The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/randopop21 on 2024-12-31 09:49:33.

I know that back in the past, a quick format in Windows was not a good test for media. For a long time, there has been a “long” format (i.e. not a “quick” format) but I’ve never used it (i.e. didn’t trust it).

Is it sufficient to test media like a USB stick? How about a hard drive or SSD?

My current need is to test some USB sticks on which I will store Linux ISOs. Yes, ACTUAL Linux ISOs.

To be specific, I will create a Ventoy Boot USB stick and put on various distros that I’d like to try. I’d be best if I could count on the ISO to be exact and contain no bad bits. So I want to test the USB stick.

By the way, I’ve found that via Task Manager, I can see the current data transfer rate for a particular hard drive. So in the case of my USB stick, I’m getting 20MB/sec write transfer rate. Is this good for a USB 3.0 stick on a USB 3.0 port? It’s a cheap off-shore 32GB stick that claims to be a name brand. I’m dubious about it but I just need some reliable storage, not max performance.