format hard drive

This process will take some time, so be patient. If there is no unallocated disk space, you can create some by shrinking an existing partition, deleting a partition, or by using a third-party partitioning program. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, select Next. Just as the picture shows. Warning: Formatting a volume will destroy any data on the partition. One reason is that computers measure space differently than how space is marketed, so you’ll never get that exact same number (at least on Windows). wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. Actually, the performance improvement of computer is mainly by cleaning up disk space, cleaning system file and deletion harmful programs. Once your drive is partitioned, each partition will have to be formatted with a filesystem. Hard Drive Recovery – Recover Lost Data and Restore Lost Partitions. Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. You can easily format a hard drive … That means you can change you file system by formatting the drive. Keep “Allocation unit size” at Default. Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface. Right-click the volume that you want to format, and then select Format. 4. If you want to erase your computer’s hard drive—the one you’re actively using—things get a little more complicated. After reading the above text, you might know the reasons. There are two most direct effects of formatting a hard drive. Why formatting is necessary? Quick tip: To perform a full format that includes a disk check, clear the quick format option. It is a professional partition manager with some powerful features such as: Data Backup, Disk Benchmark, Partition Recovery, etc. You want to do this to make sure that the drive is empty, working as expected, and free of malware that might otherwise harm the current setup and files. The first idea occurs to you might be data loss, but that’s not all. Right-click the Unallocated space part of the storage, and select the New Simply Value option. Yes, you can. Under the Format menu, choose the file system you want to use. Formatting can take hours to complete, but it is a good option when you have a new or inherited drive that is not properly formatted, a drive overrun by malware or other software problems, or a drive in need of a fresh start before a Windows installation. Select the drive. Here, MiniTool Partition Wizard is strongly recommended. Step 1: Press Windows plus R key simultaneously to get the Run window. Windows 10 includes many methods to format a hard drive, but using Disk Management is perhaps one of the best options for most users. Any mistakes will cause serious problems. See the above section for more details on which one to pick. If your drive isn’t partitioned, follow these instructions to partition it. For File System, choose NTFS if you’ll be using the drive only with Windows machines. If you use the professional tool – MiniTool Partition Wizard, the case is different. Brief introductions to disk formatting, the purpose of formatting a hard drive, as well as how to format are talked in this post of MiniTool. This software allows you to format a drive to NTFS/exFAT/EXT2,3,4 easily. Step 3: Initialize the disk as MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table). It is a professional partition manager with some powerful features such as: Data Backup, Disk Benchmark, Partition Recovery, etc. For instructions on booting to your recovery partition, review your system documentation. Formatting hard drives and external hard drives is usually a fairly straightforward process. Enter the size of the volume you want to create in megabytes (MB) or accept the maximum default size, and then select Next. If you can’t find your drive in File Explorer, you might need to pull up Computer Management (via the start menu), click on Disk Management, and right-click on your drive’s chunk of space to format it (and ultimately assign it a drive letter, so you can then see it in File Explorer). When you're dealing with a drive that already has a partition, you can format the existing partition to delete its files and start with a clean storage. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. If you’re installing a new hard drive, or need to wipe your drive clean for that “fresh” feeling, you’ll end up formatting your drive. Unless stated otherwise, your drive’s primary partition will be formatted and returned to its factory-fresh state. The system cannot format it because the computer is using an old hard drive, or a hard drive which is not wholly compatible with Windows 10. Right-click the black bar or the unallocated white space below it and select New Simple Volume… Don’t be dissuaded by the word, “Volume.” It’s just another term for “partition”. The two most popular operating systems, Windows and Mac OS both have formatting utilities built-in, which makes formatting external drives even more convenient. Select Format after creating your partition(s). However, if you format a hard drive accidentally, thus lose all your data, things are totally different. % of people told us that this article helped them. This article has been viewed 751,335 times. But there are a different types of formatting. Formatting a hard drive can improve your computer performance through deleting harmful programs during the process. You may also be able to create your own restore disc(s) or reinstall Windows from a factory-created partition on your hard drive; consult your computer’s documentation for details. 6. If you utilize a piece of data recovery software, you can format a hard drive without losing data. 2. If your disk is not initialized (as is sometimes the case with brand-new drives), you’ll be prompted to initialize it. To format the volume with the default settings, in the Format dialog box, select OK, and then select OK again. Can I start using a hard disk for data storage after formatting it? Formatting a hard drive is rather convenient in MiniTool Partition Wizard. You may have noticed that you can select the file system when you format a hard drive. You can also type a number in gigabytes (GB) into the "Size:" field to set your partition's size. Select the Format feature after right clicking the target partition. Formatting a computer's hard drive is an important step if you're disposing of it and wish to remove all your personal data, and also if you want to completely remove an old Windows installation. What does formatting a hard drive do? Get all the tech help you need with wikiHow Tech Pro. Type diskmgmt.msc in the window, and then click OK. We're focusing this guide on Windows 10, but these instructions should also work on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. Turn off your computer and don’t install anything, and you’ll have a blank drive. Step 4: Set the volume label, file system and alloction unit size for the partition. You’ll get a notification when it’s done (it should only take a few seconds). Type List Disk. format hard drive free download - Format USB Or Flash Drive Software, Hard Drive Upgrader, Hard Drive Inspector Professional, and many more programs A list of all connected disk drives is displayed in the center. With methods given in the post, I succeeded in formatting my hard drive. Here Are Answers. To know more information about hard drive recovery, please take this post as a reference: Hard Drive Recovery – Recover Lost Data and Restore Lost Partitions. How do I manually clean out the hard drive? When you’re done, click on the drive in Finder. DiskPart command-line tool to resolve the problem, Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know, How to format existing partition using Disk Management, How to create and format partition using Disk Management. Accept the default drive letter or choose a different drive letter to identify the partition, and then select Next. Those are the standard settings when right-clicking on a drive and then choosing "Format," so there should be no need to change anything. Otherwise, skip down to the next section. The extra space results from the formatting process, during which deletes previous unnecessary system files on the hard disk drive. What does format mean to you? 3. Everything you need to know about and expect during, the most important election of our lifetimes, Canon PIXMA MG3620 Wireless All-In-One Printer in Red, want to choose the older Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, converting a hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS, computers measure space differently than how space is marketed. Formatting will check the drive for errors, and prepare it for use. To format a partition using Disk Management, use these steps: Open Start. It's just a fast way of wiping the drive which is fine if you're going to reuse it yourself, but not if you're disposing of the disk or giving it to someone else. Therefore, the term “format” should be understood to mean the operation of the new disk media to fully prepare the file for storage. Type “partitions” into the Windows search bar. 4 Free Disk Formatting Utility to Format Hard Drive in Windows 10, 8, 7; 4 Free Disk Formatting Utility to Format Hard Drive in Windows 10, 8, 7. The select Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Beginning with the fourth, each one will be configured as a logical drive within an extended partition. Formatting can be divided into three parts. Using Mac: Click "Go". So, if you would like to format your hard drive to improve computer’s performance or for other reasons, you can choose one from the given methods randomly. If you are formatting your primary hard drive with the intention of reinstalling Windows or restoring your PC to its factory-fresh state, you’ll need the restore disc(s) that came with your computer. Reformatting hard disk drive will delete all the files on the computer including harmful files to restore the system to the optimal performance. In fact, if you are disposing of the drive or passing it on to someone else it's worth … Hence, making sure your data has been backed up before formatting the drive is crucial. Under the Format menu, choose the file system you want to use. If you are using a manufacturer’s factory restore disc or hard-drive recovery partition, follow the prompts to initiate the restoration process. Click Next. Click the new partition. Formatting a hard drive means to delete all the data on the drive and set a file system to prepare an available space for the operating system. Partitioning your drive. This will likely take a few minutes to complete. If you have a new drive, it's essential to format it to prepare the store for use, and in this guide, we'll show you how to complete this task on Windows 10. Click Create and format hard disk partitions. Choose a name for the partition under Volume label. Do not select Perform a quick format or Enable file and folder compression. To set up a new hard drive with raw space on Windows 10, use these steps: Right-click the hard drive marked as "Unknown" and "Not Initialized" and select the Initialize Disk option. You need to format the disk before you can use it. Step 2: If it’s a new hard drive, you need to initialize it before using it.

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