Formatting Hard Drive

[Tanksta]

Hello, my OS is Windows XP and when I tried to format my hard drive in normal mode it crashes and comes up a message saying that it could be caused by a damaged disc so I tried quick mode and it worked fine. So what is the difference between normal mode and quick.

Also is it worth buying a new XP disc to format my hard drive in normal and what is the difference between Pro and Home.

Thanks in advance.

 

[petogaz]

Here is the exact differences between the two (pro and home) from MS$ istelf:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.asp.

about formatting your HDD you can do it with either Xp disc or a win98 disc. that works fine.

 

[Win2kpatcher]

The main difference between the Pro and home version are

Pro=advanced networking features, such as joining domains, large network env, advanced configuration..mainly for use with large offices, corprate, or home business..

Home= Just that..still has the awesome Windows XP stability, but just basic function in regards to networking. You can setup a small home network and such, but you are very limited for network options.

As for the hard drive issue I have encountered that on some occasions as well. It doesnt neccessarily mean the drive is bad, but rather a hickup in the system preveneted it from formatting all the way. Most of the times either the win XP cd is dirty or the CD-ROM drive is dirty which will cause it to hault since it is booted from the CD and the formatting tools are contained on the CD. I usually keep on trying to do a full format over and over untill it is successful

A full format basically erases all previous data, sets up the file system, and checks the disk for errors but physically and magnetically..where as a quick format does not check for errors therefore wayyy faster..this is bad because you can essentially be using a drive that is ready to die and unfortunatley will not find out untill is has crashed and all data is lost

 

[ekÆsine]

you have possible damaged sectors on hard disk. this can indicate possible eminent hardware failure. backup all data on this disk immediately. potential loss of all data if disk should fail

right click your disk in "my computer" and select properties. goto the tools tab and click the error checking's "check now" button. you MUST check the "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checkbox. confirm ok/start/begin to begin error scanning.

difference between quick and full format is Quick format removes files from the disk, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. files are there physically, but pointers to files are erased. Use this option only if this disk has been previously formatted and you are sure the disk is not damaged.