Totally Random

so what is the difference between a quick formatting and one that takes forever?


Edit (3): and please don't say "time"

Basically quick format just removes file references on the drive, while the full format scans for errors and fixes the drive structure accordingly, avoiding any bad sectors (which is why it takes much longer). Quick format is fine in most cases, unless you know there were problems with the drive.

EDIT - Quick format is like taking a dishcloth and giving a worktop a wipe down with soapy water, while full format is taking a belt sander and sanding it down before resurfacing it.

Thanks for the metaphor (though I think I grasped the concept anyway )

Quick format is like giving the carpet a clean with a vacuum cleaner, while the full format is like taking up the carpet and laying down new carpet.

It's like the difference between a road sweeper cleaning the road, and the council digging up the road surface and standing around looking and pointing at it for a few days between sitting in their trucks listening to the radio before finally resurfacing it. Probably why formatting takes so long

Or it's like...

yes... thank you....

Serioously
I want to uninstall visual studio (figure I haven't used it so I might be better off installing it on the older computer) and I HAVE TO UPDATE it before I can uninstall???

Indeed. And while I've uninstalled quite a few programs with the intention of reinstalling them elsewhere, including my largest game Secret World of Legends (35 Gb) I've only managed to free up about 50 Gb. Of course I did move over some stuff from the external drive that I intend to move back, but... I'm not sure how much space I can make... So now I'm making an experiment: Installing ARK on the external drive. It might not work at all and it'll probably take VERY LONG before I can tell....

I dunno - the app/uninstall page wouldn't tell me the size of that. Or Visual Studio (which took the longest to uninstall even after the update was done). But I want GW2 within easy reach!

EDIT: GW2 and Assassins Creed (this or that) seem to be about 50 GB each, Witcher 2 is about 20 and several games including both Subnautica games are roughly 10 Gb each.... And some of those can no doubt be moved... Shadow Warrior 2 is pretty big and while I enjoyed it the one time I played I'm not sure I'll miss it if it goes...