Does Full Format Write Zeroes to sector then read them back?

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  1. Posts : 1
    windows 10
       #1

    Does Full Format Write Zeroes to sector then read them back?


    Question: Does Windows 10 full format write zeroes to sectors and then read those sectors afterwards to look for bad sectors or does it read the sectors first and then write zeroes to them?
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  2. Posts : 295
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    I don't think a format writes anything. It just marks the whole partition as usable. All of the data is in fact still there. I know that may sound strange since many people think "format" means the data is wiped, but it's not. If you were to accidentally format a hard drive you can use format recovery software and it'll be like the hard drive was never formatted. I have used such software with success.

    There is however a difference between quick format and normal format in that a normal format checks for drive errors. A quick format does not. So in large part you can just use quick format 99% of the time unless you want to make absolutely sure the hard drive is problematic free.
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  3. Posts : 4,511
    several
       #3
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  4. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #4

    SIW2 said:
    A decade ago that might have been true but nowadays drives are so right resilient, it is bs.
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  5. Posts : 4,511
    several
       #5

    You had better tell Crucial.
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  6. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #6

    audioresearch said:
    Question: Does Windows 10 full format write zeroes to sectors and then read those sectors afterwards to look for bad sectors or does it read the sectors first and then write zeroes to them?
    Yes, it writes zeros to the whole disk. It's not clear when it reads, but logic would suggest after writing. If you just want to do a full read check, then use chkdsk /f /r

    Microsoft said:
    Applies to: Windows Server 2012 R2, Window 10 – all editions
    Original KB number:
    941961

    Introduction

    The behavior of the format command changed in Windows Vista and later Windows versions. By default in Windows Vista and later versions, the format command writes zeros to the whole disk when a full format is performed...
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...-zeros-to-disk
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  7. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #7

    Normally all it does it overwrite the file allocation table and the partition table it would take forever to write 0 to a big drive
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  8. Posts : 41
    Win 11 22H2 (22631.3155)
       #8

    As an aside, my bios has an NVME specific format (ASRock B450m/ac). I'm assuming that since it's in the BIOS, it's more than likely safe for the drive, but I'm curious if there is either a better or safer way to reformat.
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  9. Posts : 525
    Windows 10
       #9

    To reformat and to secure erase are different. The purpose if reformat is to change the file system, the purpose of secure erase is to make the information unreadable. In the case of NVMe SSDs, an easy way to secure erase is just to delete the files and then run Trim. After Trim, the deleted blocks (or pages, or whatever) are all read as 0s or 1s (or at least that´s what I have understood).
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  10. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #10

    SIW2 said:
    You had better tell Crucial.
    They know but it is not in their interest to dispel urban myths LOL.

    All they say it reduces life which of course is not false but what they disingenuously do not say is by how much e.g. is it 1%, 5%, 10%. I have tried this a few times and my drives could not detect any reduction in drive nominal life. So at most I bet it is less than 0.1%.
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