formatting deteriorates your hdd?

[LiLRiceBoi]

does formatting often slowly deteriorate your hdd?

i just thought about this cuz i just formatted my hdd... just a thought

[SoopaStar]

I don't think it does. Maybe if you did it millions of times.

Paul

[NDC]

If formatting is worrying you about wearing your HDD down, you would have to worry about it also when you read and write to your HDD as well. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif BTW, writing to disk wears your drive down more than reading.

[amour]

what exactly happens when you format a hard disk ?...is the previous data actually deleted ?.

amour.

[This message has been edited by amour (edited 11-30-2000).]

[gyoung]

I don't think the data is deleted, I think it just deletes all the pointers to the data. The data is still on the disk, there just isn't any reference to it (ie: a file).

That's how they can find things on disks even though you "deleted" it. I think there is a program that scrubs data. Something about the rule of sevens. It deletes the data and writes over it with random data and repeats this process seven times. Supposedly at that point the real data becomes garbled up enough that they can't read it.

[7Words]

hey well that was something learned!
does anyone know which program can actually do that?

i had a program called system mechanic which does that 7 swipe thing but only when you recycle or delete fles from the hdd.

[This message has been edited by 7Words (edited 11-30-2000).]

[LiLRiceBoi]

yeah ok...thanks

my friend told me it would...i didnt think so cuz i read all the time of ppl formatting their comp regularly...

[nunyadam]

norton system works has a program called wipeinfo that will do a goverment wipe dod spec 5220.22m. you can set it to write 1's and 0's as many times as you want . and then write whatever # you want the final time. it can be used to wipe folders,files,or free space. i'm sure there are others out there if you look.

[Ed_S]

Well, if formatting or general usage deteriorates a drive, it does so VERY slowly.
I've several drives in long-term use, so do a lot of members here.
One of mine is an ancient 420mb Connor drive that's been in constant, daily use for about 8 years now. No telling how many formats. And it shows no signs of failure. Obsolete, yes, but working just like new!

Ed

[Dovaka]

if your worried about about the data being found when you format your drive just write all zeros to the disk it will make the entire drive blank and the original data will be gone totally

[Savant]

Except for maxtors, my HD's have all become so obselete they were totally useless long before they showed any signs of failure (I've formatted re-installed os's and gennerally used them constantly)