %78 at 22:11 (1TB USB drive)
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- posted
13 years ago
ah, usb :( Not running off a USB1 port is it?
NT
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- posted
13 years ago
There are 3 types of format I'm aware of:
1) Full diskcheck, then write out a filesystem skeleton- Vote on answer
- posted
13 years ago
ah, usb :( Not running off a USB1 port is it?
If it is I've been done by ebuyer :)
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- posted
13 years ago
Ah, well, I didn't know if a ext3 format had different sector points per track than ntfs, hence my question. Or is the number of sectors dictated by the data density of the platter etc etc. It's something I've never needed to know or even thought about. Thinking about it, I'm glad I've never needed to know :D Cheers.
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- posted
13 years ago
Nope, you would need a full format. Quick format only rewrites the main directory / MFT data structures - it does not do the complete disk layout.
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- posted
13 years ago
On modern drives the real layout is hidden from the computer. You will find drives that report 16 heads when they only have a couple of platters.
The number of sectors per track also varies with more of them near the edge.
They all use 512 byte sectors too. Long gone are the days when you would chose a sector size and format the drive. Its almost impossible to do a low level format.
Just as well.
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- posted
13 years ago
Not true, you can quite happily create a partition, quick format it and use it, doing a full format tends to take rather too long once you get into the TB range (even on SAS disks), so I usually skip full format these days.
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- posted
13 years ago
4kB sectors are the new black.
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13 years ago
Yes, I suppose what happens after each index pulse is only known to the drive itself and transparent to us. Anyway, it took 2.75 hrs :) Cheers folks.
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13 years ago
What you're describing is an obsolescent system that would never be applied to a 1TB drive. CHS and the fakery thereof is pretty much history.
NT
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- posted
13 years ago
I know nothing of the equipment you're using, so I'm not saying it neessarily is the issue. I'm just aware that its common for even high spec new machines to have at least one USB1 port as well as USB2 or 3.
NT
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- posted
13 years ago
Extrapolating from the 160Gb drive that just took almost an hour to prepare and format to NTFS with 2 partitiona and 3 logical drives, that sounds reasonable.
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- posted
13 years ago
My new 1TB drive uses 4kb blocks - 'cos I told it to.
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- posted
13 years ago
Not on PCs with sata drives it isn't. If you want to go into stuff the average home user will never see feel free.
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- posted
13 years ago
Sectors are not blocks.
Sectors are real physical things on the disk platter. Blocks are virtual things. Telling it to use 4k blocks does not change the disk format on most (all common) drives.
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- posted
13 years ago
Perhaps its just me being paranoid... On a brand new disk a QF is ok, however if reusing one previously used for another file system then I usually prefer the full format (or better still, a drive wipe[1] and then a format (quick or otherwise). Partly with a mind to what happens if you need to do data recovery on the drive at a later stage. ! ;-)
[1] Also takes blinking ages...