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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