Got a brand new HD...trouble formatting...

[Lemons]

So my old Seagate 3TB drive died (and I later learned that they have notoriously high failure rates) anyways I decided to get a new 3TB drive...this time I got a Toshiba (can provide more specific information on the model if anyone wants it). I'm installing it and I decide to do a full format using Windows disk management tool...and this thing is SLOW. It took about 2 hours in it get to 38%, but at 38% it just seemed to freeze completely. I let it go another 2 hours at 38% before I just cancelled the format.

What the fudge? This is a brand new drive and already giving me problems...is this natural to take this long? Should I try using a different program to do this? Should I just give up on a full format and go for a quick format? I'm trying the full format again right now (currently at 5%), but if it hangs at 38% again I'd like to know what else I can do.

[panos20]

It's normal. The bigger the drive the longer it takes. The OS needs to set the file system on your drive. Quick format is a different thing, it just deletes the tables that hold the data location on the drive, it doesn't really delete any of your files.

[Nellah]

If you continue to have trouble I'd go for a quick format and then a "Verify" surface scan with something like HDDScan. That'll make sure the entire drive is readable and writable even with the quick format. Odd that it hung at 38%.

[Twoddle]

If you continue to have trouble I'd go for a quick format and then a "Verify" surface scan with something like HDDScan. That'll make sure the entire drive is readable and writable even with the quick format. Odd that it hung at 38%.

Wouldn't the integrity of the drive be compromised if you cancel halfway through a full format which is physically formatting tracks to the disc and not just writing data to the tracks that are already there?

[Nellah]

You're not changing the physical characteristics of the drive when you do a full format. A quick format just deletes the file table without erasing the drive's contents, while a full format does a full drive write to erase the existing file and folder structure. The data is still recoverable, though not nearly as easily as after a quick format, but the full drive write will hang if there is a bad sector or damage on the disk.

If OP's drive is consistently hanging on a full format at the same spot it points to a bad drive. Trying an alternate verification method would confirm this.

[Lemons]

Just thought I'd update this thread...after I posted here I tried another full format and thankfully it completed without a hitch. No hangs. Now I've put a bunch of shit on it and so far no issues, but I will be watching it closely...