Question about Format/Quick Format

[boogieboy]

Probably on upcoming Monday or Tuesday i'm going to upgrade my RAM to 4GB and going to buy a new Sound Card as well which will support the 64bit OS. I always use 2 sound cards. Than im going to install Win7 64bit version and install new updated softwares and gonna make a new system recovery image on the drive etc. I already made a backup of my data on an External Drive + DVD's. Now my HDD is already filled with unneccessary data which i dont need anymore and i'm also planning to make new partitions so my real question is should i do Quick Format or Format the Entire HDD and write 0's on it?

 

[Bill2]

Personally I always do quick formats. Unless you have an ageing hard disk and you need the format to scan for bad sectors, go for a quick format.

 

[theog]

Personally, I do a Clean all & full format.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[mickey megabyte]

myself, i prefer quick formats - because they format and they are quick.

i've never had old data coming back to bite me after doing so.

 

[HonorGamer]

I always did a full format to make sure i am keeping my disk clean, and working properly.

Gamer

 

[boogieboy]

ummm now im confused it's like 50 50 votes ....

 

[Ciara]

When I upped to 64-bit I did a full format but whatever you decide on boogieboy it will work

 

[Windows Sniper]

Quick Format just removes all entrys and most data, Sometimes you can reaccess data after a Quick Format. I Know from Experience xD. The main upside is that it is Quick.

A Full Format will take time But erase the disk, Basically Factory Settings where it is blank.

So if you dont wanna wait then go for Quick, If you wanna Make sure that the Data is Gone Completely Then Go for the Full.

Hope this Helps.

Oh i always quick format Thumb Sticks and Full Format HDD.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Doing either a quick or full format does not remove any data at all; the only way to over-write data is to do a wipe of the entire HDD; if you want the best possible space to do a real clean install to.

   Note

Contrary to popular belief, doing a format with Windows 7 does not remove any data at all, it just checks for sector errors and marks the space to be over-written as needed, all the data is still there including all the code from previous/failed installation attempts.

​

After you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive.

• Then if you do not want to create the new Windows 7 "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #2 to create, format and mark Active a single 100GB partition to do the installation to.
• If you do want to create the "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #3 to create, format and mark Active the System Reserved partition and then create and format the 100GB partition to do the installation to.

Either way, running the "clean all" then creating and formatting the partition(s) using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional partitions after the installation completes if you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

 

[gregrocker]

Wipe the HD using the tutorial just above. Then you have no worries about bad code remaining on the HD.

 

[richnrockville]

I don't remember the last time I installed windows and did a full format. I have always used quick and have never had a problem. But Mr Murphy will someday jump up on you

Rich

 

[boogieboy]

Thanks everyone for the Help im going to Full Format the HDD.

 

[pallesenw]

Despite other information given in the thread, a full format in windows 7 will by default overwrite all sectors in the chosen partition. That change was made in vista.

 

[boogieboy]

Im doing complete erase with diskpart right now there's no stopping now lol thanks for the info.

 

[gregrocker]

Despite other information given in the thread, a full format in windows 7 will by default overwrite all sectors in the chosen partition. That change was made in vista.

Source?

 

[pallesenw]

I have given the source in other threads. It is freely available at microsoft.com

 

[gregrocker]

That's what I thought.

To overwrite code it requires Secure Erase with one set of zeroes, which does not take 5-10 seconds as Win7 format does by default but about an hour per 320gb.

 

[boogieboy]

My 500GB took 1 hour 20 mins to fully format

 

[pallesenw]

That's what I thought.

To overwrite code it requires Secure Erase with one set of zeroes, which does not take 5-10 seconds as Win7 format does by default but about an hour per 320gb.

You cannot do a full format in that time.

 

[gregrocker]

My 500GB took 1 hour 20 mins to fully format

That was Diskpart Clean All which is a Secure Erase, or writing zeroes to the HD to overwrite fully any data.

You'll still need to partition and format before install.