format seems to be taking a long time

[supaidaaman]

I just got a new 640gb WD drive to put into an external case from rosewill. Im formatting it connected to the USB port (in windows disk management)....and it seems like its taking a long time.

Its been 2 hours and its only at 52%

Is that normal? Can I stop it and try something else?



(also as a side note, if the drive lays on its back it rattles the case pretty bad, but when I rotate it, its fine) Maybe its the drive spin rattling????

 

[dfuze]

I used the same method on my 500gb drive and it took forever on full format (as opposed to quick format). I don't remember how long it took overall though.

 

[supaidaaman]

I dont think I can wait 2hours, i need to move the system...Can I just stop the format and do it later? Ill have to start over right?

 

[RebateMonger]

You can stop the format and do a Quick Format instead. Then do a Chkdsk /r overnight if you wish to scan the surface of the drive for errors.

 

[Raduque]

I've never been able to quick format a fresh from the factory hard drive.

My 1TB drive took 6 hours to format(not on USB).

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Raduque
I've never been able to quick format a fresh from the factory hard drive.

Strange. That's how I always do it.

Are you formatting from Explorer, or from Computer Management? I always use Computer Management.

 

[faxon]

computer managment, or a third party app like partitionmagic, will be able to run a quick format just fine. never format from explorer lol

 

[Nothinman]

I've never been able to quick format a fresh from the factory hard drive.

The difference between a full and quick format is a purely software option, there's nothing about a drive that forces one or the other.

computer managment, or a third party app like partitionmagic, will be able to run a quick format just fine. never format from explorer lol

Partition Magic is a waste of money and Computer Management and Explorer use the same functions for formatting the drive, there's no difference between them.

 

[DanDaMan315]

I always long format just to make sure all the bits are actually erased and not searchable or detectable. It makes your drive faster in the long run any way, quick format doesn't format the entire drive. I have a 640GB and it did take a little while, about 2 hours total. You probably just have a slow hard drive. Get a SSD 😛

 

[Nothinman]

I always long format just to make sure all the bits are actually erased and not searchable or detectable

A full format with the Windows tools doesn't erase the full drive, all it does is verify that all of the blocks are readable.

It makes your drive faster in the long run any way, quick format doesn't format the entire drive.

The end result is the same with both types of format, neither one will affect the drive's speed.

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: DanDaMan315
It makes your drive faster in the long run any way, quick format doesn't format the entire drive.

My drive was a 7200rpm drive but I did a full format and now its 7300rpm

😱