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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> For me, it typically takes about 20 minutes to do a full NTFS format on
> a large partition. (Doesn't seem to matter how big the drive is -
> presumably because larger drives are also newer and hence faster.)
Oh, are you doing a quick format, or a full format? A "full format"
actually does read the entire drive. Ext apparently won't do a "full
format". You have to do a quick format, then scan the disk for errors.
>> Ext2/3 stores i-nodes all over the disk, preformatting them. This
>> takes time when you have a couple gig of i-nodes to fill out.
>
> For me, ext2 takes about 15 seconds or so - very much faster. Comparable
> to an NTFS "quick format".
Try doing a "quick format" with NTFS. The difference between a 15-second
ext format and a 20-minute NTFS format gives me the impression that your
NTFS format is actually looking for flawed sectors to map out.
> Clearly I'm going to have to actually do some experiments. :-P
Either cipher /w:x: on Windows (or at least Windows recent enough to
actually have that functionality) or dd if=/dev/urandom should do the
trick.
I'll try formatting a spare partition I have here with NTFS and ext2 and
see what I get in timings.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
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