Full formatting. What is it really?

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Formatting a hard drive means not only deleting information from it, but also marking it into sectors and recording data access structures. The formatting process is not rich in varieties; there are only two types: low-level and high-level. The first is not subject to the environment operating system and the average user due to established protection; such measures were taken because this operation is a partition of the disk into sectors and tracks - the loss of such important content makes it impossible further use disk.
Thus, the user has the opportunity to operate only with high-level formatting, which implies the removal of content accumulated during work and a number of other structures. Therefore, when talking about formatting, we usually mean one of the high-level formatting algorithms, fast or complete. What is the difference between them?
Function full formatting , as the name suggests, implies deep cleaning disk. First of all, with full formatting, the “Main File Table” is reset; If we go down to the common language, this table (the generally accepted designation is “MFT”, i.e. “Master File Table”) is a database file that stores all the information about the contents of the disk: images, program structures, video and audio files of the user, operating system folder, etc., in a word, all the information accumulated over time. After resetting the MFT database, the information on the disk becomes inaccessible.
Full formatting also deletes all user files, and at the level binary code– all sectors in which the recorded information was stored are filled with zero values, i.e. information is completely erased; its restoration, which is possible after a quick format, becomes unthinkable with a complete format.
A special function of full formatting is to check the disk for bad sectors. If any are detected, information about the location of the “bad” sector is saved to a non-erasable partition of the hard drive, and subsequently no data is written to the damaged fragment.
Due to its complexity, complete formatting takes a long period of time. On modern computers Complete formatting of 100 GB of information requires, on average, 20-25 minutes.
Quick formatting has a not as complex algorithm as the full one, since it is limited only to deleting the “MFT” table without erasing existing files(this is why their subsequent restoration becomes possible). In this case, the disk is not checked for damaged segments.

TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between quick and full formatting is as follows:

After a quick format, it is possible to partially restore previously existing files, but not with complete formatting.
Quick formatting does not erase user files, which happens with full formatting.
With quick formatting HDD is not checked for damage; if complete, it is checked.
Quick formatting takes less time than full formatting.

In this article you will learn what formatting is, learn how to properly format a hard drive, learn about various types HDD formatting– including low-level. We will also select good program For breaking down hard disk.

What is formatting?

Disk formatting– this is the procedure for applying labels to a data storage device - a hard drive (HDD), memory card, CD/DVD or other storage medium. The formatting operation is equally useful for new and “worn” HDDs that have served their life.

A disk that has no partitions is absolutely useless. In addition to the fact that you apply markup to the disk, formatting deletes all data almost irrevocably (although there is). Therefore, you need to be careful and prepare in advance for formatting hard drive.

Over the years of operation of the operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux), the hard drive turns into a “garbage dump”, since many programs leave their files on the disk, and after uninstallation their “roots” still remain on the HDD. As a result, the system is slow and unstable. There are various freezes, slowdowns, noise - it behaves inappropriately. After reformatting, the hard drive is optimized and begins to work better. Many devices last a long time without this procedure. I advise you to be on the safe side and format your hard drive at least once a year.

Sooner or later, formatting the disk is inevitable. However, before doing this, it is very important to update or reinstall the operating system on your computer. Along with deletion unnecessary files you get a completely clean environment without defects, harmful viruses, unused programs, data that leads to conflicts. Thus, before reformatting the hard drive, we reinstall the OS.

Before formatting, do backup copy all important data on another drive. As already mentioned, during this procedure, various service information and marks are written to the disk, which allow information to be written to the HDD in the future without hindrance.

Steps to format a hard drive

Low level– at this stage, basic markings are applied to the disk at a low level. As a rule, this is done by the hardware developer. In this case, special tracks and service data are written to the disk. This information remains on the hard drive almost forever - it can only be overwritten using proprietary utilities. These programs can only replace service data. By the way, if you perform low-level formatting of the hard drive, then you will no longer be able to recover data later, unfortunately or fortunately. Therefore, if your goal is to destroy information, then you can use this format.
Section breakdown. It is clear that storing data on a disk without partitions is quite inconvenient. For some logical organization, the HDD is divided into special zones, disks - drive C:, drive D: and so on. For these purposes, both utility utilities built into the OS and external programs for formatting a hard drive, which I have written about more than once.
High level. This type of reformatting process creates boot sectors, file tables. We will talk about all this below.

Types of disk formatting

Perhaps you know that regular means systems provide 2 methods by which you can format a hard drive - external or internal:

quick formatting: takes less time, allows you to carry out the procedure as is. The point is that with this type of computer formatting, the files in the file table are overwritten with zeros, while the data is stored as if nothing had happened, and you can later restore it. Also when this method you're not optimizing file structure, and if there were defects on the hard drive, you will not fix them when quick method
normal formatting : longer in time and more deep formatting hard drive. Data on internal or external drive are completely destroyed, the file system is checked for possible mistakes, damage. bad sectors, bad blocks. Thus, when the usual way reformatting, you kill two birds with one stone, although you lose a little more time.

Several ways to format a disk - from simple to complex

Formatting is a simple operation that non-advanced users can understand. Next, I will tell you how to format a computer yourself - from simple to complex, depending on your skills and level of computer proficiency.

Using standard Windows tools when formatting

operating system Windows XP-10 has built-in tools to perform this operation. Formatting a hard drive is done like this:

Open “Explorer” (or another file manager),
Go to the “My Computer” section
Click on to the desired disk
Select “Format”
Next, click on the “Start” button

This is the easiest way to format your computer without additional tools. For all its simplicity, however, all stages must be performed consciously, clearly understanding why you are doing it. Before giving your consent to formatting, carefully check whether the drive you have selected is correct.

Perhaps the video instructions show more clearly how to format a disk.

An alternative formatting method in Windows 7/8/10

Go to the Disk Management console on your computer. In Windows OS it is available at “Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Manage... – Disk Management”.

Go to the "Disk Management" section from the Panel Windows management 10

You need to select from the list the disk (volume) that you want to format, following the same steps as described above.

Administration section "Computer Management"

Formatting a hard drive via the Windows command line

To start formatting, open a command line (console) on your computer. To do this, use the keyboard shortcut WIN + R, in the "Run" window that appears, enter CMD command, press ENTER.

Note. To format a disk via the command line, you will need administrator rights. Start - CMD - open context menu by clicking on the application icon " Command line" - Run as administrator. If you try to format the disk without administrator rights, nothing will work: access will be denied. In general, watch the video where I show how to format as administrator.

In front of us is the console. To format we use the following commands:

format drive letter: – format drive letter

Press Enter. We carefully read what is written in the console, further actions With hard drive We perform according to the situation.

Full hard drive formatting via HDD Low Level Format Tool

Low-level formatting will optimize the HDD structure. This is useful when preparing to reinstall the operating system. At the same time, you can solve problems with bad sectors hard drive.

In addition to basic functions, HDD Low Level Format Tool can be used to read SMART indicators. You can check the number of read errors, disk uptime, etc.

How fully format the hard drive:

After installation we launch HDD program Low Level Format
In the Drive search window, select the hard drive (if several are installed). The easiest way to distinguish one hard drive from another is by capacity. Click Continue
Go to the LOW-LEVEL Format tab
To quickly format (delete partitions and MBR records), select the Perform quick wipe option.
To completely format the hard drive, the above option should be ignored
Before completely formatting your hard drive, make sure you have selected the correct drive. Only then click the Format this device button.

How to format a tablet

In essence, there are no differences here with the methods described above. All you need is to remove the memory card from the tablet (usually an SD card) and use a card reader to connect it to your computer on which the formatting program is installed (see download link above). note that we're talking about about formatting the memory card, not internal memory tablet.

Divided into two types - fast And complete. In this post, I will talk about how quick formatting differs from full formatting and when you should use these types of formatting.

So, what is the difference between quick and full formatting?

With quick formatting, only the table is recreated (overwritten) file system), but the data area is not affected.

With full formatting, it is first checked for availability. If such sectors are detected, the scan program tries to fix them, and if unsuccessful, marks them as faulty (bad sectors). Accordingly, such sectors are excluded from the file system tables that are formed after full check surfaces. This means that no further data is written to bad sectors.

To put it simply, we can say that during the quick formatting process, a disk partition is marked as blank. After such formatting, you will not find any files that were previously stored there on the formatted disk, which creates the impression that the files were deleted, although this was not the case. In fact, all the files remain in place, but the operating system will consider this partition empty and will write new information over the previously recorded one. This means that, if desired, information from an incorrectly formatted partition can be restored, but there are many factors that influence the success of recovery, and I will talk about this some other time.

Unlike quick formatting, full formatting also includes a preliminary check of the integrity of the hard drive, that is, they are looking for bad sectors. Since this operation checks each sector of the disk separately, full formatting takes an order of magnitude longer than quick formatting. The time for complete formatting depends primarily on the size of the partition being formatted.

When should you use quick formatting and when should you use full formatting?

It’s difficult to give any clear recommendations here, but I usually do this: if I need to delete all data from hard section disk or from a removable storage medium, for example, a flash drive, then I use quick formatting, since it is completed in a matter of seconds. If I suspect that bad sectors have appeared on the disk, or that the file system has been damaged (as a result of a virus or due to incorrect removal of the storage medium from the computer), then I use full formatting.

And in conclusion, I want to say that the formatting process does not harm your hard drive or removable storage media in any way and you can format it without fear of damaging them.

Don't miss the opportunity to do a good deed:

Everyone, one way or another, has at least once encountered the need to format a flash drive. It’s a standard procedure, but not everyone pays due attention to it, especially the formatting itself. This is exactly what I would like to talk about in more detail in this material. So let's discuss what format to format everything in.

Why formatting is needed

Before we get to the point, it’s worth understanding a little about why formatting is needed in the first place. Many people mistakenly believe that by formatting a flash drive, they simply delete all unnecessary information from her, but that's not true. The drive has a certain digital structure, similar to the same hard drives. The structure consists of clusters that have a certain volume for storing information.

Over time, clusters can become overwritten, overwritten, or even become broken. As a result, this all leads to not quite correct operation the drive itself, and the only thing that can help in this situation is formatting.

During this process, the entire structure (clusters) is updated anew, which brings it, so to speak, to normal, old look. It is also possible to completely overwrite clusters by changing the format. Let's figure out which format is best to format a flash drive.

Ext4

The first format is Ext4. It is extremely rare to find flash drives with such a file system, and all for one simple reason - such drives can only work in the operating room Linux system. If you insert such a flash drive into a PC running Windows, nothing will happen, because the system is not designed to work with this format.

FAT32

When choosing which format to format the flash drive for, you can choose the standard one, which is offered by default by the operating system - FAT32. It has been around for quite a long time and remains one of the most popular on this moment. Almost all flash drives and drives that leave the factory (up to 8 GB in capacity) are formatted in file system FAT32. Previously, there were 2 more formats - FAT and FAT16, but they were quite outdated, so they were abandoned.

FAT32 is easily recognized by any operating system, which makes this format universal. Another advantage can be called high speed transferring data when copying. However, there were some downsides. The most important drawback of the format is the limitation on the maximum size of one file: it should not exceed 4 GB. Also, the disadvantages include not very high reliability. As a rule, flash drives running FAT32 fail quite quickly, as a result of which the user may lose some important information at the very inopportune moment.

NTFS

Very often the question: “In what format should I format the flash drive?” you can hear a very common answer: “Well, of course, in NTFS!” And this is not surprising, because NTFS is devoid of almost all the disadvantages that the file system has FAT systems. For example, there are no file size restrictions, which is a big plus. In addition, drives with file NTFS system have very high reliability and durability, which allows them not to be afraid of system failures or incorrect extractions.

The disadvantages of NTFS include not the highest data transfer speed. In fact, it is much less than that of FAT32, but, as they say, As for compatibility, drives with the NTFS file system work with almost all operating systems, except perhaps very old Windows ME, 98 and 95.

exFAT

exFAT is a format that replaced FAT32. Its main difference from its predecessor is that it has no restrictions regarding file sizes. In other words, it is practically the same NTFS, but with some differences. Firstly, the cluster volume has been increased to 32 KB, secondly, the data transfer speed is much higher, and thirdly, exFAT uses space more economically.

The main disadvantage of this format is that it is not yet particularly widespread and has poor compatibility with other OS. Drives with such a file system work correctly only on Windows 7 and higher operating systems. Performance on devices other than computers is also low.

If you choose which format to format the flash drive in from the three presented above, then perhaps you should opt for NTFS if your drive has a capacity of more than 8 GB. If less, then the choice is obvious - FAT32. For those who like experimenting, we can recommend exFAT, but you need to be extremely careful with it.

What format should I format a flash drive for Android?

When formatting microSD cards For Android smartphones, it is recommended to use the FAT32 file system, which is the default. Why not NTFS? Because the Android OS is based on Linux, which is not friendly with this system from birth. On the Internet, of course, there is a lot of information about how, with the help of various manipulations and programs, you can still make NTFS work on Android, but inexperienced users should refrain from such experiments.

So, when choosing which format to format a flash drive for Android in, it’s best to stick with the usual FAT32.

Formatting a Windows operating system hard drive

Let's look at such an interesting and not everyone understands question - formatting the hard drive. Why is it needed and how to do it?

So what is formatting? Someone may answer that this is deleting all files from the hard drive (hard drive). Roughly speaking, this is true, but it is not only the removal of all information.

In general, formatting is fundamental technical process preparing the hard drive for operation. Moreover, the very beginning can be done only with the help of special equipment.

There are 2 main types of hard drive formatting:

Physical
Boolean

Physical formatting of the hard drive (low-level)- this is the process of dividing a new hard drive into tracks, sectors and other important technical features for its subsequent supply for sale.

This initial preparation of the hard drive is carried out exclusively at the manufacturer’s factory, using special equipment. You cannot do it yourself or at home, because this requires special factory equipment.

At home, you can only perform software formatting of the hard drive. Although many who have encountered this issue have seen programs on the Internet that supposedly offer to do it, this is not true; it is impossible to do it at home, as mentioned above.

Logical (high level)- this is already quite feasible formatting at home.

In its process there is creation boot records, sectors, file system structure, that is, everything essential for the normal operation of a hard drive in a computer.

It often happens that you need to format a new hard drive, let's describe the path it takes to begin full operation:

Low-level formatting - carried out at the manufacturer. Then sent for sale.
Division into sections. After the hard drive falls into our hands, we need to create partitions on it. This is needed for proper operation operating system and subsequent safety of personal data. Usually create 3 partitions - local disks C, D, E. You can read more about this issue in the article how to partition a hard drive.
High level formatting. And now the final stage Before installing the operating system (OS), this step is performed. This is what we all usually do when we need to format either a hard drive, a local disk before installing the OS, or a flash drive.

It comes in two types:

Fast
Complete

If we choose fast, then we get only superficial, that is, what happens quick update file tables. Moreover, all the files are still stored in place, although invisible. They are not visible due to the updated file table.

In this case, data recovery is easiest and with almost 100% probability. It’s just extremely important to remember that if you plan to restore this information, you shouldn’t write anything down here.

Because new information will simply overwrite old files. If we perform a full format, then a whole range of measures are taken to clean and update the hard drive.

What is also very important is that at this moment all cells of the formatted partition are diagnosed for operability. If faulty ones are detected, they are marked as unusable and are not used by the operating system during subsequent operation.

Now let's see how you can format a hard drive or one of its partitions. In general, it can be produced:

In the OS itself

Let's look at the second, easiest way

First, go to “My Computer”. There we usually see local drives C, D, E, although there may be fewer or more of them.

Select the drive you want to format and click on it right click mice. A menu for working with this section will appear. Find “format” there and click on it:

Next, the settings menu will appear, in it we leave everything as it is, the only thing left to decide is whether we do quick or full formatting. What is their difference can be seen above. Once you have made your choice, click “start”.

A window about preventing data loss will appear; if you are confident in your actions, then we agree and the process will start. If you need to format the entire hard drive, this can only be done if you connect it to another computer or when installing/reinstalling the OS.

In general, that's all Additional information on this topic, you can read the article on how to format a flash drive. We looked at the issue of formatting the hard drive. What is this process? What types is it divided into and how to produce it.