most recent 30 from superuser.com 2010-03-16T01:33:29Z http://superuser.com/feeds/question/72053 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows 0 Macroideal http://superuser.com/users/0 2009-11-18T09:29:04Z 2009-11-18T11:21:52Z

<p>How does formatting work in Windows?</p> <p>Does it erase all the data on the drive to 0? What's the difference between fast format and normal format? If it doesn't set all the data in the drive to 0, how can I do that?</p>

http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows/72054#72054 1 vanja. http://superuser.com/users/0 2009-11-18T09:31:10Z 2009-11-18T09:33:18Z

<p>A long format will run a short format and a check disk operation.</p>

http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows/72055#72055 4 TheGrandWazoo http://superuser.com/users/0 2009-11-18T09:32:10Z 2009-11-18T10:47:20Z

<p>A <strong>fast format</strong> (sometimes called <strong>quick format</strong>) only recreates the necessary table structures for the filesystem. The files aren't actually deleted, but when the table structures are reset to it's initial state they will be overwritten in time. This is because the system marked those positions as 'writable'.</p> <p>A <strong>normal format</strong> recreates the table structures and clears out every block on the hard drive.</p> <p>You can manually set the blocks to zero if you want using a tool like 'dd' on Linux. </p>

http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows/72056#72056 1 Dani http://superuser.com/users/14706 2009-11-18T09:35:18Z 2009-11-18T09:35:18Z

<p>There are 3rd party "Wipe Disk" tools that can really erase the data on the disk.</p> <p>you can start looking <a href="http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/securedelete.shtml" rel="nofollow">here</a> and google the rest:</p>

http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows/72062#72062 0 harrymc http://superuser.com/users/8672 2009-11-18T10:14:40Z 2009-11-18T10:14:40Z

<p>A Quick format will only wipe out the file-system tables (MFT). Files can still be reconstituted.</p> <p>A Full format will also rewrite all sectors in order to reset all magnetic platters, thereby wiping out all data. Files can no longer be reconstituted, except with special equipment to "peel back" the magnetic layers, which is only in the possession of organizations such as the FBI, CIA etc.</p>

http://superuser.com/questions/72053/how-does-formatting-work-in-windows/72081#72081 2 Molly7244 http://superuser.com/users/0 2009-11-18T11:21:52Z 2009-11-18T11:21:52Z

<blockquote> <p>If it doesn't set all the data in the drive to 0, how can I do that?</p> </blockquote> <p>neither quick nor full format will erase data on a hard drive beyond recovery, you want to run <strong><a href="http://www.dban.org/" rel="nofollow">Darik's Boot And Nuke</a></strong> (aka <strong>DBAN</strong>) to be sure all data on the hard disk are wiped thoroughly.</p>