How much time to format 1TB?

[AccidentalArt]

I have a new 1TB drive i'm changing from nfst (or whatever) to Fat32. It's been churning for 5 hours now. You think its hung up or still doing its thing?

Reason for change is so i can use it on my mac.

Thanks
Robert

[cdifoto]

5 hours seems like a long time. My 500GB never took 2.5 hours...

[MDJAK]

maybe a slow drive

[AirBrontosaurus]

Why in God's name are you formatting 1tb on FAT? That's going to take freaking forever.

edit: Mac's only use FAT? Wow... Also, the max size for FAT32 through windows is 32gb, and the max file size on FAT is 4gb. It's possible that you'll be getting 32 equal partitions of 32gb each if you're doing it through Windows.

[ifonline]

Why on earth are you formatting in FAT on a Mac? I remember the first hard drive I formatted on a Mac (OS Extended Journaled)... I was thinking in terms of formatting on the PC which took hours. On the Mac, it took about ten seconds. Very nice!

Just plug the drive into the Mac, it will tell you that it can't recognize it and give you the option to format it. Choose OS Extended Journaled and it will be done in no time.

[AirBrontosaurus]

I remember the first hard drive I formatted on a Mac (OS Extended Journaled)... I was thinking in terms of formatting on the PC which took hours. On the Mac, it took about ten seconds. Very nice!

It's called a quick format, and it isn't really a format at all (Windows can do it too). It just tells the computer that the drive is marked for writing; it doesn't actually delete any of the data.

For a number of reasons, I usually recommend against doing this. If there is a problem with the drive's sectors or other internal data problems, a quick format doesn't rectify this. A regular format kind of does, because it writes over the partition files and most of the data, but a fair amount remains in tact. A low-level format (Zero write), puts the drive to all zeros, which means that it operates pretty much like a brand new drive.

I always do low-level formats with my drives, if for no other reason that data security and the piece of mind of having a factory-default drive.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Why in God's name are you formatting 1tb on FAT? That's going to take freaking forever.

edit: Mac's only use FAT? Wow... Also, the max size for FAT32 through windows is 32gb, and the max file size on FAT is 4gb. It's possible that you'll be getting 32 equal partitions of 32gb each if you're doing it through Windows.

The 32 GB "limit" is not real, it's put there by WinXP to force you to use NTFS,. FAT 32 goes at least as large as 8 TB and when 64kb clusters are used doubles it to 16TB,. but probably larger.

[ifonline]

It's called a quick format, and it isn't really a format at all (Windows can do it too). It just tells the computer that the drive is marked for writing; it doesn't actually delete any of the data.

For a number of reasons, I usually recommend against doing this. If there is a problem with the drive's sectors or other internal data problems, a quick format doesn't rectify this. A regular format kind of does, because it writes over the partition files and most of the data, but a fair amount remains in tact. A low-level format (Zero write), puts the drive to all zeros, which means that it operates pretty much like a brand new drive.

I always do low-level formats with my drives, if for no other reason that data security and the piece of mind of having a factory-default drive.

While you are correct, I personally have never run into problems with quick formatting. All of the drives that I have put into my Mac are brand new out of the box, including the drive that is now the System drive. The original System drive is sitting beside me on the desk looking for a new home. I check the stability of my drives and back up my data regularly, so I'm not particularly worried about failure.

Certainly to each his own.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Oh PS, to the OP about the OQ...

5 hours does not seem to long a time for a real format of a drive that size. In the old days low level formatting enterprise server SCSI drives I'd have to leave them to churn overnight... and they were only 4-16 GB!!!!

[AirBrontosaurus]

The 32 GB "limit" is not real, it's put there by WinXP to force you to use NTFS,. FAT 32 goes at least as large as 8 TB and when 64kb clusters are used doubles it to 16TB,. but probably larger.

Hence why I said "through windows." ;).

I figured since he said he was going to format from NTFS (Windows) to the FAT (Mac), then he probably had a Windows install on it. I just assumed he was doing it through windows.

[lakiluno]

but the question remains...why format to FAT32. I guess the only thing I can think of is if you're switching the drive between mac and PC, but when you get into the TB's, I'd be at least putting it on a NAS, if not a fully blown server, rather than just a USB box.

[PacAce]

Why in God's name are you formatting 1tb on FAT? That's going to take freaking forever.

edit: Mac's only use FAT? Wow... Also, the max size for FAT32 through windows is 32gb, and the max file size on FAT is 4gb. It's possible that you'll be getting 32 equal partitions of 32gb each if you're doing it through Windows.

No, Macs do not only use FAT. The reason why the OP wants to format the drive using FAT is because he wants to be able to use the drive on both his PC and his Mac. Mac has a more efficient native format than FAT32. Unfortunately, PCs can't read them. And, Macs can't write to NTFS. So the middle ground is FAT32.

[AirBrontosaurus]

No, Macs do not only use FAT. The reason why the OP wants to format the drive using FAT is because he wants to be able to use the drive on both his PC and his Mac. Mac has a more efficient native format than FAT32. Unfortunately, PCs can't read them. And, Macs can't write to NTFS. So the middle ground is FAT32.


Ah... thanks for clearing that up.

[AccidentalArt]

PacAce nailed it on the head.

I ended up getting the WD utility and it converted the drive type in no time to FAT. There was a need to store alot of data. In the next few weeks i"ll have a NAS setup and the issue won't really exist. With the exception that a MAC and 4 XP boxes will be accessing the data.

Thanks everyone for the help!

Robert

[Quad]

If you look in the event viewer under system it will tell you if bad blocks have been detected during the format.