» Windows Tips »Difference between Quick Format and Full Format on Windows
In our daily life, we usually use hard drive or other storage devices to save data. Sometimes we need to format a hard drive inevitably in the process of using it. Then you will find there are two format modes you can choose, which are quick format and full format. Does it confuse you and should you check it? This article tells you the difference between a quick format and a full format for a hard drive and you can choose a more appropriate way to format your hard drive after reading it.
In terms of formatting, we generally refer to writing specific data in a specific area of the disk according to the file system selected by the user (such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, etc.), so as to initialize the disk or disk partition.
Write the necessary structure data of the file system to the disk partition according to the selected file system, such as FAT (File Allocation Table) or MFT (Master File Table). After rewriting the file system, it will be regarded a blank hard drive but not clear the data in a real sense.
1. Quick format is very fast because of its simple operation.
2. Because there is not new data written in hard drive, it can be recovered in great probability.
3. Quick format won't scan the track of the hard drive, so the useless sector can't be detected. As a result, the data you write may be lost in the future.
Full format is more complex than quick format. On the basic of quick format, it detects all sectors of the disk, which is usually write data zero and read and verify, so as to confirm whether there are bad sectors.
1. The perfect process leads to a longer time. Full format usually takes more than ten minutes, even for hours.
2. Because full format writes data zero to cover the old data when detecting the sectors, the old data can't be recovered.
3. If there are bad sectors to be detected, they will be marked and bypassed when writing data in the future. This represents repairing the hard drive.
Recommend: If you just want to clear the files on the hard drive, you can do a quick format. But if you want to clear the data relatively thoroughly or perceive that there is something wrong with the hard drive, and don't worry about the formatting time, full format is your first choice.
