To format or not to format

[TheBlindMan]

I'm assembling my first system and I've just ordered a Quantum AS 30 Gig drive. I was expecting to format it myself but the vendor has asked if I want it formatted. Any reason why I shouldn't have him format it? Anything I should ask for specifically (FAT 32 etc) or will he be wise enough to go with the 'best'. Any/all suggestions or advise is/are greatly appreciated.

System:
1.2 Gig Athlon
Iwill KK266
128 Mb PC150
12x DVD drive
No video yet (ATI Radeon likely)
No OS yet (Win 98SE or 2000)

 

[fargus]

If he's not going to charge you extra for it, why not? You can always reformat yourself. He'll probably just format it as one partion, though. I like to have a smaller partition (2 or 3 gig) as C: just for my OS; it makes it easier to Ghost, etc. FAT32 is probably the best choice to start with; if you decide to install NT or W2K you can leave as that or just run the convert utility to NTFS.

 

[kenthuang]

I agree with fargus, you can always go back and do it yourself. It is easier to go from FAT32 to NTFS.

 

[Maetryx]

The advantage to having the vendor format it for you is that it amounts to a system test. If the hard drive can be formatted, that means the computer can be started, run a POST, and boot an operating system. It's kind of like an all systems are go final test. So let him do it.

 

[TheBlindMan]

Thanks for the advise folks, I really appreciate it. I'll have him format it with FAT 32.