Best practices for formatting a new external hard drive in Windows 10: Quick Format with chkdsk pass, or Full Format?

This seems like a basic question, but I think the details I am hoping someone can tell me, are not basic-- and there is a lot of contradictory information out there on the topic.

I know the usual formatting tools for Windows when I get a new SATA drive, which offers Quick or Full format, and the MBR vs GPT choice.

The piece I always get a little stuck on is whether I really need to do a Full Format, or can I get away with a Quick Format?

The general word when I google about this and read posts by people who seem as neurotic about their data as I am, is that it's better to do a Full Format on a new drive that will hold important data. The rationale is that this checks for bad sectors. So I've tried to do this in the past.

However, Full Format takes a really long time. And on top of it, I was just reading that Full Format only incidentally checks for bad sectors-- because it's overwriting every bit of the disk. I was also reading that this is actually quite a workout for the disk and that the same thing can be accomplished more quickly and with less wear and tear on the drive by using chkdsk.

Is that true? Is a Quick Format with a chkdsk pass just as good in prepping a new drive, as doing a Full Format? (3 details: No need to erase the disk (since it's new). Drive is SATA in external enclosure. Drive will be holding important data (family photos).)

Solution 1:

HDs map out bad sectors automatically, as they find them.

Whether this is done as part of a full erase or just during normal use really makes no practical difference.

I mainly use Macs, though keep a Windows machine around for testing. On Mac, there is no 'full' format option other than as part of a secure erase, so I never have. I run fsck [nix equivalent of chkdisk] if & when a drive feels like it may have an issue, not as part of any regular routine.
I've not see it make the slightest bit of difference, long term.

Up until a few uears ago, brand new drives would arrive formatted, so if they suited your own disk scheme you could put them straight into service. Since formats have got more complex & more OS/device specific, they stopped doing that, so you have to set them up yourself on first use. This is a one minute operation. Anything else is really just a form of low-grade paranoia, based on misunderstanding & potentially mistrust. Don't worry about it;)

Re your last point 'Drive will be holding important data (family photos).)' - there's an adage, "Any data stored in fewer than three distinct locations ought to be considered temporary."
Backups are far more important than bad sector checks. Drives don't last for ever, and though you will often get prior warning from the SMART data, they are known to sometimes "just die".

In the past decade I think I've lost 4 drives suddenly, terminally & without warning. Each time I had the machine up & running within an hour of replacing the dead drive, no data lost.
Usually, drives last until I need a bigger one. Failures are rare but not unknown. I have a box of old drives still in perfect working order, just too small, 1 or 2TB drives take up too much space these days, so each time I buy new ones, they're now 8TB.

Solution 2:

I do not believe a chkdsk can provide a robust check of the whole (or even significant portion of) the disk. Its purpose is to check the file system is not corrupted, so it will only operate on the parts relevant to the filesystem - which is a tiny fraction if the disk - especially on a new disk.