Formatting is basically replacing the master file table with a fresh new one. It just sets all the memory cells to zero so that you can quickly write some new data. If you ever get confused between the quick format and long format then don’t be.
A lot of myths over the internet say that quick formatting your flash drive more often can damage it more quickly. However, in reality, quick format is just a regular format but without scanning the drive. Whereas the long format first scans the flash drive for errors. Therefore, it takes relatively more time compared to the quick option.
Also, the chances of getting the data recovered are better in quick format compared to when you long format the drive. Following the same, always use proper software to format the drive so that no one can recover back the sensitive data from it.
Most of the companies who need to dump their hard drives after formatting tend to use some disk wiping tools given the fact that normal formatting may not format the hard drive correctly. And hence one can easily recover the sensitive data from those drives. Nonetheless, one can also use a free tool to format the drive properly.
DiskWipe:
DiskWipe is a freeware which is used to wipe the data easily from any memory drives. DiskWipe uses the different type of erasing patterns to properly erase out all the data from the memory data.
Steps to wipe data using DiskWipe:
- Launch DiskWipe.
- Select the drive you want to wipe.
- Click on Wipe Disk, select the file system (NTFS, FAT or FAT32) and click Next.
- Select the erasing pattern (slower is better) and click Next.
- Type ERASE ALL in the text box and click Next.
- DiskWipe will start to erase the data from the flash drive.
After wiping the flash drive with DiskWipe, there are no possibilities of recovering back the data from it.
Moreover, I would recommend you to long format the flash drive instead of quick formatting it as it will also scan for the errors and fix them (if any).
