formating, deframentation

[moonlight burner]

Hi all, been wondering, if I format a hard-disk, does it necessarilly means I deframented it at the same time ?

Or are they completely different thing, 'an apple' & 'an orange' ??

Thanks in advance.

[GaryRouth]

You can think of formatting a disk as preparing it to hold files. You can think of defragmenting a disk as rearranging the files neatly so that space isn't wasted.

After a system has been running a while, with files being adding and removed, programs often have related files scattered all over the drive. Defragmenting allows these files to be re-written in a more organized fashion: side-by-side if possible - with the added performance bonus that Windows will use the defragmenting time as an opportunity to move files that programs need to startup quickly to the beginning of the hard drive's surface, where access it the quickest: this speeds up the loading of programs.

So, not so much as oranges and apples, but perhaps an empty backet, and a full basket

Best of luck & Happy Holidays
. . . Gary

[moonlight burner]

Hey GaryRouth, been thinking abt this, is it possible to recover files that are formated ?
Or this art belongs to the realm of 'Forenic Science'? , untouchable to the layman ???
Just out of curosity ? Might be able to make a 'living' out of it, If I find a institution that teaches this 'art'

God !, I haven't have plans for 'Christmas'. I think I'll probably, open up a beer & some 'pototo chips' and sit in front of the 'TV' or computer

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

There are what are called "Data Recovery" programs by such companies as OnTrack. They are quite expensive, and take a long, long time to do their work, but they can often retrieve information on a drive that has been reformatted with the fdisk tool that's builtin to Windows (actually into DOS). The reason they can retrieve the information is that fdisk isn't a "low-level" format. If a "low-level", or "zero-write", is done on the drive, no data can be recovered: the drive now is completely empty. Low-level formatting is usually done at the factory. "Zero-write"s can be done by programs like Maxtor's MaxBlast, Seagates SeaTools, WD's Data LifeGuard. Sometimes this is the only way to completely remove a hard drive's virus infection.

There used to be a fairly inexpensive DOS data recovery tool called Lost and Found from the same company that makes Partition Magic (PowerQuest). It's not offered anymore, but did a great job. I think PowerQuest sees more of a market in drive imaging/ghosting products.

Time to change back into TaxiDad & get the little one from playschool. Don't spill the beer on your keyboard if Santa's reindeer startle you late Christmas Eve
. . . Gary

[moonlight burner]

Lol......Gary, thanks for the wonderful conversation. Indeed that really make me a bit wiser & happier this Christmas

BTW, from your post, I think you're 'great dad'
Family happiness beats everything else in life