Many users believe that formatting is nothing more than first deleting all data from the hard disk in order to write new ones. This is true, but in fact, deleting data from the hard drive is a side effect of formatting. This procedure is of two types: low-level and logical.
- Low-level hard disk formatting is done at the stage of its production. In this case, a marking is created on the "screw" necessary for the correct positioning of the heads.
- Logical, it is executed after it is divided into partitions, which are named: drive D: \ E: \, etc. Logical formatting creates a boot sector, a file structure, and a partition table with a boot record. All disk space of the formatted "screw" is divided into clusters.
In addition, formatting can be normal or accelerated. In the usual way, the file structure is deleted and the broken clusters are checked, which are discarded and subsequently not used to record information.
With quick format, only the file table is deleted. All new data is overwritten.
Working with the hard drive using standard Windows OS tools
Many people ask how to format a hard drive using their own operating system. Nothing could be easier:
If you decide to format the hard drive partition where your operating system is located, then it is impossible to do this using Windows tools. This operation must be done via DOS and using any LiveCD.
If you are interested in how to format a hard drive through BIOS, you should read the instructions to the end and follow all the steps described below.
By formatting the "screw" through BIOS, you should mean the use of a boot disk, which is started by configuring the device in the BIOS.
- Reboot your PC.
- Before starting the OS, enter the BIOS, select the BOOT tab, where select the required device as the bootable device (depending on the media on which the boot disk is located).
- Save changes and restart your PC.
- After loading the disk, press the Shift + F10 key combination.
- After opening a command prompt, type format / FS: NTFS X: / q - where X is the required partition. For a Fat 32 file system, type format / FS: FAT32 X: / q - where X is the required partition.
- Then press Enter and type Y as confirmation.
Now all that remains is to wait.
Working with the hard drive when installing Windows
Working with the hard drive by third-party programs
There are many software solutions for working with disks. The most popular hard drive formatting program is Acronis Disk Director Suite. It is very easy to use, it is most often present in various LiveCD assemblies.
Questions and answers
- Several hundred people every day ask our specialists a question: how to make a low-level formatting of a hard drive from a USB flash drive.
In fact, there are times when removing the entire boot sector is required to remove a virus. And for this there are certain software tools, such as SeaTools for DOS. With the standard start of this program, a bootable USB drive is created, from which one loads and selects one of the three types of hard drive cleaning.
In fact, such a procedure cannot be called a completely low level, but the ability to completely delete data with the deletion of the zero track and sectors of the hard disk, as well as filling the entire disk space with zeros, is closest to the concept of low-level formatting.
- How do I completely format my hard drive so that the data on it cannot be recovered?
Indeed, even after reformatting, the data can be restored with special software tools. If you need to permanently delete all information from the hard drive, for example, when reselling a PC, then use the program for full formatting of the hard drive Eraser HDD.
After downloading, the program is immediately ready for use and does not require additional settings. Pressing the Start button, you will see under the numbers a list of sections of your "screw". Choose the number of the section that requires full formatting, paste it into the window and click Apply. After that, you will be asked for the last time confirmation of the irrevocable deletion of all information. After confirmation, reboot, and go through the hard drive initialization procedure.
Despite the fact that experts do not recommend doing independent laptop repair, occasionally such a need still appears. The action of viruses or damage to the file system forces you to start unscheduled treatment of your computer. In this case, it is often necessary to format the laptop disk.
Instructions
1. First of all, transfer all your expensive data from your laptop to another computer. They will be lost after formatting.
2. Prefer a CD or DVD build of the operating system, or an easy bootable LiveCD, which allows you to boot from a CD-ROM bypassing the computer's hard drive. Burn the image to a blank CD at tiny speed. Check if it is perfectly readable by the laptop drive. As an alternative for the same purpose, it is allowed to pre-create a bootable USB flash drive.
3. Turn on the laptop and change the boot order if necessary. In a stationary computer, a similar action is carried out through the BIOS, on laptops - by pressing the corresponding F1..12 command key when turned on. Prefer CD-ROM or USB as the first boot device. Connect a bootable USB flash drive or insert a CD. Reboot your laptop.
4. After determining the corresponding device, the interface will start loading from the removable media. A graphical shell will appear before your eyes. In it, you can easily find access to laptop disks, which you can now easily format. If it allows software filling of the boot disk, for formatting and other operations with hard drives, it is allowed to use specialized programs with advanced functionality and a comfortable interface, for example, Acronis Disk Director, which is often found on LiveCD disks. They are also allowed, say, to split the disk into several logical ones, or, on the contrary, to combine them.
5. When reinstalling the operating system on a blank formatted disk, do not forget that drivers for some devices, say, video cards, may have to be searched for and installed separately, from the fact that not all ready-made software packages are suitable for laptops in the distance.
Formatting hard drives is usually done when you need to completely clear all the information stored on them. Formatting all drives is a good way to get rid of viruses and files that clog your computer.
Instructions
1. Before starting formatting, it is advisable to make backup copies of the main files and folders. To do this, they need to be copied to any portable storage medium (flash card, CD, portable rough disk, etc.).
2. Later you need to go to the directory "My Computer" and prefer the disk, the one that needs to be formatted.
3. By right-clicking on the name of the disk, bring up a list of actions. In it, you should prefer the line "Format ...".
4. The Format dialog box appears. The top line displays information about the capacity of the disk. The following shows the initial file system of the disk. It is allowed to specify a different file system for which the disk will be formatted. After that comes the line "Cluster size". A cluster is the smallest size on disk for storing one file. The cluster size is set by the system mechanically, but there is also a possibility to change it at your discretion. Below the "Cluster size" is the line "Volume label" - this is the name of the disk, which can also be changed to your own (traditionally, the name is set by the manufacturer).
5. Before formatting, it is allowed to prefer the formatting method. In the "Format" window on laptops, there are traditionally 2 vigorous formatting methods to choose from: - Swift (cleaning the content). With this method of formatting, only the file system tables are cleared, while the physical data remains; - Apply compression. Allows you to compress files on your hard drive during the formatting process.
6. When all the necessary parameters are set, you must click on the "Start" button. A window will appear warning that formatting will destroy all files on the selected drive. To start the formatting process, you need to click the "OK" button, to cancel - the "Cancel" button.
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Useful advice
It is worth remembering that frequent formatting of the hard drive damages it, as a result of which the drive can become unusable.
Various environments may appear when using a computer. One of them is the formatting of the hard drive, which is carried out through the BIOS. Many people think that this process is unthinkable, but it is not. In order to format a rough disk through the BIOS system, certain operations must be performed.
You will need
- Personal Computer
Instructions
1. BIOS formatting is performed with a floppy disk. Take it and insert it into the drive. Open the "Control Panel" through "Start", and select the option "Add or Remove Programs and Windows Components". A window will open in front of you. Click on the "Boot Disk" tab and click the "Make" button. Then the instruction will appear on the screen. It is not difficult to create a disk, follow each step primitively. After that, completely disconnect the computer. Insert the bootable floppy disk into the floppy drive and turn on the computer. If the BIOS itself is booting from a hard disk, or from a CD, and not from an elastic disk, then first install the boot from an elastic disk.
2. To do this, press the "Del" button at the beginning of the boot, when you turn it on. After entering the Bios, find the item in the "Advanced BIOS Features" menu and enter it. In the "First Boot Device" item with the help of the "PgDn" key, set the value "Floppy". Close the menu with the "Esc" key. Press "F10" to exit BIOS. Confirm the exit together with saving the changed parameters by pressing the "Enter" key. Now, when you turn on the computer, if there is a bootable floppy disk in the drive, the computer will start to boot not from the hard disk, but from the floppy disk.
3. A menu will appear on the screen. Use the cursor keys to select item "No. 2. Start computer with CD-Rom Support". Press Enter to confirm the download. Wait a couple of seconds. When the download is finished, the command line “A: \ ^” will flash at the bottom of the screen. Type on the keyboard: command "Format C:", and press again on "Enter". Later, after a warning appears about the valid deletion of all files during formatting, press "Enter" again.
4. There may be another option. If the disk is completely new, then later the boot message will appear: "No hard disks found on the computer." Then type on the keyboard the command "Fdisk" and press "Enter". The process of partitioning the disk into sectors will begin. Make an MS DOS boot partition. After reboot, do the formatting. Later this HDD is ready to work, namely to install the operating system. If there is a bootable CD instead of a floppy disk, then re-enter the BIOS, the one described above. In the line "First Boot Device" insert the value "CD-Rom". Later on download, follow each message that appears on the screen. Choose either NTFS or Fat32. NTFS is more of a new file system.
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Formatting hard disk is the process of giving it a certain structure for storing information or a file system. Moreover, each information from the hard disk erased.
Instructions
1. Go to "My Computer" and right-click on the logical drive that you are going to format. In the context menu that appears, select the "Format ..." item. The settings window will open with the title “Format (label and letter disk)».
2. In the "Format ..." settings window, you can prefer the file system in which you will store information on this logical disk. Choose the NTFS file system if you need to work with huge files (4 GB or more), but keep in mind that this file system will only be recognized by operating systems based on the NT kernel. If you do not have such a need, then you can absolutely use the FAT or FAT32 file system.
3. Specify the name of the logical disk in the "Volume label" field, select the desired formatting methods below: "Swift", "Apply compression", and then click on the "Start" button.
4. If, for some reason, the formatting of a logical disk fails, then install the hard drive management utility on the computer. disk mi. One of the most famous utilities of this kind is Acronis Disk Director.
5. Start the program and select manual mode in it. In the list of local drives, the one that occupies the largest part of the program window, select with the mouse the logical drive that you are going to format.
6. Right-click on the disk and select the "Format" command in the context menu that appears.
7. A toolbar is located at the top of the program window; an icon representing a racing flag with a black and white checkered color is activated on it. Click on it with the left mouse button in order to complete all the scheduled tasks. In our case, this is just formatting. There is no need to reboot the computer - the program will execute everything quickly.
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When an operating system is installed on a clean, rough disk for the first time, it, as usual, is split into several partitions. In this case, only the system partition is formatted. After a full OS installation, when trying to open other partitions on the hard drive, a notification appears that the drive is unformatted. Accordingly, you will not be able to get access to it. In order for the hard drive to be completely ready for work, it is necessary to format the partitions.
You will need
- - a computer with Windows OS;
- - Norton PartitionMagic 8.0.
Instructions
1. Clean hard formatting process disk but it is needed in order to assign a file system to a partition, because it will not work without it. The formatting process itself is slightly different from the standard one. Unless it is necessary to strictly prefer the file system.
2. Open My Computer. Right-click on the hard partition disk but. Then select "Format" in the context menu. A dialog box will appear in which you can set the formatting options for the hard partition disk but. Click the arrow next to the File System option.
3. The file system should now be preferred over which the brute will work. disk... If you have installed the operating system Windows XP or earlier version, then you will have access to FAT32 or NTFS file systems. It is recommended to prefer the 2nd option, because this file system is the most optimal for today. For owners of the Windows 7 operating system, only NTFS will be available.
4. Next, note the "Swift cleaning, anti-aliasing" option. Later on, click "Start". A few seconds later, the hard partition disk but will be formatted, and you will be able to open it. Now this section is completely ready for work. Thus, you need to format all partitions of the hard disk a (besides the system one, of course).
5. There are times when an oversight appears during the formatting process. Norton PartitionMagic 8.0 will help you fix this problem. Download it and install it on your computer. You will be able to install the program in any case, system tea disk will be available.
6. Start Norton PartitionMagic 8.0. Later on, you will see that the program window contains a list of all partitions of the hard disk but. Click on the section with the right mouse button. Then select "Format" in the context menu. Click the arrow next to Partition Type and select a file system. Click OK. The section will be formatted.
Note!
Formatting removes all data from the partition.
The Command Prompt is a powerful tool for managing the Windows operating system. It can be used to do almost everything that is usually done using a graphical interface. In this article, we will show you how to format your hard drive or flash drive using the command line.
Step # 1. Launch the command line.
If you want or through the command line, then first of all you need to run this command line. However, otherwise you will not be able to use the command for formatting.
There are several ways to launch Command Prompt as an administrator. The easiest option is to use the search in the Start menu. To do this, open the "Start" menu, enter the command "CMD" in the search, then right-click on the command line and select the "Run as administrator" option.
If you are using the Windows 8 or Windows 10 operating system, then you may not even use search. Just press the Windows key + X key combination and in the menu that appears, open the "Command Prompt (Administrator)" item.
After that, a warning from User Account Control will appear. In order to continue, click on the "Yes" button.
As a result, you should open a command prompt with administrator rights. The presence of administrator rights will be indicated by the inscription "Administrator" in the title of the command line window.
Step # 2. Executing the command to format the hard disk or flash drive.
After the command line with administrator rights is launched, you can start formatting. For formatting via the command line, use the "FORMAT" command. Type "FORMAT /?" To get all the information about this command.
In order to format a hard disk or flash drive together with the "FORMAT" command, you need to use the correct parameters. At a minimum, you must specify the letter of the drive you want to format. For example, like this "FORMAT D:". In this case, the standard parameters will be used for formatting.
Please note that before you start formatting a hard disk or flash drive, you will be asked to enter a volume label (disk name). You need to enter the current volume label, not the one you want after formatting. You will also need to confirm the formatting by entering the letter Y (from English YES).
A new volume label can be set after formatting is complete. If a new label is not needed, then you can simply press Enter and the system will use the standard volume label for this disk.
By adding other parameters to the "FORMAT D:" command, you can have finer control over the formatting. For example, adding "/ FS: FAT32" can format the drive to the FAT32 file system. And the "/ Q" parameter allows you to quickly format your hard disk or flash drive. As mentioned above, to get information about all possible parameters of the "FORMAT" command, you need to execute "FORMAT /?".
As various statistics show, not all users know how to perform the specified action. The biggest problems arise when you need to format the C drive in Windows 7 or 8, i.e. system hard drive.
In this manual, we will just talk about how to do this, in fact, a simple action - to format the C drive (or, rather, the drive on which Windows is installed), and any other hard drive. Well, I'll start with the simplest.
Formatting a non-system hard drive or partition in Windows
To format a disk or its logical partition in Windows 7 or Windows 8 (relatively speaking, drive D), just open Explorer (or “My Computer”), right-click on the disk and select “Format”.
After that, simply specify, if desired, the volume label, the file system (although it is better to leave NTFS here) and the formatting method (it makes sense to leave the "Quick Format"). Click "Start" and wait for the drive to be fully formatted. Sometimes, if the hard drive is large enough, it can take a long time and you might even think that the computer is frozen. There is a 95% chance that this is not the case, just wait.
Another way to format a non-system hard drive is by using the format command on a command line running as an administrator. In general, the command that makes a quick format of the disk in NTFS will look like this:
Format / FS: NTFS D: / q
Where D: is the letter of the drive being formatted.
How to format drive C in Windows 7 and Windows 8
In general, this guide will work for previous versions of Windows as well. So, if you try to format the system hard drive in Windows 7 or 8, you will see a message that:
- You cannot format this volume. It contains the version of the Windows operating system currently in use. Formatting this volume may cause the computer to stop working. (Windows 8 and 8.1)
- This disk is in use. The disk is in use by another program or process. Format it? And after clicking "Yes" - the message "Windows cannot format this disk. Quit all other programs using this disk, make sure no window is displaying its contents, and then try again.
What is happening is easy to explain - Windows cannot format the disk on which it is located. Moreover, even if the operating system is installed on disk D or any other, all the same, on the first partition (i.e. on disk C) there will be files necessary to boot the operating system, since when the computer is turned on, the BIOS will first start loading from there.
Some notes
Thus, when formatting drive C, you should remember that this action implies the subsequent installation of Windows (or another OS) or, if Windows is installed on a different partition, the OS boot configuration after formatting, which is not the most trivial task and if you are not too an experienced user (and apparently it is, since you are here), I would not recommend undertaking this.
Formatting
If you are sure of what you are doing, then continue. In order to format the C drive or Windows system partition, you will need to boot from some other media:
- Bootable USB flash drive Windows or Linux, bootable disk.
- Any other bootable media - LiveCD, Hiren's Boot CD, Bart PE and others.
There are also special solutions such as Acronis Disk Director, Paragon Partition Magic or Manager and others. But we will not consider them: firstly, these products are paid, and secondly, for the purposes of simple formatting, they are superfluous.
Formatting using a bootable USB flash drive or disk Windows 7 and 8
In order to format the system disk in this way, boot from the appropriate installation media and at the stage of choosing the type of installation, select "Full installation". The next thing you will see will be the selection of the partition to install.
Another way is to press Shift + F10 at any time during the installation, the command line will open. From which you can also perform formatting (how to do it, it was written above). Here you need to take into account that in the installation program, the letter of the C drive may be different, in order to find it out, first use the command:
Wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description
And, to clarify if anything was confused - the DIR D: command, where D: is the drive letter. (With this command, you will see the contents of the folders on the disk).
After that, you can already apply format to the desired section.
How to format a disk using a LiveCD
Formatting a hard disk using a different kind of LiveCD is not much different from formatting just in Windows. Since when booting from a LiveCD, all the really necessary data is located in the computer's RAM, you can use various BartPE options to format the system hard disk simply through the explorer. And, as in the options already described, use the format command on the command line.
There are other nuances of formatting, but I will describe them in one of the following articles. And in order for a novice user to know how to format drive C, this article, I think, will be enough. If anything - ask questions in the comments.