New HDD Question

Associate
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17 Dec 2005
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Cyprus
my bro bought a new HDD (Maxtor 200GB or something) and someone told him you have to format the HDD for its first use on your pc. is that necessary or you can just plug it in install windows and ** done?
thanks in advance
 
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Overlag said:
nope, you have to format first
Well not really, as when you go thru windows setup and choose a partition to install on it does the formatting bit as part of the setup.

If by "Format first" you mean spunge the disk then install windows, no you don't need to, just boot from windows CD and do the setup and select NTFS quick format when prompted.
 
Soldato
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Skilldibop said:
Well not really, as when you go thru windows setup and choose a partition to install on it does the formatting bit as part of the setup.

If by "Format first" you mean spunge the disk then install windows, no you don't need to, just boot from windows CD and do the setup and select NTFS quick format when prompted.
Though I always advise a full format for first time installation. This writes over any bad clusters etc and fixes any problems on the disk (which might otherwise go undetected).
 
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