Formatting an External USB Hardrive

[RPatrick6]

I have never formatted a harddrive before within windows, I've always used the start up disk DOS prompt. I assume with a USB drive, one must load windows in order to format it.

Using windows explorer (WIN ME), when I right click on the drive letter, I can choose between Quick Format and Full Format. What is the difference between these two in terms of what they do and how long they take. Whats best ?

Thanks !

 

[powerMarkymark]

Quick Format is fine and alot faster.

 

[corkyg]

It really depends on whether or not the drive has ever been formatted before. Quick Format works fine if it has. If it is cherry, you may want to use full format.

Format