"Quick Format" and Normal Format

[fizzy_drink]

Is there any huge difference between the two?

I've got a spanking new Hitachi Deskstar 400, and I want to format it.

Now, quick format seems to have done the job, but I want to ensure my data's safe.


So, normal format, and NTFS is the best bet?

Ta,

Oms.

xxx

 

[Daz]

I always do a normal full format on a new parition.

If I'm just erasing the partiton, I'd do a quick format.

And yes, definetly NTFS.

 

[fizzy_drink]

Cheers fella.

 

[fizzy_drink]

Gawd... this thing's been going for over two hours, and it's still not finished! :S

 

[Nik]

Hitachi Deathstar

LOL, watch it doesn't start making the click of death

 

[fizzy_drink]

^^

Uh oh... did I buy the wrong thing? I need it to be reliable storage.

I can return it today, and get an external packard-bell drive... please ne honest with me.. :S

 

[Dan Page]

There ok, although i have seen a few die lol.
The packard bell one probably wont be any more reliable lmfao.

 

[sn00p]

I've got a stack of dead deathstars, a mate of mine has another stack, I've also got a stack of them here at work too!

Enjoy!

 

[Nik]

Nah, i'm sure they are fine Oms. I just work for the people that used to make the Deskstar drives before they sold the business to Hitachi, and there were a few notorious models. No reason to swap it, was just joking when you said it had been sat there for hours ticking away.

 

[fizzy_drink]

I want to cry....

(fingers crossed)

 

[The Hoff]

Deskstar reliability is an old problem, the new ones since IBM backed out of it are a LOT more reliable.

Quick format just adds the correct partition data to the start and end of the partition. Full format will physically write the whole disk as being NTFS, which is why it takes longer.

 

[sn00p]

Yeah, should point out that dead ones I've had/know about are IBM ones.

I trust harddisks about as far as I can throw one though!

 

[fizzy_drink]

Phew... so my music collection shouldn't go missing in a hurry then.

I couldn't cope with re-ripping all my CDs again.

 

[sn00p]

I couldn't cope with re-ripping all my CDs again.

We have a robotic CD autoloader here for writing CD's, I figured out the protocol on it and wrote a program which automatically loaded & then ripped the cd's in iTunes. Just load up a stack of CD's and let it go, no user interaction required!

 

[Adams_16v]

i had IBM deskstars and they died on me!

best thing to do when buying a new HDD is read custoemr reviews on ebuyer. people tell you if they last or not. saved me a couple of times

 

[Nik]

I trust harddisks about as far as I can throw one though!

LOL, maybe thats why you have stacks of dead drives :rasp:

 

[Lee]

i had IBM deskstars and they died on me!

best thing to do when buying a new HDD is read custoemr reviews on ebuyer. people tell you if they last or not. saved me a couple of times

We had loads of these back when 20 and 30gb was considered large. Pretty much every one of them is now dead.

Over in yank land the "people" took IBM to court. It came out they knew the drives would probably fail early yet did nothing about it!!

 

[fizzy_drink]

We have a robotic CD autoloader here for writing CD's, I figured out the protocol on it and wrote a program which automatically loaded & then ripped the cd's in iTunes. Just load up a stack of CD's and let it go, no user interaction required!

Nice!

PS is 192 a reasonable rip quality, or should I have gone 320?

(no, I havn't spent thousands on a hi-fi system).

 

[Dan Page]

the last two places i worked these were the most replaced hard drives out the bunch.

 

[JonnyK]

i have always been faithful to my seagate barricudas

 

[sn00p]

Nice!

PS is 192 a reasonable rip quality, or should I have gone 320?

(no, I havn't spent thousands on a hi-fi system).

yeah, certainly beats sitting there loading, pressing buttons & unloading!

192 as mp3? I always ripped mp3's to 192, could here the odd artifact now and then but didn't ever bother me. Think when I ripped my cd collection and my bosses I did them to 128 but that was using aac.

 

[The Hoff]

I prefer Seagate Barracuda's, but each to their own

 

[Daz]

Lots of people use Deathstars cus' they are RAPID. Very fast drives.. next step up would be a Raptor (10k RPM) for SATA.

But yea.. backup, backup again, then backup the backup

 

[Martin_172]

deskstars are fine now it was the old IBM ones that were bad, but they now use a feature to prevent the arm from hovering over the one place all the time (you hear them clicking when they have been idle for a while, as if they are reseting)

i would stick with seagate tho, they give you a 5 year warranty which must mean they are confident they can last!