Quick format off HDD or write with zeroes?

[mnsportsgeek]

Hi guys,

I'm planning on doing a clean install of lion (I just want to start fresh and get rid of the junk on my computer) tonight, and was wondering if I should do a quick format of my drive or take the extra time and have disk utility write zeros on the drive. Is there any benefit?

Thanks for your help.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

And if you'd suggest writing zeros over the drive, is 1 pass enough or should I do the full 7?

 

[rmbrown09]

Unless you have some weird crazy cactus porn or something you never want anyone to find, do a quick format. The writing multiple times is for security.

 

[ugp]

Quick Format is fine. Purpose or writing Zeros is to remove all data. Data really isn't gone until it's written over by something else. The more times you write Zeros over the less chance someone has to recover your data. Nothing really performance wise to this to be noticeable.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I did some light reading on the topic and hear that writing zeros will remove bad sectors. Is this true? And if so, how beneficial is it?