I'm splitting hairs here... Format doesn't touch the MBR. There is only
one MBR per disk, but there may be several partitions on a disk - each
of which may be formatted separately. Formatting does the following:
1. The FAT <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table>
entries are cleared by changing them to 0x00.
2. The root directory <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_directory>
is cleared out by changing any values found to 0x00.
3. Format then checks each cluster
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_%28file_system%29> to see if
it is good or bad and marks it in the FAT.
( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Format_%28command%29 )
The FAT (File Allocation Table), root directory, and all of the clusters
are conceptually inside of the partition, while the MBR is outside of
any partition. Numbers 2 and 3 are optional, and are turned off when
you do a "quick format". Also, the "system" option will install a "boot
volume record", is sometimes confused for the MBR, but it also exists
inside of the partition and is not the MBR.
If you want to change the MBR, you would need to use a partition
management utility such as FDISK. Many modern partition management
utilities will both format and re-partition a disk, which may appear to
affect the MBR during a format, but they are separate and distinct
operations.
--David
On 06/04/2011 12:34 PM, Norm Higgs wrote:
>
> Formatting only writes to the MBR, not the entire drive.
>
> Norm Higgs
> http://forbiddenpc.com
> http://forbiddenpc.blogspot.com
> http://www.power-blog.com/info/4365
> http://freetrafficbar.com?r=74276
>
> On 2011-05-30 7:01 AM, tom wrote:
> > I gather that it is not a good idea to defrag SD cards but what
> happens every time you re format as I do when I finish downloading the
> one in my camera? How long would it be expected to last?
> > Tom
> >
> > --- In simplycomputers2@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:simplycomputers2%40yahoogroups.com>, David
> Ron<david.m.ron@...> wrote:
> >> Not just that, but they would also have to write over the entire drive.
> >> There is circuitry to spread write operations over the entire drive
> so a
> >> single file or folder can be rewritten far more times than that.
> >>
> >> - David
> >> On May 26, 2011 11:11 AM, "Bill Aycock"<billaycock@...> wrote:
> >>> Why should we worry? To do this, one would have to write 55 times
> a day,
> >>> every day, for 5 years.
> >>> Bill--W4BSG
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: "barry"<michiguru@...>
> >>> To:<simplycomputers2@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:simplycomputers2%40yahoogroups.com>>
> >>> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 11:09 AM
> >>> Subject: [Simply Computers] SD Cards
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Is it true that SD cards can only be written 100K times?
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------------
> >>>>
> >>>> Visit Simply Computers Tech Support Group and Helpdesk (24x7).
> Providing
> >>>> 100% free Computer Tech Support since 1999. With over 12,000 members
> >>>> Simply Computers is one of the largest and most active Tech Support
> >> Forums
> >>>> on the Internet.
> >>>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/simplycomputers2
> >>>>
> >>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Visit Simply Computers Tech Support Group and Helpdesk (24x7).
> Providing 100% free Computer Tech Support since 1999. With over 12,000
> members Simply Computers is one of the largest and most active Tech
> Support Forums on the Internet.
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/simplycomputers2
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/simplycomputers2
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.