Formatting an External

Dogdots

I have a LaCie traveling external. I was wondering if it can be formatted. It has the usually Lacie file on it telling me about products, etc. While it says the space on my LaCie is 232-GB the space available is 221-GB. The files is only 124KB. Something seems amiss, but I've not a clue what it is.

I'm heading on a trip and need all the space this little thing can give me.

Thanks

PhotoLasVegas

Feel free to format, that's the amount of actual formatted free space on that size of a drive (regardless the maker).

Just make sure you don't have any files on it that you want, cuz they will be GONE.

Art Scott

I pull those info files off my disks before reformatting......however what you are seeing is ........ depending on the OS it is the amount of buffering......I still get peeved when buying a 1tb drive and all i can get out of it is 931gb.......that is a lot of buffer

CatOne

Art Scott wrote:

I pull those info files off my disks before reformatting......however what you are seeing is ........ depending on the OS it is the amount of buffering......I still get peeved when buying a 1tb drive and all i can get out of it is 931gb.......that is a lot of buffer

It's not buffer. It's math. Drive vendors calculate disk space using "base 10" and computers use "base 2." The drive actually has one billion bytes free, but the computer defines a billion as something like 1.07 billion.

Apple got tired of complaints from people who didn't understand this and changed the reporting of the OS to measure drives with "base 10." Now 1 TB reads 1 TB in Finder, though the actual number of bytes is the same.

Art Scott

CatOne wrote:

It's not buffer. It's math. Drive vendors calculate disk space using "base 10" and computers use "base 2." The drive actually has one billion bytes free, but the computer defines a billion as something like 1.07 billion.

Apple got tired of complaints from people who didn't understand this and changed the reporting of the OS to measure drives with "base 10." Now 1 TB reads 1 TB in Finder, though the actual number of bytes is the same.

ok.....I was told it was buffer.......I took the guy at his word since he was a PHD in computer science dunno

Dogdots

Thank you everyone for helping me out on this....sorry for getting back so late. Trying to get things done before my trip.

Can I leave the lacie file on there? Its a junk file. No helps or anything I think would be important. Or is there some hidden thing in the file that makes it work..readable, etc? I'd like to dump it, but it really doesn't have much space to add. Probably my best bet is to remove it and then put it back on after formatting.

I was looking at the windows set up...the formatting button is right next to the safely remove one. That could be dangerous. Hope it has a promt asking me if I really want to do it. Knowing me I'd mess up and lose everything :cry

Just so I understand formatting...does it just remove the files or does it do more then that?

Thanks again everyone

PhotoLasVegas

If you format, that file will be gone, and no, it's NOT important (I have 2 LaCies and formatted both the minute I bought them).

You are right, the format next to safely remove is scary - bad engineering.. but theres 1 or 2 steps after that so it doesn't just format.


If you are totally clearing a drive, it's always better to format vs. just deleting files. This is true even of memory cards, etc.

It does more than just remove files, it re-sets the drive - without writing a page-long explanation basically it gets rid of the "post office" of the drive (the place that stores all the addresses to the files) and then allows you to completely overwrite the data.

It's really no big deal to format, as long as you are 100% sure there are no files on the disc that you want.

Also you'll have the option to "Quick format"... you can do that if you want - but do a full format the 1st time, later on you can quick format and do full formats maybe every 4th or 5th time you format.

Art Scott

The reason I said I move the file off my seagates is that there is actual software inside my files and when i resell a drive i place that file back onto the drive as the next user may want to use the software........the same for my CF cards....when I sold some Lexars i replaced the file containing the recovery software that came on the card.........I keep all of these types of files in a special folder and I too do a full format every time I format.....i do it when I go to sleep fo the night.

Good Luck on your trip.

Dogdots

PhotoLasVegas wrote:

If you format, that file will be gone, and no, it's NOT important (I have 2 LaCies and formatted both the minute I bought them).

You are right, the format next to safely remove is scary - bad engineering.. but theres 1 or 2 steps after that so it doesn't just format.


If you are totally clearing a drive, it's always better to format vs. just deleting files. This is true even of memory cards, etc.

It does more than just remove files, it re-sets the drive - without writing a page-long explanation basically it gets rid of the "post office" of the drive (the place that stores all the addresses to the files) and then allows you to completely overwrite the data.

It's really no big deal to format, as long as you are 100% sure there are no files on the disc that you want.

Also you'll have the option to "Quick format"... you can do that if you want - but do a full format the 1st time, later on you can quick format and do full formats maybe every 4th or 5th time you format.

Thank you for answering my questions and tellling me what happens when it's formatted. When it comes to hard drives it makes me scared on what can and can not be done.

Never knew it could/should be done when it was bought. Good to know.

Yes..bad engineering with those two actions being right next to each other. I'm really happy to know there are steps there in case I hit the wrong one.

Thanks for the help - it's very appreciated

Dogdots

Art Scott wrote:

The reason I said I move the file off my seagates is that there is actual software inside my files and when i resell a drive i place that file back onto the drive as the next user may want to use the software........the same for my CF cards....when I sold some Lexars i replaced the file containing the recovery software that came on the card.........I keep all of these types of files in a special folder and I too do a full format every time I format.....i do it when I go to sleep fo the night.

Good Luck on your trip.

Thats a good thing to know..never thought about the next person that might get it and would want the information.

How long does it take to format?

Art Scott

Dogdots wrote:

Thats a good thing to know..never thought about the next person that might get it and would want the information.

How long does it take to format?

About an hour if your machine isn't a real dinosaur ......that is for my 500gb when brand new......and I always do a full format now.....did not and had some pictures get corrupted.....no warnings that said corrupted files I just had really weird pixelations(sp?) in the photos from a wildlife shoot that had people body parts and pieces.....it was strange and I should have kept a few of them but I had not reformatted my cards yet so i reformatted the drive.....twice and then reloaded the photos......no problems the 2nd time around......

I try to keep my drives for around 3-4.5 yrs and then replace them with newer drives of comparable size......that way when i sell them they still have a MFG'ers warranty showing if buyer checks the s/n on the Seagate website..........................

Dogdots

Art Scott wrote:

About an hour if your machine isn't a real dinosaur ......that is for my 500gb when brand new......and I always do a full format now.....did not and had some pictures get corrupted.....no warnings that said corrupted files I just had really weird pixelations(sp?) in the photos from a wildlife shoot that had people body parts and pieces.....it was strange and I should have kept a few of them but I had not reformatted my cards yet so i reformatted the drive.....twice and then reloaded the photos......no problems the 2nd time around......

I try to keep my drives for around 3-4.5 yrs and then replace them with newer drives of comparable size......that way when i sell them they still have a MFG'ers warranty showing if buyer checks the s/n on the Seagate website..........................

An hour isn't to long. I was thinking many hours and that could get to be a long time. But if it needed to be done then that's what I'd need to do.

Those photos..you should of hung onto those. Would of been some neat abstracts

Thanks Art.

Art Scott

Dogdots wrote:

An hour isn't to long. I was thinking many hours and that could get to be a long time. But if it needed to be done then that's what I'd need to do.



Thanks Art.

Also it takes more time the more info it is destroying....I said about an hour for an empty new drive.......the last 500 gb drive I formatted took 3 days.....it was full ..........luckily i had it on a 2nd desktop...that may be what killed the old systemrofl

Good Luck Mary

Foques

I never ever ever keep any of the garbage that comes on the drive.
As soon as drive has arrived, it is formatted.

all the software can be obtained by the user off the mfg site in two clicks.

Dogdots

Art Scott wrote:

Also it takes more time the more info it is destroying....I said about an hour for an empty new drive.......the last 500 gb drive I formatted took 3 days.....it was full ..........luckily i had it on a 2nd desktop...that may be what killed the old systemrofl

Good Luck Mary

Just sat down to format my external and then saw this -- lets hope it doesn't take 3 days. There wasn't much on it so it shouldn't take so long---I hope

Art Scott

Dogdots wrote:

Just sat down to format my external and then saw this -- lets hope it doesn't take 3 days. There wasn't much on it so it shouldn't take so long---I hope

You can do other things whilst it is formatting....as i said I normally do when i go to bed....or leave the house or mow the yard.........I don't like sitting and watching it format:Drofl

PhotoLasVegas

Yep, including using the computer... it's a background thing, slight slow down. Really, it's not a big deal... relax

colourbox

Dogdots wrote:

How long does it take to format?

There's more than one way to format. A simple basic format should be nearly instantaneous. The formats that take hours or days happen when you want to scan the entire disk to map out bad sectors (not a bad idea for a new drive), or when you want to overwrite data to avoid the next owner to snoop your "erased" files (should only be necessary when you sell the drive).

So when quoting times, it's good to state what type of formatting that time refers to.