What is the purpose of formatting a disk?

Answer 1

Here's a simple way to describe why we format disks: Think of an unformatted disk as a stack of blank paper. When you format the disk, you are essentially putting page numbers in sequence on all that paper, with a blank table of contents on the first sheet. Now the computer can locate each blank page. When you write to the disk, the computer adds the data to as many blank pages as needed, and makes a location reference in the table of contents. When you try to read the disk, the computer looks at the table of contents to find the right page.

Answer 2

Two reasons: 1. Make the disk compatible with the operating system. Think of it as deciding what language to use when a book is printed based on who will be reading the book. 2. Check the disk for errors.

Answer 3

There are couple reasons for that. First is if you just have created a partition you have to format it without formatting OSes don't see partitions. Second is formatting is required if you have some bad sectors on your hard drive. When you format a disk the system checks for bad sectors if find some it forbids excess to it and puts required information in the Master File Table. In that way you will be able to use the drive further. Also formatting is required when you are going from operating system to another one. Such as from Windows to Linux or opposite. Or when you are going from Xp installed on FAT32 on Vista which can be installed only on NTFS system.

Answer 4

The purpose of formatting a disk is to make the disk usable by the drive and the operating system. There are two types of formatting, low-level and high-level.

A low-level format creates the physical track and sector boundaries and assigns IDs to the sectors. That is already done for most modern hard drives, and end users don't usually have to worry with this anymore. First generation IDE hard drives could be destroyed if you attempted a low-level format. Modern IDE-based drives will prevent any attempts by end users to low-level format them. They will pretend to do so without actually doing it.

A high-level format just erases data, verifies the disk, and writes (or rewrites) the file system tables. This is what determines the file system that is used, whether a drive is FAT-12, FAT-16, FAT-32, NTFS, or whatever.

Floppy disks and older type hard drives (MFM and RLL drives, for instance) require both a low-level format and a high-level format. The format command for your operating system does both types of formatting simultaneously on floppies, but does only a high-level format on hard drives. If you needed to do a low-level format on the older type hard drives, you would need to use the controller card manufacturer's utility. It may be on a diskette or embedded into the controller card's ROM. If neither existed, a third party utility would be necessary.

On the older type hard drives, when they got to where they were no longer reliable, you could low level format it again. Then after partitioning and high-level formatting the drive, it would return it to a more reliable state. However, you cannot low-level format modern hard drives. They are low-level formatted at the factory, and they are not equipped to be low-level formatted by an end user. When you format a hard drive under Windows or another operating system, only a high-level format is performed.

Answer 5

Disks are formatted because of you'll need a file system to find the files.

There are different systems - FAT, FAT32 and NTFS are the most used.

FAT can store 2gb/file

NTFS can store the whole disk capacity/file

If the disks wasn't formatted, then you couldn't make file names, dates, commentaries and so on to each file. With NTFS, you can store big files such as drive-backups, but FAT need to get files under 2gb.

Answer 6

Why must a hard disk and diskettes be formatted?

Answer 7

Formatting makes the disk compatible with your operating system and tells the computer how usable the disk is and how much contiguous space is available.

Answer 8

Formatting means deleting. You would actually only need to format if your disk is messed up or its full.

Answer 9

Nobody has ever been able to tell me how to format a disc so that one can record off a computer and then play back on separate DVD player ???