Why is my new 5TB HDD formatting so slowly?
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TechieTurtle84
I just got a new Seagate Barracuda 5TB 2.5" HDD. I tried to fit it into an enclosure, but it didn't fit because it's 15mm thick, which I couldn't find mentioned anywhere online. I ended up connecting the drive directly to my laptop using the SATA connector from the enclosure. I've been trying to format it to NTFS with Diskpart, but it's been stuck at 48% for 24 hours. What's going on?
Answers
It’s worth noting that this model is an SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) drive. It has a smaller cache, so when that fills up, write speeds drop significantly. If you didn't use a quick format, you’re writing zeroes to every block, which will slow down the process immensely. Did you skip quick format to avoid issues?
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Did you choose quick format or full format? If you went with full, then that's why it's taking so long. Formatting a 5TB drive this way involves writing the file table to the whole disk, which can really drag on. If you did select quick format, then there might be an issue with the drive itself. Running a tool like Crystal Disk could help check its health.
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