Very quick HDD clone question

[FourWheelDrift]

Google is not returning anything to answer this so I'll quickly ask here.

When cloning a hard disk does the new disk need to be formatted or can it be written to without formatting?

I'm using for Norton Ghost (ok it's the only thing I have to hand and it will be deleted and all traces of Norton removed after use).

[Plotloss]

It'll need formatting I'm fairly sure.

[FourWheelDrift]

Ok. I guess it won't matter if it's pre-formatted as it overwrites. I just didn't want to sit here waiting for it to format if it wasn't necessary.

Thanks

[Plotloss]

quick format it, should be fine.

[sneakyneil]

Leave it, I don't know what version of ghost you've got but all the ones I've used require the destination disk to be blank if you do disk -=> disk. Ghost creates a new parition as part of the process.

[rich-uk]

The cloning software will format it int eh format of the image. You may need to make it bootable afterwards (or before) depending on the software used.