Setting up an ext. HD

[MZB]

I use XP HOME.

I just got a new 1 TB Ext. HD. I will connect via USB port.


1) When I do the initial format (It come with FAT32 and I will make it
NTFS), should I do the full format or Quick format (I'm thinking the full
format makes more sense for the first time?).

2) Now, I would like to have 3 partitions, E (300 GB), F(300 GB), and H
(remainder of the GB). Basically, I'm going to be using it with 3
computers. Two of
them have virtual G drives so I prefer E, F, and H. Is this possible?

3) If so, do you partition at the same time you format, or is this done
after formatting (or before?).

I'm just a bit confused on the order of things. Also, to accomplish #2 and
#3 above, do I right click My Computer/Manage/Disk Management and then
figure it out from there?

Is there any step I'm missing? I've heard about something called Initialize.
When do I do this and is it necessary?

I'm just uncertain (somewhat) on how to proceed here.

Mel

 

[LVTravel]

I use XP HOME.

I just got a new 1 TB Ext. HD. I will connect via USB port.


1) When I do the initial format (It come with FAT32 and I will make it
NTFS), should I do the full format or Quick format (I'm thinking the full
format makes more sense for the first time?).

2) Now, I would like to have 3 partitions, E (300 GB), F(300 GB), and H
(remainder of the GB). Basically, I'm going to be using it with 3
computers. Two of
them have virtual G drives so I prefer E, F, and H. Is this possible?

3) If so, do you partition at the same time you format, or is this done
after formatting (or before?).

I'm just a bit confused on the order of things. Also, to accomplish #2 and
#3 above, do I right click My Computer/Manage/Disk Management and then
figure it out from there?

Is there any step I'm missing? I've heard about something called
Initialize.
When do I do this and is it necessary?

I'm just uncertain (somewhat) on how to proceed here.

Mel

You partition before you format. Right click on Disk management, delete any
partition that is currently showing (the entire drive) and answer yes to
enable the deletion of the partition. When you partition, the first
partition will be 300 GB. You can format that partition as NTFS. Once that
is done, proceed into disk management again and partition the two remaining
partitions and format them also.

The drive letters are assigned when the USB drive is plugged into the USB
port on a new computer. Normally it will assign the letters that are next
in line as available. You can set the drive letters then using the Change
Drive Letter feature of disk management.

 

[Martin Potestas]

1) When I do the initial format (It come with FAT32 and I will make it
NTFS), should I do the full format or Quick format (I'm thinking the full
format makes more sense for the first time?).

Basically a full format truly scrubs the disk from
scratch and rebuilds all of the file structures, checks to make
sure that everything is OK. A Quick format only writes the file system
and directory table.

--
Kind regards

Martin Potestas
Microsoft MCP | Astaro ACA, ACE
CompTIA A+, Server+, Linux+

 

[MZB]

LV:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

What a nice, clear, succinct explanation, especially the part about deleting
the existing partition. That was the key.

The whole thing took about 3 minutes!

I did use the quick format.

I see someone else suggested the more thorough full format. Do you recommend
that? If so, I assume I could do it for each partition?

This is a new Fantom 1 TB drive and it seems to be working great (at least
for the 2 minutes I've spent moving a few items to it!). So, I'm wondering
if I should do the full format (yes, I know it will erase what I have on
it -- no problem there!)

Mel

 

[LVTravel]

LV:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

What a nice, clear, succinct explanation, especially the part about
deleting the existing partition. That was the key.

The whole thing took about 3 minutes!

I did use the quick format.

I see someone else suggested the more thorough full format. Do you
recommend that? If so, I assume I could do it for each partition?

This is a new Fantom 1 TB drive and it seems to be working great (at least
for the 2 minutes I've spent moving a few items to it!). So, I'm wondering
if I should do the full format (yes, I know it will erase what I have on
it -- no problem there!)

Mel

If you want to do a full format you may certainly do so. In fact Microsoft
recommends it with a never formatted drive (which yours has been formatted
before as a FAT32 drive.) See their quick information here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302686 During normal use if the drive
suffers a bad sector, the drive and system will automatically mark the
sector as bad and move the write to a different location on the drive so in
most instances a drive does not have to be "regular" formatted other than an
initial format on a new drive. I have taken unformatted bare drives and
used them with a quick format for years without any issues.

BTW, glad it worked out for you.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Basically a full format truly scrubs the disk from
scratch and rebuilds all of the file structures, checks to make
sure that everything is OK. A Quick format only writes the file system
and directory table.

The only difference between a "Quick" and "Full" format is that the full
format scans the drive for bad sectors and the quick format doesn't.
This "scrubbing" notion is deceiving, most people would interpret
"scrubbing" as truly removing all files, as in wiping the disk.
Regardless of the format method (quick or regular) formating the drive
doesn't really remove any of the files on the disk, after the format all
the files can still be recovered with data recovery utilities, nothing
has been scrubbed.

John