LaCie d2 Quadra • Design by Neil Poulton | Optional Formatting and Partitioning |
User Manual | page 18 |
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3. Optional Formatting and Partitioning
The first time you use your LaCie hard disk, LaCie Setup Assis- tant formats your drive according to your needs. If your needs change, you can reformat your LaCie Hard Disk to optimize it for use with Windows or Mac, or for
You may need to format your LaCie hard disk if LaCie Setup Assistant was interrupted or stopped. If the hard disk does not appear in My Computer (Windows) or on the desktop (Mac), it may not be formatted properly.
Important Info: Please copy the User Manual and utilities to your computer before reformatting. Reformatting will erase everything from the hard disk. If you have other data that you want to protect or continue to use, copy this information to your computer before reformatting.
What is Formatting?
When a disk is formatted, the following things occur: the op- erating system erases all of the bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to make sure that all of the sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (i.e., those that are scratched) and creates internal address tables that it later uses to locate infor- mation. A hard disk must be formatted before it can be used to store data.
What is Partitioning?
You can also divide the hard disk into sections, called parti- tions. A partition is a section of the hard disk’s storage capacity that is created to contain files and data. For instance, you could create three partitions on your drive: one partition for your of- fice documents, one as a backup and one for your multimedia files. Or, if you will be sharing the drive with another person in your household or office, you can create a partition for each person who uses the drive. Partitioning is optional.
File System Formats
There are three different file system format categories: NTFS, FAT 32
Use NTFS if…
...you will be using the drive only with Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista (performance will generally be greater when compared to FAT 32). This file system is compatible in read only mode with Mac OS X 10.3 and higher.
Use HFS+ if…
...you will be using the drive on Macs only; performance will generally be greater when compared to FAT 32. This file system is NOT compatible with Windows OS.
Use FAT 32 (MS-DOS) if…
...you will be using your drive with both Windows and Mac OS X 10.3 or sharing the drive between Windows 2000 and Windows XP or Windows Vista. Maximum single file size is 4GB.