USING PARTITION MAGIC 8.01 TO FORMAT A 200GIG DRIVE SAFE ? WHY DO FAST

[Andy Louie]

Why does partition Magic format a 160-250 gig drives so fast. here at
work the IT Specialists use PM 8.0 to format 40-50 drives using
partition magic 8.0 and darn it was so fast.. I tried formating [back
at home] using windows 98 boot disk for a 160 gig and it took 2-3
hours. Is it REALLY SAFE to use partition magic to format a disk so
fast and reliably store crucial data ??????? Advise

Andy
Programmer analyst

 

[Rod Speed]

Why does partition Magic format a 160-250 gig drives so fast.

It just writes the basic directory structure
info. What's often called a quick format.

here at work the IT Specialists use PM 8.0 to format 40-50
drives using partition magic 8.0 and darn it was so fast..
I tried formating [back at home] using windows 98 boot
disk for a 160 gig and it took 2-3 hours.

Because that is doing more than just
writing the basic directory structure info.

You'll find if you boot an XP CD you get 4 options with formatting,
quick and complete formatting, in both FAT32 and NTFS formats.

Is it REALLY SAFE to use partition magic to format
a disk so fast and reliably store crucial data ???????

If the drive doesnt have a fault, yes.

Thats a bit dangerous with a brand new drive, but if the
drive is faulty, the faults should show up pretty quickly
when its being used, and in that 40-50 drive situation you
would normally just return any bad drives that show up.
No real need to check them using the format verify.

Advise

Jawohl mein kommandante.