Format a HD using /q ?

[Catalyst2k1]

Hello all,
A buddy and I are having a discussion about the usefulness of the quickformat and how it pertains to Hard Drives. For as long as I can remember, I have been told not to use the /q command when formatting a hard drive, whether it be the primary partition or one of the extended partitions.

Does it do anything to adversely effect either the performance or the reliability of the drive? I understand that the first format of a brand new drive should be a regular format to establish sector size and whatnot.

Additionally, what about after repartitioning? Do you have to format without the /q switch, or will that be sufficient?

Thanks for your help,
--Brian

 

[Demon-Xanth]

the /q just erases the FAT, it doesn't check the integrity of the drive to make sure there's no bad blocks.

Basically, if there's a problem, it won't catch it.

 

[Catalyst2k1]

So that could cause data integrity problems, correct? Bad sector on the HD that tries to get written to - problems in a corporate environment I would assume

 

[Demon-Xanth]

It wouldn't cause problems, it just wouldn't prevent them either.

 

[CTho9305]

<< Does it do anything to adversely effect either the performance or the reliability of the drive? I understand that the first format of a brand new drive should be a regular format to establish sector size and whatnot. >>



For a long time now, there has been no such thing as a true "low level format", which writes tracks/etc. modern LLF'ing just fills the drives with zeros. As demon-xanth said... it won't cause any problems, but it also won't catch things like bad sectors