this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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How to fully format external HD without leaving it running for days? (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by reddstone1@alien.top to c/datahoarder@selfhosted.forum
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Weird problem but yeah, here goes:

I have a 4TB external HD (actually a regular HD on a USB dock but whatever, I guess) which I think has bad sectors. I'd like to complete a full format on it and use it as a secondary dump/backup/TV media drive. However, I have noticed I never have enough time to format it. I can't leave my computer running, stuck to a clunky USB device for what seems to be multiple days.

Is there any other way? Can I partition it and format it in partitions and then merge them for the same effect of bad sectors checked? If I ever quick format an HD, will whatever check disk done on it in the past canish and all bad sectors are in use again?

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[–] JohnStern42@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Multiple days and using usb3? The drive is garbage, throw it out. It’s probably taking so long due to multiple bad sectors and crazy amounts of retrying. What does SMART say?

[–] hobbyhacker@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

use USB 3 dock. USB 2 is slow.

[–] joe-dirt-1001@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

You need to perform a low level format to get all of the bad sectors marked. After that, you can partition and perform a normal format. When that is complete, if it still shows as bad in CrystalDickInfo, I wouldn't trust it.

[–] Double-Perception970@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Use Badblocks and write to the entire drive to check for bad sectors.