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A blank disc or a blank memory space needs to be addressed so that each memory cell or the smallest memory that, that disc or memory space can accommodate, can be found using the unique address. Formatting divides the entire memory of the device into sectors or cells which can be addressed uniquely. Since the address of each memory unit is changed to a new one, the previous data becomes inaccessible hence it looks like we have in fact deleted the data.
Whereas while deleting we just mark the address where the data lies as a blank space. Hence we are not deleting the data, just marking the space as available for the next writing.
You will notice that it takes the almost same amount of time to delete a 1GB of single file and a 4KB of single file. But it takes a large amount of time to delete a folder with thousands of files in it.
Formatting a drive changes its values to zero and sets of the directory for a particular file format (NTFS FAT32, ect). Deleting a file simply removes it from the directory and does not actually erase the data until that section of the drive is used for other data.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoWhen you delete files they are still on your hard drive however the pointer to the file(s) has been removed... Think of it as a table of contents.. Your computer uses this data on your hard drive as its method to quickly locate files on the hard drive plates and load them.
When you format a drive you are actually deleting the data, all of it. Now there are ways because a standard hard drive is magnetic media to recover this data unless you do a secure delete. A secure delete will delete the data, write new data to that spot on the drive and delete; and repeat a number of times.
The magnetic fingerprint left behind at that point is now unreadable.
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Difference between hard formatting and soft formatting?
While formatting in word processing applications, Hard formatting deals with formatting a few pages of a document using tool bars icons, keyboard shortcuts keys and menu bars whereas soft formatting deals with formatting a large number of pages using styles.
What the difference between editing and formatting a PowerPoint?
Editing a PowerPoint is correcting or revising the content in the presentation. Formatting is more concerned with the look of the presentation and ensures the presentation is consistent with matching bullets, fonts and slides.
What is the difference between formatting a paragraph with a 1 left indent using page layout indent left any by dragging markers on ruler?
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What are difference between the standard and formatting toolbars?
The Standard toolbar has common activities such as creating a new document, opening and existing one, cut, copy, paste, printing, spell checking and others. The Formatting toolbar has all of the formatting activites, like bold, italics, underline, font, font size, colours, left alignment, centred, right justified and others.
What is the difference between the spreadsheet commands CopyPaste and CopyPaste Special?
The basic Paste command in Excel pastes all values, formulas, validations, formatting, and other attributes into the cell. With Paste Special, you can select which attributes to paste. For example, you can paste just the value of the copied cell or just the validations, or just the formatting, etc.
What is the formatting difference between a memo and an academic paper?
what is the difference between formatting a business document and a academic paper
What is the difference between formatting and deletion of data?
The term formatting or re-formatting is use when you are talking about a large area like a whole hard drive. For instance you could format your hard drive and it would be wiped clean and then you would have to re-format it to get it to work again. Deleting data is used when you are talking about deleted something small like a program (uninstall) or deleting old word documents.
What is the difference between deleting and uninstalling?
deleting wipes it off for good uninstalling moves it somewheare else
What is the difference between deleting the data from a floppy disk and formatting the disk?
When you delete a file on a filesystem all that is really done is that the disk "forgets" where the data is stored. It remains on the disk until it is overwritten. Formatting is a more technical term than most people understand. A common misconception is that formatting is simply deleting all data on a disc. In fact formatting is more of a "reconfiguration" of the disk. Formatting is the process where a system of data storage is applied to the disk. As a bi-product of this the system which remembered the layout of the origonal data is replaced and therefore the data inaccessible. It is however a common feature of most formatting tools to physically destroy the data as part of the formatting process.
What is the different between formatting SATA hard disk drive and PATA hard disk drive?
There is difference between SATA and PATA HDD but no difference between the formatting..
How do you remove the formatting of selected text with out deleting it?
You can change elements you do not want with the standard formatting options. You can also use the Ctrl-Q key combination.
What is the main difference between editing and formatting in Microsoft Word?
editing is use to edit a document and formatting is use to change the format of the document
What is the difference between manual deleting virus and antivirus software?
Manually deleting a virus is you going and deleting directories, changing registry keys and that sort of thing. Whereas anti-virus software just does all this for you.
What is the difference between deleting the data?
The question is not complete; you need to give us the other alternative.
Difference between hard formatting and soft formatting?
While formatting in word processing applications, Hard formatting deals with formatting a few pages of a document using tool bars icons, keyboard shortcuts keys and menu bars whereas soft formatting deals with formatting a large number of pages using styles.
What are the disadvantages of Formatting a Hard Disk.In a FlashorEEPROMa fixed number of Erase opns are possible and hence formatting a flash is costlier.Does the same logic apply for Hard Disk too.?
Basically formatting means it deletes all the information on the disk. Now let me point out the difference between deletion and formatting. In the case of deletion only File Allocation Table [FAT] is getting changed. That is why deletion takes place fast and we are able to undelete from Recyclebin. When we edit documents, information on hard disk is changed. The only difference between this and formatting is that during formatting that particular partition is completely rewritten. Two more points to answer your question 1. Shift + Del is equivalent to deleting bytes on the hard disk ( the operation performed during formating) 2. Will your hard disk damage if you constantly Shift + deleted your files on the system? Hence, without fear keep formatting your HDD as many time you need, to do it to get rid of those virus files developed by some foolish software engineers.
How do you remove psn account from vita without deleting games or formatting?
Games are linked to the PSN account so that's not possible.
