Formating a partition before installing Windows

I would like to re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional SP2, and I
always choose to format my Hard Disk using NTFS file system before installing
Windows. My question is: "Does Format command affect my Hard Disk (as a
hardware) badly if I used it many times? and if there are bad effects, how
can I avoid or reduce them?"
Thanks
--
Ragab

Ragab wrote:
> I would like to re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional
> SP2, and I always choose to format my Hard Disk using NTFS file
> system before installing Windows. My question is: "Does Format
> command affect my Hard Disk (as a hardware) badly if I used it many
> times? and if there are bad effects, how can I avoid or reduce
> them?"

It shouldn't affect a properly manufactured hard disk drive. TECHNICALLY -
it does cause more movement in the drive, which will cause wear of some
sort - but that is the purpose of the hard disk drive...

You are doing the right thing. I see nothing you could do to make it
better.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

'Does...' no
If doing a fresh install it might be wise to delete partitions first.

Sounds like this may be a frequent occurence, why?

"Ragab" <Ragab@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news2E17EE7-D294-444B-A4A7-0E036CDEEB91@microsoft.com...
>I would like to re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional SP2, and
>I
> always choose to format my Hard Disk using NTFS file system before
> installing
> Windows. My question is: "Does Format command affect my Hard Disk (as a
> hardware) badly if I used it many times? and if there are bad effects, how
> can I avoid or reduce them?"
> Thanks
> --
> Ragab

Trouble is with partitions.... you lose the drive and you've lost two,
anything of importance and any hard drive backups I keep on a separate
drive.... preferably an external USB and disconnected when not in use.

Another alternative with a separate drive is to connect it as a slave
to the master drive... at least you'll have some data should one drive
fail.

With Acronis for example, you can clone a hard drive, that is if the
main drive goes wonky you just insert the cloned drive into the computer
and away you go... or it lets you back up the entire drive into a
folder, this folder can be placed anywhere... but to use it you'll need
to make a boot disk.

Just like a car, the more you use it the more things wear out, you will
in effect be only to boot one partition at a time the other used for
file transfer etc.

davy

Thanks Davy, but i'm not asking about the effects of formatting on backups or
data. I'm asking about the effects of formatting on the hard drive as a
hardware. I mean the effects related to sectors (can it results in bad
sectors?), and may it slow down my hard drive after many times of
formatting?, somethings like that..
Thanks
--
Ragab


"davy" wrote:

>
> Trouble is with partitions.... you lose the drive and you've lost two,
> anything of importance and any hard drive backups I keep on a separate
> drive.... preferably an external USB and disconnected when not in use.
>
> Another alternative with a separate drive is to connect it as a slave
> to the master drive... at least you'll have some data should one drive
> fail.
>
> With Acronis for example, you can clone a hard drive, that is if the
> main drive goes wonky you just insert the cloned drive into the computer
> and away you go... or it lets you back up the entire drive into a
> folder, this folder can be placed anywhere... but to use it you'll need
> to make a boot disk.
>
> Just like a car, the more you use it the more things wear out, you will
> in effect be only to boot one partition at a time the other used for
> file transfer etc.
>
> davy
>
>
>

No, Ragab, formatting does not harm the drive, if you must format your
drive format it and don't worry about it. Formatting will not make
sectors go bad, but if there are bad sectors already present on the
drive, when you do a full format these bad sectors will be detected and
marked as unavailable to the operating system. If you format, or try to
format your drive and if the format hangs or fails before completion
then the drive is probably damaged or failing, that is not something
that would have be brought about by formating the drive, it was an
already existing condition before you ran the format command.

John

Ragab wrote:
> Thanks Davy, but i'm not asking about the effects of formatting on backups or
> data. I'm asking about the effects of formatting on the hard drive as a
> hardware. I mean the effects related to sectors (can it results in bad
> sectors?), and may it slow down my hard drive after many times of
> formatting?, somethings like that..
> Thanks

Many thanks John..
--
Ragab


"John John" wrote:

> No, Ragab, formatting does not harm the drive, if you must format your
> drive format it and don't worry about it. Formatting will not make
> sectors go bad, but if there are bad sectors already present on the
> drive, when you do a full format these bad sectors will be detected and
> marked as unavailable to the operating system. If you format, or try to
> format your drive and if the format hangs or fails before completion
> then the drive is probably damaged or failing, that is not something
> that would have be brought about by formating the drive, it was an
> already existing condition before you ran the format command.
>
> John
>
> Ragab wrote:
> > Thanks Davy, but i'm not asking about the effects of formatting on backups or
> > data. I'm asking about the effects of formatting on the hard drive as a
> > hardware. I mean the effects related to sectors (can it results in bad
> > sectors?), and may it slow down my hard drive after many times of
> > formatting?, somethings like that..
> > Thanks
>

You're welcome, have fun ...

John

Ragab wrote:

> Many thanks John..