# Full Format empty 256GB USB Flash FAT32 to NTFS takes 8 min?



## we3fan (Oct 25, 2015)

Hi guys,

I bought Transcend 256GB 3.0 USB Flash Drive, it was formatted to FAT32.

I saw the Serial Number from the USB Flash Drive and entered it on the Transcend website and it says it is genuine.

My laptop has only USB 2.0 ports.

I copied 9.83 GB of data on the USB Flash and after that I copied the same data from the USB Flash to the PC again, and all was OK.

Then I deleted all 9.83 GB of data from the USB Flash.

Then I decided to convert the FAT32 to NTFS with Full Format, and it took around 8 min.

I thought the convert time was too fast and tried again to convert to NTFS with Quick Format which took around 45 sec.

Than I decided to do another Full Format to NTFS, this time from Disk Management, and it took around 8 min again.

I expected the Full Format to last around 2 hrs, at least that's how long it will take for a Hard Drive I think.
I don't have much experience with formatting 256 GB USB Flash Drives, maybe it was fast because it was empty? I am not sure.

What do you guys think?
Is 8 minutes normal time to do Full Format on an empty 256 GB USB Flash Drive?


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## bassfisher6522 (Jul 22, 2012)

Your comparing apples to oranges.....ie HDD's to flash drives. Another thing to consider is the size of the HDD as most everyone use's a 1 TB drive these days. Which in turn takes longer to process each sector. 

Yes...that times sounds about right and you have nothing to worry about.


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## we3fan (Oct 25, 2015)

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

Until now I used only a 1 GB old USB Flash Drive and I always did Quick Format on it.

I bought this 256 GB USB Flash to save and store some vital data on it, and I wanted to make sure all is good before I start copying all my data on it.

Maybe I panicked a bit, but as I said this is my first time formatting a 256 GB USB Flash Drive and I just wanted someone to confirm if this format time was normal for USB Flash Drive.

Thanks again.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

When you choose _Quick _Format, the files are removed, but the drive is not checked for Bad Sectors, so this does not take very long. 8 minutes is about right.


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## lcoughey (Nov 24, 2015)

If this thumb drive is holding vital data on it, be sure to have it backed up frequently enough that when the drive stops working, you break or lose it, you can live without it. Although the device works fast when it is working, it reads a lot slower when I have to do chip-off recovery. In fact, it would likely take the better part of a week just to get the dumps from the NAND chips.


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