Format the Hard Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark

Hi Guys
Is there a freeware commandline format utility for Hard Drives out
there?

I've used the 911 Emergency Disk for this task and it works well,
takes seconds instead of minutes that the Microsoft format takes.

But I was looking for a small stand alone version instead of a whole
CD.

Thanks in Advance
Mark
 
I've used the 911 Emergency Disk for this task and it works well,
takes seconds instead of minutes that the Microsoft format takes.
Click to expand...

was it a quick-format only?

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Mark skrev:
Is there a freeware commandline format utility for Hard Drives out
there?
Click to expand...

Why do you need this? And for what filesystem? Most operating systems
has their own tools for formatting, in whatever file system they
support, and also enable you to format during installation. 3rd party
tools usually support FAT/FAT32, and sometimes NTFS and/or EXT2, but
that's usually it.
I've used the 911 Emergency Disk for this task and it works well,
takes seconds instead of minutes that the Microsoft format takes.
Click to expand...

This sounds like the difference between a full format and a fast format.
A full format rewrites every single sector of the partition you are
formatting, a fast format only makes a clean file allocation table. Most
formatting utilities support both. A fast format is usually enough,
unless you have a specific reason to make existing data on the disk
unrecoverable. Also, I like to do a full format on brand new disks, just
to make sure they are OK.

Try running the MS format with the /q paramter.
But I was looking for a small stand alone version instead of a whole
CD.
Click to expand...

For years I had a single floppy laying around with some tools on,
including Ranish Partition Manager (http://www.ranish.com/part/). It is
small, but very powerful for creating partitions. It can also format
FAT/FAT32 partitions. However, due to limits of MS-DOS, it can probably
not handle disks larger than 128 GiB.
 
Yes, a quick formay only. Sorry, I should have menyioned that as well
as it being for any Windows Operating System. (Mainly XP though).
 
Mark skrev:

Why do you need this? And for what filesystem? Most operating systems
has their own tools for formatting, in whatever file system they
support, and also enable you to format during installation. 3rd party
tools usually support FAT/FAT32, and sometimes NTFS and/or EXT2, but
that's usually it.
Click to expand...
Quick Format on any Windows OS, in particular XP. Microsofts version
IMHO is slow
This sounds like the difference between a full format and a fast format.
A full format rewrites every single sector of the partition you are
formatting, a fast format only makes a clean file allocation table. Most
formatting utilities support both. A fast format is usually enough,
unless you have a specific reason to make existing data on the disk
unrecoverable. Also, I like to do a full format on brand new disks, just
to make sure they are OK.
Quick format is all I need
Try running the MS format with the /q paramter.


For years I had a single floppy laying around with some tools on,
including Ranish Partition Manager (http://www.ranish.com/part/). It is
small, but very powerful for creating partitions. It can also format
FAT/FAT32 partitions. However, due to limits of MS-DOS, it can probably
not handle disks larger than 128 GiB.
Click to expand...

Most of the machines I work on have 80 gig hd's or less so that size
limitation shouldn't matter. I give it a try, thanks.

But if there is any other utility that can handle a bigger HD, I would
be grateful, because it can only be a matter of time before I work on
a machine with a bigger HD.

Thanks
Mark
 
This sounds like the difference between a full format and a fast format.
A full format rewrites every single sector of the partition you are
Click to expand...

A full format would uncover bad sectors not detected/reported by the
manufacturing process.

--
.~. Might, Courage, Vision. SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ May the Force and Farce be with you! Simplicity is Beauty!
/( _ )\ (Ubuntu 5.10) Linux 2.6.15
^ ^ 19:20:01 up 3 days 21:59 load average: 1.00 1.00 1.00
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Man-wai Chang skrev:
A full format would uncover bad sectors not detected/reported by the
manufacturing process.
Click to expand...

Which is why I said I like to do it on brand new disks. I might add that
I'd do it on disks that has been stored away and been out of use for
some time.
 
Mark said:
Yes, a quick formay only. Sorry, I should have menyioned that as well
as it being for any Windows Operating System. (Mainly XP though).
Click to expand...

the installation process of WinXP has a full-format option. Use it.

--
.~. Might, Courage, Vision. SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ May the Force and Farce be with you! Simplicity is Beauty!
/( _ )\ (Ubuntu 5.10) Linux 2.6.15
^ ^ 20:22:01 up 3 days 23:01 load average: 1.00 1.00 1.00
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I realize a full format would be better but I only need to do a quick
format on these machines. I need to get them in and out as quick as
possible.

I had a look at Ranish, it looks good but I don't need all the bells
and whistles. I wont need to touch the partitions on these machines.
Hence my original question about a small format utility. If there are
none out there then I'll just persevere with the Microsoft version.

cheers Mark
 
Hi Guys
Is there a freeware commandline format utility for Hard Drives out
there?

I've used the 911 Emergency Disk for this task and it works well,
takes seconds instead of minutes that the Microsoft format takes.
Click to expand...
That would be because the program is not formatting the disk but just
the initial directory and file structure. A format program needs to
write to every sector of the disk to test whether that sector is
working correctly and to mark it as bad if it is bad. You can't do
that in seconds.
 
Mark skrev:
I had a look at Ranish, it looks good but I don't need all the bells
and whistles. I wont need to touch the partitions on these machines.
Hence my original question about a small format utility. If there are
none out there then I'll just persevere with the Microsoft version.
Click to expand...

On my floppy Ranish (part.exe) takes up 35 kB. I realize this is almost
twice as much as format.com, but geez, how small do you need it?

That being said, I'd suggest sticking with the format option available
in the OS installer. And use the NTFS file system for XP and any other
OS where this file system is applicable.
 
Mark said:
I realize a full format would be better but I only need to do a quick
format on these machines. I need to get them in and out as quick as
possible.

I had a look at Ranish, it looks good but I don't need all the bells
and whistles. I wont need to touch the partitions on these machines.
Hence my original question about a small format utility. If there are
none out there then I'll just persevere with the Microsoft version.
Click to expand...

You could also use Knoppix Live CD. fdisk or parted.

--
.~. Might, Courage, Vision. SINCERITY. http://www.linux-sxs.org
/ v \ May the Force and Farce be with you! Simplicity is Beauty!
/( _ )\ (Ubuntu 5.10) Linux 2.6.15
^ ^ 08:02:01 up 4 days 10:41 load average: 1.00 1.00 1.00
news://news.3home.net news://news.hkpcug.org news://news.newsgroup.com.hk
 
Ok Guys, you win, I withdraw my request. Consider me suitably
educated.

I'll go back to using the 911 disk and Windows Format. I just thought
there might have been something better out there.


That would be because the program is not formatting the disk but just
the initial directory and file structure. A format program needs to
write to every sector of the disk to test whether that sector is
working correctly and to mark it as bad if it is bad. You can't do
that in seconds.
Click to expand...

PS..... I did mention in an earlier post that all I wanted was a quick
Format. formatting the initial directory and file structure and not a
full format

cheers Mark.
 
Ok Guys,

I'll go back to using the 911 disk and Windows Format. I just thought
there might have been something better out there.

Mark skrev:

On my floppy Ranish (part.exe) takes up 35 kB. I realize this is almost
twice as much as format.com, but geez, how small do you need it?
Click to expand...

Size is not the issue with Ranish . I don't need to touch the
Partitions on the machines I format. I realise that it can format but
it looks like it may take a fair bit of navigating / learning to
accomplish that. If that is the case, then yes I may as well stick
with the OS format.
Also you mentioned that it doesnt do NTFS which is another reason not
to use it.
That being said, I'd suggest sticking with the format option available
in the OS installer. And use the NTFS file system for XP and any other
OS where this file system is applicable.
Click to expand...

Cheers
Mark
 
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