Andrew Falanga wrote: > Yesterday while working on a problem at work, a colleague and I were > talking > about the various file systems and something that I have always wondered on > is what are the various file systems doing when a format is being done. > For > example, at home, my PC has 2 80gb drives. One for Windows and the other > for FreeBSD. It took Windows nearly an hour (give or take) to format the > 80gb drive. On the other hand, it took FreeBSD little more than 3 - 5 > minutes to format its 80gb drive.
This is too slow for the FreeBSD case. By default, Windows will do a full format - in effect, will write zeroes all over the drive, with the intent of checking if the drive is capable of it. Unix format (newfs) will only initialize file system structures - in effect, will write out (initially empty) file tables to the drive. This takes about 5-10 seconds on 250 GB drives, so 3-5 minutes you got is way too much. There's no way of making newfs to the "checking" phase; there are separate utilities for that. > my colleague and I because there such a speed difference in formatting > things (once windows is installed) when choosing between a "Quick > Format" or > a "Full Format". Yes, Quick format will just write the file tables (this is simplified, but you'll get the picture) on Windows, too.
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