Re: Need disk error checker for Windows XP

"D-W-S" <[email protected]> wrote in message 
news:[email protected]...
> anon wrote on Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:04:25 -0800:
>
>> Question - I thought that when the disk was formatted that 'something' 
>> was
>> written to all the sectors during the formatting procedure
>
> In the real world, yes.
>
> What Microsoft calles "formatting", in particular a "quick format", is
> what everyone else calls "creating a filesystem". It assumes that the
> device already *is* formatted and simply writes the stuff at the
> beginning of the disk that defines the filesystem (bootsector, root
> directory, initialised FATs for a FAT filesystem - not sure how NTFS
> works).

Actually, "Quick Format" is more like <wipe existing file-system> as the 
disc needs to have been previously formatted in order to be able to do a 
"quick format". What it actually does is reset the MFT so that the disc 
"appears" empty. If you're starting from scratch, a "full" format is the 
only option. A bit similar to removing partitions - it only "appears" to 
wipe the disc (the data is still available with the right tools).

>
> A real "format then create filesystem" cycle is achieved by using the
> "/u" option to the format command line. This should detect badblocks.