How to format 2nd hardrive in windows XP?

[Guest_imported]

I need detailed information on reformatting a second hard drive in windows XP. I have a second hardrive installed on my Dell dimensino 8200 XP os (Local Disk(F NTFS 60GB). I use this drive for music & video file storage. I have backed up every thing on CD and would like to reformat it because it's full. I right click on (F and select Format... (Capacity is there 55.8 GB) Probably the true size of the hardrive. (File System NTFS) (Allocation Unit size) is 4096 bytes highlighted in blue with a list of other options,one is (Default Allocation Size) Witch one is the right one? The (Volume Label) is blank. What belongs there? Under (Format Options) Quick Format and Enable Compression are unchecked. Witch one or should both be checked? Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank You

 

[linney]

Have a look at these articles via the Microsoft Knowledge Base.



Q309000 HOW TO: Use Disk Management to Configure Basic Disks in Windows XP

Q302686 Differences Between a Quick Format and Format During Windows XP Setup

Q314878 The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems

Q313348 HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q309/0/00.asp

 

[Guest_imported]

Thank You
Think of anything else let me know.

 

[wolluf]

(File System NTFS) (Allocation Unit size) is 4096 bytes highlighted in blue with a list of other options,one is (Default Allocation Size) Witch one is the right one? I'd use default - but doesn't seriously matter (not sure default isn't 4096!)

The (Volume Label) is blank. What belongs there? Whatever you want to call it (appears in explorer) or leave it blank.

Under (Format Options) Quick Format and Enable Compression are unchecked. Witch one or should both be checked? I always use Quick (because it is! - and works as well as not Quick). I never enable Compression (we're in era of cheap big drives - who needs compression).


Just my opinion - none of it to be worried about (allocation size can affect read/write speed and efficiency of disk space usage, but not so most of us would notice!)