"gsgs" <sterten@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1190833507.878959.258600@g4g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com...
>
> how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
> preformatted, prepartitioned
> so you can immediately use it or not ?
>
> And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
>
That is NOT the definition of formatted.
All hard drives are ready to write data to.
Preparing it for the OS is platform specific.
Why does it matter, if it only takes seconds to do?
> how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
> preformatted, prepartitioned
> so you can immediately use it or not ?
> And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
You do not want the disk to be partitioned and have a filesystem.
There might be some subtle or not so subtle mismatch with your
OS that could lead to data loss. Far better to partition and
create the filesystem with your OS.
BTW, you cannot format harddisks. They are formatted by the
manufacturer.
>> how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
>> preformatted, prepartitioned
>> so you can immediately use it or not ?
>> And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
> Just so you know the background: This guy appeared in a German
> newsgroup before asking the same question and demanding there should
> be a law requiring hard disk manufacturers to ship their disks
> partioned and with a file system or otherwise requiring them to mark
> the disks as unformatted. He didn't seem to understand there are
> legitimate reasons for people not to get a prepartioned disk. He also
> seemed to be the only one to bother about this issue. And all of that
> because he bought a hard disk on eBay and was to stupid to install it
> correctly.
>gsgs wrote:
>> how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
>> preformatted, prepartitioned
>> so you can immediately use it or not ?
>> And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
>
>
>Just so you know the background: This guy appeared in a German
>newsgroup before asking the same question and demanding there
should
>be a law requiring hard disk manufacturers to ship their disks
>partioned and with a file system or otherwise requiring them to
mark
>the disks as unformatted. He didn't seem to understand there are
>legitimate reasons for people not to get a prepartioned disk. He
also
>seemed to be the only one to bother about this issue. And all of
that
>because he bought a hard disk on eBay and was to stupid to install
it
>correctly.
>
>Myn
Just so you know the background a bit more accurately:
This guy (me) did ask other, but related questions in a German
newsgroup.
But was treated with mockery, insults, hairsplitting, wrong
quotations,
while there was no real progress on the discussion because the
arguments were not addressed.
It's here: http://groups.google.com/group/de.co...ol.com&lnk=ol&
but in German, I hope it won't go here the same way.
I was not "demanding or requiring", I was suggesting.
I don't mean people buying unformatted/unpartitioned HDs, just I
consider it useful, if formatted ones were generally offered
too and marked as such, and if unformatted ones should be marked too,
so to avoid confusion.
Now, this marking of unformatted HDs caused quite some indignation
in that German newsgroup, I still don't understand why,
and I'd like to know, how it's in other countries.
USB-sticks, external HDs, Floppy-disks are sold as formatted.
And yes, I'm aware there is some trouble with the definitions
and some people prefer to call it "partitioned", not "formatted".
And it takes about an hour to format/partition it, if you use
the recommended method and not the apparantly unsafer fast
formatting/partitioning. And only when you know about it,
else it might take hours to figure out why the HD doesn't work.
So, how is it in other countries, is it common to sell internal HDs
unformatted/unpartitioned without being marked as such and maybe
without formatting/partitioning instruction included ?
and yes, meanwhile this is also a test of mine about actual
general newsgroup culture and how it goes in other groups.
> >gsgs wrote:
> >> how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
> >> preformatted, prepartitioned
> >> so you can immediately use it or not ?
> >> And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
> >
> >
> >Just so you know the background: This guy appeared in a German
> >newsgroup before asking the same question and demanding there
> should
> >be a law requiring hard disk manufacturers to ship their disks
> >partioned and with a file system or otherwise requiring them to
> mark
> >the disks as unformatted. He didn't seem to understand there are
> >legitimate reasons for people not to get a prepartioned disk. He
> also
> >seemed to be the only one to bother about this issue. And all of
> that
> >because he bought a hard disk on eBay and was to stupid to install
> it
> >correctly.
> >
> >Myn
> Just so you know the background a bit more accurately:
> This guy (me) did ask other, but related questions in a German
> newsgroup.
> But was treated with mockery, insults, hairsplitting, wrong
> quotations,
> while there was no real progress on the discussion because the
> arguments were not addressed.
> It's here:
> http://groups.google.com/group/de.co...ol.com&lnk=ol&
> but in German, I hope it won't go here the same way.
> I was not "demanding or requiring", I was suggesting.
> I don't mean people buying unformatted/unpartitioned HDs, just I
> consider it useful, if formatted ones were generally offered
> too and marked as such, and if unformatted ones should be marked too,
> so to avoid confusion.
> Now, this marking of unformatted HDs caused quite some indignation
> in that German newsgroup, I still don't understand why,
> and I'd like to know, how it's in other countries.
> USB-sticks, external HDs, Floppy-disks are sold as formatted.
> And yes, I'm aware there is some trouble with the definitions
> and some people prefer to call it "partitioned", not "formatted".
> And it takes about an hour to format/partition it, if you use
> the recommended method and not the apparantly unsafer fast
> formatting/partitioning. And only when you know about it,
> else it might take hours to figure out why the HD doesn't work.
> So, how is it in other countries, is it common to sell internal HDs
> unformatted
They are allways formatted.
> /unpartitioned without being marked as such and maybe
> without formatting/partitioning instruction included ?
It is entriely standard to sell them unpartitioned and it is also the
right thing to do from a technological point of view. In fact no HDD
manufacturer sells bare disks with anything on them. They are
formatted (since HDDs can only be formatted by the manufacturer)
but not anything else. Note that Microsoft is using the term
"formatting" wrong for HDDs. What they mean is filesystem creation.
Side note: Bare disks are an "expert only" product insofar as you are
expected to know how to install and prepare them. Quite like, for
example, a brick. These are not labeled "needs mortar to build wall
with" either, are they?
There is no relation to what country the HDD is sold in.
Arno Wagner wrote in news:5m16j7Fajd8uU1@mid.individual.net
> Previously gsgs <sterten@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > how is it in USA, when you buy an internal harddisk, is it
> > preformatted, prepartitioned
> > so you can immediately use it or not ?
>
> > And if it isn't, is it marked as "unformatted" ?
>
> You do not want the disk to be partitioned and have a filesystem.
> There might be some subtle or not so subtle mismatch with your
> OS that could lead to data loss. Far better to partition and
> create the filesystem with your OS.
> BTW, you cannot format harddisks.
Babblebot, clueless as always. Harddisks can be formatted just fine.
But only the manufacturer (and some very specialized companies) can
write the servo tracks. (Low Level) Formatting is formatting tracks,
not writing them.
Just not all harddisks support that the user can format them.
Some Hitachi do and most SCSI.
preformatted harddisks 
Linear Mode
