Is it better to format all of you hard drive or just what you will use?

Question

Say I have a 200 gig hd and will only use 100. When installing windows would it make my computer faster if I only format 100 of it. I probably use about 60 gigs. Tell me what would be the fastest.

I know but what im saying is. When your hard drive has nothing on it it runs faster than if it were full. Im talking about hard drive speed. Like seeking files. And yes you do have an option. I dont have to format it all. Partitions people.

Answer 1

Format the entire thing. I don't think you have an otpion.

Answer 2

Will it make the computer faster? No.
Will it make data access faster? No.

So, all data is stored contiguously on the platter. There's only one needle, so the closer together the data is, the faster it'll read. That's where disc defrag comes in - it logically moves data back together which in turn speeds up data access.

If you really aren't going to use all that space, and want a fast system, and are using XP, consider this:
http://www.blackviper.com/AskBV/XP17.htm

In sum, use it all, it won't make a difference. Because the data is clumped in one area, everything past the 60GB mark isn't going to be accessed, anyway.

Answer 3

You can partition your drive and format only the parts you want to use -- the remainder will be available for use later if you choose to format them.

Answer 4

Speed does not depend on hard-drive space but on RAM. More the ram you have faster the computer.