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Please Advise: Any reason to go for a full format...
Is there any reason I should op to do a full NTFS format of a brand new OEM Seagate 4TB drive, that will take some 12 hours to complete, rather than take the faster route and use the quick format?
Any benefits of one over the other if it will be on a SATA cable as a external secondary drive... not my internal C?
Appreciate the help on this!
rdunnill
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April 30th, 2015 13:00
There should be no need to do a full format if the drive is brand new.
The benefits of being in an external enclosure pertain to physical portability. Installing it in the chassis allows for easier operation.
RoHe
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April 30th, 2015 14:00
Except you can't format a 4T drive as NTFS unless you partition it as two separate 2T partitions or use a single 4T partition but increase the cluster size to at least 1024 bytes, instead of 512 bytes.
If you want a single 4T partition you'll have to format as GPT.
EDIT: Keep in mind that not all versions of Windows can read/write/boot a GPT drive...
rdunnill
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April 30th, 2015 16:00
I didn't have to do anything special to format my 4tb drive.
RoHe
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April 30th, 2015 17:00
So either it automatically got formatted as GPT, or automatically formatted as NTFS with a cluster size larger than 512 bytes.
And larger clusters can mean more wasted space if files are small...
rdunnill
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April 30th, 2015 17:00
That's an inevitable tradeoff of gigantic drives. However, they tend to be used for things like multimedia files, which are large.
speedstep
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May 1st, 2015 04:00
The cost on some drives however exceeds the cost of buying several drives vs 1.
1TB drives go on sale all the time for a very reasonable price.
I would rather buy 4 1TB DRIVES and use them one at a time vs 1 4TB drive that dies quicker and costs more to replace.
6TB drives are in the retail channel now.