Formatting, differences between quick and full formatting. What is full and quick formatting? How is quick formatting different from regular formatting?

30.06.2023

OS+Activators

Formatting ()divided into two types:

1 — Quick formatting;
2 - Full formatting.

At quick formatting only the file system is created anew (the table is overwritten file system), but the data area is not affected.

At full formatting First, a full surface check is carried out hard drive for the presence of bad sectors. If such sectors are detected, the scan program tries to fix them, and if unsuccessful, marks them as faulty (bad sectors). Accordingly, such sectors are excluded from the file system tables, which are formed after a full surface check. This means that no further data is written to bad sectors.

To put it simply, we can say that during the quick formatting process, a disk partition is marked as blank. After such formatting, you will not find any files that were previously stored there on the formatted disk, which creates the impression that the files were deleted, although this was not the case.

In fact, all the files remain in place, but the operating system will consider this partition empty and will write new information over the previously recorded one. This means that, if desired, information from an incorrectly formatted partition can be recovered, but there are many factors that influence the success of recovery and we’ll talk about this another time.

Unlike quick formatting, full formatting also includes a preliminary check of the integrity of the hard drive, that is, bad sectors are looked for. Since this operation checks each sector of the disk separately, full formatting takes an order of magnitude longer than quick formatting. The time for complete formatting depends primarily on the size of the partition being formatted.

When should you use quick formatting and when should you use full formatting?

It’s difficult to give any clear recommendations here, but usually they do this: if you need to delete all data from a hard drive partition or from a removable storage medium, for example, a flash drive, then use quick formatting, since it is completed in a matter of seconds.

If there is a suspicion that there are bad sectors, or that the file system has been damaged (as a result of a virus or due to incorrect removal of the storage medium from the computer), then use full formatting.

The formatting process does not harm your hard drive or removable storage device in any way and you can format it without fear of damaging it.

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Formatting a hard drive is a software process of applying marks to elements of the memory area of magnetic plates and creating a new file structure of the media. Without labels and file structure hard system The disk is a useless device; it is impossible to write information to it due to the physical and software features of the processes of recording, storing and reading information.

Physically, nothing happens to it when formatting a hard drive, but at the software level, its logical structure is organized on the media - a certain order necessary for recording, storing, editing and deleting data. Otherwise, the logical structure of the disk is called a file system. Depending on the selected file system, the speed of access to information, the maximum length of a file name, the number of files in one directory, the efficiency of the drive, search methods, recording information, etc. will differ.

Formatting a hard drive is divided into two types. These are low-level and high-level formatting.

Low-level formatting is a process by which special electronic marks called servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface of the polished platters of your HDD. They contain service information about the positioning of the read heads and the position of sectors and tracks of the disk, which determine the physical format of the drive. This procedure is performed on special factory equipment, since before this the media does not contain any information about the sectors and tracks of the plate(s), due to the absence of which, working with the media is impossible. Due to the coefficient of volumetric expansion of the materials (as many know from school physics lessons) that HDD platters were made from in the past and stepper motors, controlling the positioning of the heads, sectors and tracks were shifted relative to the read heads. Thus, when, according to the controller, the head was in the desired sector, it could physically be on the adjacent track. Because of this, the hard drive malfunctioned and bad (inoperative) sectors appeared (if the controller thinks that the head is in the first sector, but in reality it is positioned, for example, above the 5th, then the first four sectors are inaccessible to it). Such hard drives required repeated low-level formatting throughout their entire service life, which required the complete and repeated destruction of all data on the hard disk platter(s).

In new HDDs, this problem was solved by using a voice coil in the read head mechanism, due to which the influence of thermal expansion was compensated by recalibrating the operating parameters of the disk heads (to put it simply, everything was solved at the software level by simple redirection).

Low-level formatting is necessary to solve several problems and is performed in such cases:

at the manufacturing facility to create the physical structure of the manufactured hard drive before testing and delivery to the end user;
on old ones hard drives to reset the file system (due to the coefficient of linear expansion of materials when heated during long-term operation of the HDD, the head moves slightly in relation to the formed grid of tracks and sectors);
complete, reliable and irrevocable erasure of all information stored on the hard drive, for example, before selling your own computer or the hard drive itself.

High-level HDD formatting is the process of forming the file structure of a hard drive, which consists of creating a master boot record, a file table, a file system structure and, depending on the formatting option, checking the surface of the hard drive platters for damaged sectors and then replacing or deactivating them. High-level formatting prepares the hard drive for use by the operating system to store data on it.

High-level formatting is divided into two types: quick and full. During the fast process, the file table is updated, which stores file names and paths to them, attributes, etc. After this, its new structure is formed, and a master boot record of the disk or its logical partition is created. Upon completion of the process, the operating system will recognize the hard or logical drive as clean, although physically all the information on it will remain intact, with the exception of the file table - all data in it will be marked as non-existent and will be overwritten with new bits of information during operation.

Full formatting is a procedure for clearing the file table, as during quick formatting, but with subsequent rewriting of each sector with zero bits of information. Also, during full formatting, all sectors of the hard drive will be checked for functionality. If a bad sector is detected, it will be replaced with a functional one that is in reserve, or simply excluded, as a result of which the usable volume of the HDD will slightly decrease.

High-level formatting hard drives and their sections must be performed in the following cases:

during reinstallation operating system to reset all data on them and form a new disk structure;
when dividing the drive into logical drives;
for high-quality checking of magnetic plates for the presence of damaged sectors;
right after low level formatting to form the disk file structure by the manufacturer or user (mandatory procedure);
deleting all information on the hard drive.

2. Formatting a non-system hard drive

Any operating system Windows family located on the disk or its partition, which is designated as system. It contains the master boot record and system files Windows, thanks to which the software interacts with the hardware. There may be several such partitions, but, as a rule, the user has one operating system installed, which implies the presence of a single system partition. All other partitions and connected to the computer hard disks are not systemic. The second and subsequent hard drives are non-system, so the procedure for formatting them is no different from formatting removable USB drives.

Let's consider methods for forming the file structure of non-system hard drives using tools built into the operating system and using third-party software products designed to work with hard drives.

2.1. Formatting using BIOS

One way to format a hard drive is to use a bootable USB flash drive or CD with an operating system installation distribution Windows systems, the so-called LiveCD or bootable media with one of the programs for formatting storage media. There are versions of programs, such as AcronisDiskDirector, that can boot directly from a flash drive, which means they work without an operating system. The latest versions of Acronis have a bootable media creation wizard. Such a flash drive will allow the AcronisDiskDirector program to boot from the BIOS and format the hard drive.

In addition to third-party programs, formatting a hard drive with BIOS can be done by booting from the installation disk with the Windows distribution using the command line or the operating system installer. All these options will be discussed in more detail below.

2.2. Formatting using Windows

The Windows operating system contains all the tools necessary to format hard drives. In this section, we will consider all the methods to format a hard drive using the tools provided by the Windows operating system.

2.2.1. Through properties

The simplest way to prepare a hard drive for work is to clean it from unnecessary information and form new system, is formatting via context menu.

2.2.2. Through “Creating and formatting hard disk partitions”

The second method to format a hard drive using the Windows operating system tools is the Disk Management snap-in, located in the Computer Management system console.

"Disk Management" - system Windows service, designed to manage flash drives, hard drives and their partitions. This program allows you to format hard drives connected to your computer in one of three file systems and create new partitions on them. Almost all actions are performed without rebooting the operating system, which will not distract the user from his main work.

You can start Disk Management using one of the following methods.

Via the Start menu

Via "My Computer"

Via "Control Panel"

We have launched the Computer Management service. Next, you need to go to its subsection called “Disk Management”, which, in turn, is located in the “Storage Devices” section.

During formatting, you will not see any windows with the progress of the operation, except for the inscription “Formatting” in the “Status” line (see screenshot).

Our hard drive is formatted in the selected file system and is ready for further use. You will be notified about this dialog box and system signal.

2.2.3. Command line

In addition to formatting hard drives through graphical interfaces, the operating system, since the days of console MS-DOS, allows the formation of a new file system of the hard drive with the deletion of all files and, with full formatting, checking its surface for integrity, using system commands entered into the command line console, also called the Windows command interpreter.

The command line allows the user to interact with the computer directly, without any intermediary in the form of an outsider software. It is a window for entering text commands understandable to the operating system with many parameters for direct control of the operating system or computer hardware. Naturally, using the command line, you can quickly format the hard drive. To do this, launch the system console using any of the listed methods or a more convenient method for you.

Through the Run window

Via the Start menu

Using Windows Explorer

The command line is launched by calling the file “cmd.exe” located in the “System32” folder of the system directory of the Windows operating system. To launch the command line, you can go to c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe or use the shortcut to launch the command interpreter.

Having launched the command line, we will see a black window on the screen where you can enter text commands that are understandable for the Windows operating system, starting with its first versions.

If you did not enter a label, the operating system will ask you to enter it before formatting or leave the hard drive without a name by pressing “Enter” (see screenshot).

The process of formatting a hard drive, depending on the specified parameters and storage capacity, can last from several seconds to several tens of minutes. Formatting is accompanied by the inscription: “Creating file system structures.”

At the end of the process, the console window will display the message: “Format completed” and the results of the operation will appear.

Now our hard drive is formatted using the system console and is ready for further use.

2.3 Formatting a disk using the HDD Low Level Format Tool

HDD Low Level Utility Format Tool or HDDLLFT for short, is designed for low-level formatting of hard drives and digital storage media based on memory chips. It copes with the task perfectly even in cases where the magnetic surface of the plate is severely damaged.

Carrying out the procedure for formatting a hard drive through the utility does not require any special user knowledge.

Please keep in mind that in free version HDD Low Level Format Tool formatting speed is limited to 50 Mb/s, which, with significant volumes of modern hard drives, during a full format with checking the drive for bad sectors, can result in several hours of work. The second drawback of the program is the inability to specify the cluster size.

3. Formatting the system hard drive

A system hard drive is, as a rule, a high-speed (with a platter rotation speed of 10,000 rpm, although it can be with a standard 7200 rpm) hard drive on which the operating system is installed. Based on this, format it using Windows will not work. Formatting a system hard drive is carried out using a different method, the essence of which is no different from forming a new file system for a regular hard drive. The only difference is that the utility to create a new file system will have to be launched from installation disk or flash drives.

3.1. Formatting using a bootable USB flash drive or disk

3.1.1. Through the Windows operating system installer

One of the most common methods to format a hard drive used as a system drive is to use removable media or a CD and a Windows OS installation distribution.

We will not consider how to create bootable media; many articles have been written on this subject on the Russian-language segment of the Internet. Let's get straight to the point.

Insert bootable USB flash drive into the USB socket of your computer or laptop (or a CD into its drive).
Reboot or turn on the computer.

Immediately after downloading basic system input-output and carrying out initialization and testing of equipment, we begin to click on the button quick selection bootable media.

This key can be "F9" or "F11" (see manual instructions before your motherboard or laptop), this data is also displayed during BIOS boot.

We select our media as the device to which control of the system will be transferred (in our case, it is a 4 GB USB flash drive for booting from UEFI).

When a similar black screen with an inscription appears, press any button on the keyboard.

Information will be read from the bootloader program to which the BIOS has transferred control.

Depending on the Windows build, we select the operating system installation option (with a different bootloader interface, using third-party assemblies, the essence of the process will remain the same).
Select the installation language. Naturally, it will be Russian, as will the keyboard layout, time format, etc.

In the next window, simply click “Install ->”.

We accept the terms of use of the operating system, preferably after reading them.

We stop at the second option so that we can get into the hard drive settings menu.

Click “Full installation...”.

Using the keyboard and mouse, select the required hard drive if there are several of them connected to the computer, and click “Disk Setup”.

The toolbar will change slightly.

Click on the “Format” button.

A standard window will appear warning that all files and programs on the disk will be destroyed.

Click “Ok” to confirm your intentions.

After clearing the table of contents, the hard drive will be formatted and ready to install the operating system.

This method is reasonable to use in cases where the Windows operating system cannot format the hard drive, for example, because it is used by some application or is a system partition.

3.1.2. Formatting the system hard drive via the command line by booting from the installation disk/flash drive

Another simple option to format the disk on which the operating system is located is to use the command line by booting from a disk or flash drive with installation files for the Windows operating system.

3.2. Acronis Disk Director

To launch the bootable drive creation wizard, go to the “ Backup and recovery" on the program control panel, which is made in the style of a ribbon, like Microsoft Office, starting with the 2007 edition.
Click on the “Create bootable media” item.
Depending on the version of the program, a window may appear asking you to select the type of boot media. It is recommended to select the bootloader option on Windows based P.E. Click “Next”.

We select the necessary components on the basis of which the wizard will create a bootable USB flash drive.

To format a hard drive, the AcronisDiskDirector program is sufficient. If you want to have a tool for creating backup copies of partitions, also select AcronisTrueImage.

Select the type of Acronis bootable media to be created.
Then we confirm our intentions to write the program files to the flash drive, having first destroyed all the files on it, and wait for the end of the writing process.
We boot from the created drive.

To do this, restart the computer and select our flash drive as boot media. This is done by changing the priority in the list of boot devices (“Boot” menu item) in your BIOS or hotkey selecting boot devices.

In most cases, during the initialization procedure, which occurs before loading the operating system, you must press the F11, F9 or other key to bring up the boot menu. In it, select the USB drive and click “Enter”.
We are waiting for the program to load.

Typically, this procedure takes little longer than loading Acronis Disk Director in Windows.
We select our hard drive and call the formatting procedure using any method:
In the dialog box that appears, select the hard drive formatting options:
- file system – it is recommended to use NTFS, due to support for files larger than 4 GB, which is not available for FAT and FAT32;
- Leave the cluster size at “Auto” if you have no idea what this value is. However, to store a huge number of small files, it is recommended to select a cluster size of less than 4 KB;
- volume label – enter the name of the hard drive or leave the field blank.

Having set all the parameters, we turn our attention to the toolbar located at the top of the screen. Click on the button called “Apply pending operations (1)”.

After a short loading of the list of operations, a small window will appear with their detailed description and parameters.

If you are confident in the actions you are performing, check the correctness of the specified parameters and click on the “Continue” button.

After a few seconds of fixing the operation, the hard drive formatting procedure will start.

Be careful, the program will not display a warning window asking you to confirm the operation and will not notify you that all data on the hard drive has been destroyed.

Formatting will occur within a few seconds, since the utility uses a quick formatting algorithm. At the end of the procedure, the window will close automatically, and the hard drive with a cleared file table and a new file system will be ready for further use.

3.3. Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager is the most powerful free software product for working with hard drives. Naturally, you can use it to format any hard drive or partition. In addition, the utility can work with backup copies, change and create logical partitions, install multiple operating systems on a disk, etc.

Load the LiveCD or installation distribution of the Windows operating system, which includes the Paragon Partition Manager program.
We write the image to removable media and boot from it, specifying the most in the BIOS high priority booting from a flash drive or selecting the drive with the Paragon Partition Manager distribution as the boot device.
We select our program using the mouse cursor or cursor keys and the “Enter” button, depending on the graphical menu and the bootloader used to create the LiveCD.
The main menu of the utility will appear, where we select “Partition Manager” in the list on the left, and then in its right frame.
In the next window, in the list of your hard drives, select the one you want to format.

This can be done both in the “Disk Panel” tab and in the lower frame called “Partition List”.
Call up the context menu of the magnetic drive and select the “Format” command in it, which is located in one of the first places.
Specify the file system and the new hard drive label.
Click “Advanced options” if you want to change the number of sectors in one cluster. You can also specify here whether to perform formatting using the built-in Windows “format” command, which we became familiar with when formatting a disk from the Shell, or use the developers’ own algorithm.
Click "Format".

The program will not ask for confirmation of the operation, but it will not start executing the command specified to it.

To do this, click on the “Apply intended changes” button, which is located in the toolbar under the main menu.

To view planned changes, use the magnifying glass button.
In the dialogue, we agree to make changes by clicking “Yes”.
We are waiting for a notification that the program has completed its operation.

The same is done through the main menu of the program.

4. Possible errors and ways to solve them

One of the many problems that users face when formatting a hard drive is the use of outdated software. This happens because the user has not updated the disk management program that he trusts for several years. Also, using queries like “download hacked acronis” often leads to the most popular sites, which have been in first place for many months search engines and contain outdated software versions.

Keep the versions of your hard drive programs up to date, especially if you use one of the latest versions Windows.

The second problem is an error when trying to format the disk being used, especially when it comes to system partitions. Also, some application can use the hard drive or its partition, even in read mode, while the user is trying to format it. The way out of this situation is to use bootable LiveCDs or media with a Windows distribution.

An error in the process of formatting a hard drive due to a huge number of damaged sectors occurs when trying to fully format a hard drive, the surface of which is replete with damaged memory cells. Run HDD check, for example, Victoria utility, with reassignment of damaged areas or their exclusion from the area used for storing information.

Formatting a hard drive means not only deleting information from it, but also marking it into sectors and recording data access structures. The formatting process is not rich in varieties; there are only two types: low-level and high-level. The first is beyond the control of the operating system environment and the average user due to the installed protection; such measures were taken because this operation is a partition of the disk into sectors and tracks - the loss of such important content makes it impossible to further use the disk.
Thus, the user has the opportunity to operate only with high-level formatting, which implies the removal of content accumulated during work and a number of other structures. Therefore, when talking about formatting, we usually mean one of the high-level formatting algorithms, fast or complete. What is the difference between them?
Function full formatting, as the name suggests, implies a deep disk cleanup. First of all, with full formatting, the “Main File Table” is reset; If we go down to the common language, this table (the generally accepted designation is “MFT”, i.e. “Master File Table”) is a database file that stores all the information about the contents of the disk: images, program structures, video and audio files of the user, operating system folder, etc., in a word, all the information accumulated over time. After resetting the MFT database, the information on the disk becomes inaccessible.
Full formatting also deletes all user files, and at the binary code level, all sectors in which the recorded information was stored are filled with zero values, i.e. information is completely erased; its restoration, which is possible after a quick format, becomes unthinkable with a complete format.
A special function of full formatting is to check the disk for bad sectors. If any are detected, information about the location of the “bad” sector is saved to a non-erasable partition of the hard drive, and subsequently no data is written to the damaged fragment.
Due to its complexity, complete formatting takes a long period of time. On modern computers Complete formatting of 100 GB of information requires, on average, 20-25 minutes.
Quick formatting has not such a complex algorithm as the full one, since it is limited only to deleting the “MFT” table without erasing existing files (which is why their subsequent recovery becomes possible). In this case, the disk is not checked for damaged segments.

TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between quick and full formatting is as follows:

After a quick format, it is possible to partially restore previously existing files, but not with complete formatting.
Quick formatting does not erase user files, which happens with full formatting.
With quick formatting HDD is not checked for damage; if complete, a check is performed.
Quick formatting takes less time than full formatting.

Formatting one of the partitions of a hard drive or removable media involves creating a certain data access structure on the disk, for example, a file structure NTFS systems or FAT. Typically, formatting a partition must be done before installing an operating system or to change the file system, for example, a flash drive from FAT to NTFS.

When formatting, all data located on the disk being formatted will be deleted, which makes formatting a simple means of clearing the entire hard disk partition of the data recorded on it.

Windows has standard means to complete the formatting process. In this case, the user can perform a so-called quick format or clear the table of contents, or perform a full format of the disk. Naturally, quick formatting is much faster than full formatting.

Full formatting of a hard drive or flash drive

Usually this formatting is done in the standard when you format the disk or flash drive, then the device is formatted by full formatting. It is needed for careful formatting so that it is impossible to restore the information, although now we have learned with full formatting, but still not all the information will be restored and this is more difficult.

Second useful point This formatting means that your disk or flash drive is checked for bad sectors and restored if any are found.

I'll give you a little advice. It's better to fix sectors special programs. In the following articles I will give instructions on how best to recover bad sectors on disks. Therefore, subscribe to updates and stay up to date with the news.

That's why of the advantages of full formatting, in that the disk or flash drive is completely erased, without possible recovery. And if there are bad sectors, it will be restored, but again, sometimes this is not a plus. Since it is better to do this with a special program.

A disadvantages in time and that the sectors may not recover well. And even if they are restored, you will not see how much was damaged and how much was restored.

Quick formatting of a hard drive or flash drive

This is very, files and folders on the media are deleted. But there is little information left for data recovery, so after formatting this way, you may notice that there is less free space on the disk than it should be.

Great advantage quick formatting, this time, sometimes it plays a very role.

A minuses The problem is that the space is not completely freed up and if the disk or flash drive starts to work incorrectly, then it is better to format it with standard formatting in order to restore all the bad sectors.

How to format?

And it’s very easy to format, you can do it yourself using a program.

We go into my computer, right-click on the disk or flash drive that you want to format and click format.

A window appears in which you can select full or quick formatting.

For full formatting you need to make sure that the checkbox is ticked quick format removed, and for quick formatting it’s the other way around. Selected, click format, done.

Formatting using the program will give maximum effect of full formatting. To start

The archive will contain the program itself and the Russification for it. Install and launch.

It will open for you program for formatting hard drives and flash drives.

Select the device you will format. I will format the USB flash drive.

Click Continue and a window with information about the device will appear. We don't need it, go straight to the tab low level formatting.

We check at the top that this is exactly the device that we want to format. And select format the device (you can also select, if necessary, by checking the box perform a quick clean).

After completion, the program will notify you that formatting complete.

Now open my computer and check the flash drive. If it asks for formatting, then click formatting as described above and select That’s all, your flash drive will be completely formatted and disinfected.

Now you know what it is complete and quick formatting and know how to use a program that will keep your disks always healthy.