Quick Reminder - Quick vs Full Formatting

JamesK10

I'm going to reinstall Win7 just now, but can't remember what the catch is with a quick format - would it still get rid of malware in the proper way? I know a full format would be one of the best things to do but of course that would take more time.

Let me know, thanks in advance I want all the downloading of service packs etc finished by midnight, but it will be good to know for next time.

m5rcc

Well when you do a fresh install, setup does a quick format as a default....

Darksun

Both will erase the contents of the drive, so there's no need to worry about malware 'surviving' a quick format. The difference is a full format effectively does a full checkdisk and marks any bad sectors on the drive. Probably not necessary but it doesn't take a massive amount of time to do, so if you don't have your drive checked for errors regularly it might be worth doing (could save headaches further down the line)

poppellerant

Taken from Microsoft:

When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

fwor

Darksun wrote: »

Both will erase the contents of the drive, so there's no need to worry about malware 'surviving' a quick format.

Generally this is true, but there is a type of malware that can survive a reformat of all partitions on a drive. This type places its code in the drive's Master Boot Record, which is a space on the drive that does not get overwritten during a reformat.

Having said that, actual instances of this type of virus are rare...

tombruton87

fwor wrote: »

Generally this is true, but there is a type of malware that can survive a reformat of all partitions on a drive. This type places its code in the drive's Master Boot Record, which is a space on the drive that does not get overwritten during a reformat.

Having said that, actual instances of this type of virus are rare...

The windows format does not actually delete anything it just resets the headers. A proper reformat would delete the mbr (as the quote above windows does not delete the mbr). These types of reformatting techniques are provided by the hdd manufacture. Alternativly you could completly wipe it with somthing like dban boot and nuke, then format it to be sure anything in ur mbr is gone. You can manually write over your mbr aswell

paddyrg

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_scanning/trojandosalureona/31bbf5d6-17c5-42d8-a553-4b1d2471f9c5?auth=1

KB article with tips on fixing MBR after virus attack - may be helpful

victor2

Bit of an aside, but I made a USB stick bootable (including a quick format) and it worked on a number of machines except a Dell Inspiron, where it said Boot Failure. Did a full format to the stick, reloaded the software and it booted.