New HD, quick format?

[Muse]

I just replaced the 100GB drive that came in my refurb Lenovo T61 laptop with a new Samsung 640GB 2.5" 9.5mm HD. Installed the OS on a 150GB partition, leaving the rest unallocated. I went into disc management (how the hell do you find it without asking Help to search for it??), and created the 2nd volume and Windows 7 opted to quick format it. I want to assure that the HD is AOK. How do I do this? Should I go in there and do a full format on the 2nd partition, or is there a better way to go about things? Should I do a full format and then run some kind of disc checking program? What would you do?

 

[bacillus]

I would just run the windows error checking scan on the hdd (all partitions). Look under the properties of your drive>tools>error checking>check now.

 

[Muse]

I would just run the windows error checking scan on the hdd (all partitions). Look under the properties of your drive>tools>error checking>check now.

Thanks... that will find errors as efficiently as a full format? There's no data on the partition yet, so a full format wouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Muse]

There are two options and only the first is checked, but I can check both:

[checked] Automatically fix file system errors
[unchecked] Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors

Check the second?

I have to do each partition in turn to do the whole drive. The first is the OS partition.

 

[Zap]

I almost never do full formats anymore, especially on new drives. It's one of those things, like do you change your car's oil at 3000 miles or at what the manufacturer says (mine is at 7000 miles)? Some people obsess over minutiae and if they don't do the full format or change their oil at 3000 miles, in the back of their mind they are always wondering if they did wrong. The answer is no, they didn't do wrong. There is no wrong answer. You can full format your HDD every single time. What does that accomplish? Peace of mind? What if you full formatted every single drive you've purchased for the last decade and never had one go bad on the initial format? Does this mean the next one won't go bad? No. Does it mean it will? No.

Thus, I never full format a brand new drive, just as I never stability test a brand new CPU running at stock speeds, just as I never use a multimeter to check voltages on a brand new PSU.

I reserve those tools for when something goes wrong, not when everything works right.

 

[bacillus]

There are two options and only the first is checked, but I can check both:

[checked] Automatically fix file system errors
[unchecked] Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors

Check the second?

I have to do each partition in turn to do the whole drive. The first is the OS partition.

I normally check both and yes, you do each partition seperately.

 

[lxskllr]

I do a full format on a new drive, and a full error scan/fix every so often; maybe once every 12-18 months.

 

[Slugbait]

Since it is a new hard drive, it is unlikely that it has bad sectors, so a quick format should be OK. Note the keywords "unlikely" and "should".

If it does have any bad sectors, a full format will find them and flag them, which prevents the OS from writing data to those sectors. Data written to a bad sector = corrupt data.

Personally, I take the time for a full format if I have the time. If I don't have the time, I finish installing the OS after quick format, then run chkdsk /r before I go to bed or work or whatever.

 

[Muse]

I reserve those tools for when something goes wrong, not when everything works right.

Well, it's a brand new HD and I wanted to be sure it was AOK. If not, I'd have to overnight it to Newegg for replacement (it's been sitting around here almost a month in the unopened box). Seems OK. Scanned the data partition with no errors and the OS partition is 85% scanned right now (needed to reboot to do that one). To format the OS partition now would require a reinstall of Windows (or ghosting it, and maybe I could do that to the data partition and restore from there, but I don't figure I'll bother... would be an interesting exercise, though, I've never used Ghost on a laptop).

 

[fffblackmage]

I did a full format on my new 2TB HDD just because I wanted to make sure it's good before I started dumping data into it. I don't want to find out later that the data were corrupt because something's wrong with the HDD. Maybe it really is just the peace of mind thing, but it doesn't hurt to check (it took a really long time to format though).

 

[Zap]

Well, it's a brand new HD and I wanted to be sure it was AOK. If not, I'd have to overnight it to Newegg for replacement (it's been sitting around here almost a month in the unopened box).

Why would you need to overnight it? And why would you need to return to Newegg? You can RMA to the manufacturer. Most of them will send a new drive if you tell them it was a brand new DOA.

 

[mfenn]

Hmm, I don't think that I've ever done a full format in my life. If you're worried about your data, take a damn backup!

 

[Muse]

Hmm, I don't think that I've ever done a full format in my life. If you're worried about your data, take a damn backup!

No, I always back up (well, when I think of it, but I think I'm going maybe in the direction of WHS automatied backups). My concern was really the fact that the drive has 30 day replacement policy at Newegg and I wanted to be sure it's OK. Probably is, but you never know. I've seen HDs that have appallingly bad rates of dead or soon to die drives if you believe the reviews at Newegg. :\

 

[Muse]

Why would you need to overnight it? And why would you need to return to Newegg? You can RMA to the manufacturer. Most of them will send a new drive if you tell them it was a brand new DOA.

Good to know and I was wondering this very thing, if Samsung would replace with new or send me a "refurbished" drive. Thanks! The drive passed the error checking scans on both partitions yesterday, so I'm at ease about it.

 

[Zap]

My concern was really the fact that the drive has 30 day replacement policy at Newegg and I wanted to be sure it's OK.

Right, but Samsung backs it up with 3 years.

 

[Muse]

Right, but Samsung backs it up with 3 years.

Yup, it's moot now because it's been 31 days since I received the drive. So far so good...

actually, I don't remember a HD failure and I've bought well over 10, probably more like 13-14. I had one that early on (~4-5 months?) started getting a lot of bad sectors. It was working but I RMAed it (Maxtor) and they let me pay them $100 more and get a bigger drive. In those days a 1GB drive cost you around $1000 (I guess it was 1998 or so).