Formatting USB HDD - USB 3 vs USB 2 speed difference?

[zeafer]

Is USB 3.0 faster than USB 2.0 when performing a FULL format on an external hard drive?

I know USB 3.0 offers much higher speeds than USB 2.0. Even with a traditional 3.5" external drive, I have seen differences in use (particularly with smaller files).

I have purchased a very large (5TB) external 3.5" USB drive to use for backups. As a first step, I'd like to do a FULL format to ensure there are no bad sectors. The server machine this will be ultimately used on only has USB 2.0. Doing a full format will take several days to complete. Will this be any faster on my desktop PC, which has USB 3.0 ports? (Yes, the drive is USB 3.0).

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, zeafer!

Keep in mind that a full erase (Secure wiping) is a slow process, especially if your HDD is 5 TB in size! It would take a lot of time, if not even days. There are specific formatting utilities and features you can use for some HDD brands. You should check your HDD manufacturer's website for such tools, though. If the HDD is brand new and there's is no data written to it, the process should be relatively faster.
The full erase a.k.a. writing zeros takes longer but it helps to ensure that no data on the drive can later be retrieved and it also writes zeroes to all the HDD sectors.

Hope this was helpful. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[zeafer]

Hey there, zeafer!

Keep in mind that a full erase (Secure wiping) is a slow process, especially if your HDD is 5 TB in size! It would take a lot of time, if not even days. There are specific formatting utilities and features you can use for some HDD brands. You should check your HDD manufacturer's website for such tools, though. If the HDD is brand new and there's is no data written to it, the process should be relatively faster.
The full erase a.k.a. writing zeros takes longer but it helps to ensure that no data on the drive can later be retrieved and it also writes zeroes to all the HDD sectors.

Hope this was helpful. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Thank you for the reply SuperSoph_WD, but you didn't really answer my question. I already stated that it will take multiple days to format the drive. I already know that the process involves zeroing out the data, and also checking each sector for potential issues. I just want to know if the process is affected by the USB bus speed - ie: will a USB 3.0 port write all those 0's more quickly than a USB 2.0 port.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Sorry about that, @zeafer! 😉

Indeed, the process should be a bit faster but it would still take a lot of time! In real-world use the USB 3.0 speeds are about 3 times faster than those of USB 2.0 (~120 MBps). However, it would still take days for a 5 TB hard drive. Moreover, I'd not interrupt the low level format that is happening at the moment because it might cause damage to the sectors. If you are performing a zero-filling low level format, the process might not damage anything but if you are doing a secure erase, you might leave the drive in a password-protected state!

Hope this answers your questions!
Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD