Blank (virgin) HDD's; are any preformatted?

**videobruce** · May 4th, 2012, 08:00 AM

I have always been under the impression new hard drives (not SSD's) are not formatted. Low level, yes, but not for ant file system (FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3 etc.) It was up to the user to prepare the drive.

I got into a discussion with an "engineer" from a small CE manufacture regarding DVR's and he is/was under the impression new drives were already formatted. I explained how could be since there isn't any way the manufacture would/could know how/where the drive was going to be used.

I did a little searching and came across this article;
How To Format A New Internal Hard Drive

and this statement;

Most new external hard drives available in the market are designed to be plug and play. By plug and play, what I mean is that you can just plug in the hard drive and start using it right away. This is because the manufacturers send the disk initialised and ready to work with the most common operating systems.
The internal hard disks available in the market, on the other hand, require to be prepared before use.

"External" hard drives?? The only "external" thing I know is an external enclosure.

Am I missing something here?? Has something changed in the past five or so years??

**RicheemxX** · May 4th, 2012, 06:22 PM

"External" hard drives?? The only "external" thing I know is an external enclosure.

Almost every pre-manufactured external drive I've used in the past few years has come preformatted and ready to run. Plug it into your usb/firewire or whatever port and its already setup and ready to go. Some even come with back-up software pre-installed. For instance I just got one of these, you'll note in the specs it is pre-formatted NTFS and good to go

Newegg.com - Western Digital Elements SE 1TB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive

Bare internal drives are totally different, mainly because as you say compatibility with the users specific file system. They leave them blank to give the user the option of formatting the drives for their needs as well as setting up partitions.

Keep in mind most internal drives are used as the actual boot drive where as most external drives are used for storage and most newer operating system can read files on several different file systems. Making it less of an issue for a storage drive to be preformatted.

**videobruce** · May 4th, 2012, 07:11 PM

pre-manufactured external drive

The problem with that phase is the omission of the word "enclosure".
A hard drive is just that. Not internal, not external. The enclosure ables it to be used externally.

Apparently someone decided it was easier to use a shortened phase to describe something that is actually something else. Thank you CEA.

Just like called a LED driven LCD TV a "LED TV".

Surely, not the same thing.

**RicheemxX** · May 4th, 2012, 07:50 PM

You'll probably be the only person that needs to add "enclosure" to anything relating to external hard drives, as most everyone I know knows that an external drive is just that. A hard drive in an enclosure with added ports meant for external use.

Originally they were identical to any standard OEM drives on the market. The difference being they were preinstalled in their enclosure

and preconfigured for easier use. Now some of the newer drives are specifically design only to be used in an external enclosure and actually have a different set of connectors on the drives themselves so you can't strip the drive out and use it as an internal.

**videobruce** · May 4th, 2012, 09:20 PM

I like accuracy, at least as much as possible without using misleading terms, unlike the CEA.

**evereddie** · May 5th, 2012, 10:59 PM

Our language and words are easily contaminated by users too lazy and unmotivated to learn and use it correctly. I know several people who call the whole computer a Hard Drive. Other people call the whole computer a CPU.

A lot of our language assumes thoughts and descriptions that are not included in the word or phrase. Unfortunately 'external hard drive' is one of those phrases. We have to live with it. Especially as techs who need to communicate to the public. An external hard drive is now know as a complete unit capable of plugging in and ready to go. If you said 'external hard drive enclosure' it does not mean there is a hard drive in it. I have bought many external hard drive enclosures that are empty for the express purpose of putting your own hard drive into it.

And BTW. (ya this is picky but here I go) The prefix 'pre' is being used a lot in our language and in this thread without the need for it. Pre-maunfactured, pre-formated. No need for 'pre' in either of those cases. A hard drive comes formatted or is doesn't. But pre is one of those things which has morphed into another meaning. Pre really just means "before". It now means "before this product gets to you." Pre-washed jeans. Pre-weathered shirt, etc. Like I said, we just have to live with it.

**videobruce** · May 6th, 2012, 07:52 AM

Our language and words are easily contaminated by users too lazy and unmotivated to learn and use it correctly.

But, lets not forget the CEA, namely it's members, that in the end, is what/who really sets the stage for these terms.

Never heard the term "pre-manufactured", but "pre-formatted"? Aren't all HDD's "pre-formatted", at least low level?

**RicheemxX** · May 6th, 2012, 08:18 AM

Sorry what is CEA and why is it in your mind so relevant?

Yes "pre" is semantics. Everything is done "before" you get it "pre" is assumed in most cases. VB however doesn't seem to assume the same scenarios most do. It's not a case of people being "lazy and unmotivated to learn and use it correctly" rather the acceptance of the normal use of a generic term.

Outside of hot swap units I don't know of any external hard drives that aren't assumed to already be in an enclosure.

"pre-manufactured" would you rather I say "pre-consumer" it again is a generic term for the same point. You can have external drives toy build yourself with you own parts but for this instance it would be an "already manufactured" component.

Either way the DVR guy is right

**evereddie** · May 6th, 2012, 11:11 AM

Judging from the context, CEA = Consumer Electronics Association.

Yes "pre" is semantics. Everything is done "before" you get it "pre" is assumed in most cases. VB however doesn't seem to assume the same scenarios most do. It's not a case of people being "lazy and unmotivated to learn and use it correctly" rather the acceptance of the normal use of a generic term.

My point above is that the language, in general, is being compromised to the point that people can't communicate a simple point. Just using the correct for, four, or the correct to, too, two, or the correct there, their, is beyond a whole lot of people. It gets worse from there. If you try to correct someone the messenger gets shot with a "grammar slammer". label.

My point about "pre" is that the use if it in many instances is wrong or at best unclear. Using the literal meaning of "pre" follow this: if "pre" means before, then pre-manufactured could or should mean before it is manufactured. Pre-formatted should or could mean before the process of formatting. So a pre-formatted drive means you are getting it before anyone has formatted it. A pre-assembled toy should mean you are getting it before anyone has put it together. What would be so wrong just labeling a toy, "Assembled". A drive "Formatted". Furniture as "Finished".</rant>