How To Reformat Hard Disk

How To Reformat Hard Disk

How To Reformat Hard Disk On Mac
How To Reformat Hard Disk To Read Mac
Once Disk Management is open, users must select the drive that is to be formatted; oftentimes the drive that is labeled C: cannot be formatted in this fashion because that is where Windows XP is installed. 4 – To format hard drives other than C:, simply right-click the drive icon and select 'Format.'. #2 Reformat hard drive for free with Disk Management. You can also use Disk Management to reformat the hard drive in Windows 10/8/7. Step 1 – Open Disk Management window. Press Windows and R keys on the keyboard to open windows Run window. Type diskmgmt.msc in the box, and click OK. Step 2 – Reformat hard drive.
How to take print screen on windows. Most computers have a system restore disc or built-in restore process on the hard drive to reset the computer to the original settings and software. Resetting, or restoring, a computer helps eliminate issues with computer software, including corrupt program files and virus infections. Instructions on how to restore your computer back to the original software are provided below.
WarningRestoring your computer erases all the information on the hard drive and makes it like new. Once the steps below are completed, you cannot restore any lost data. Back up any files you do not want to lose before proceeding with the restore process.
TipIf you have an OEM computer (e.g., Acer, ASUS, Dell, or HP), you likely have a hidden system recovery partition and don't need a disc to restore your computer.

Erasing the hard drive and reinstalling WindowsTo erase your hard drive and reinstall Windows, follow the steps below for your version of Windows.
Earlier versions of Windows and DOS
Windows 10Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 10.
Open the Start menu.
Select the Settings option (looks like a gear).
In the Settings window, select the Update & security option.
Select the Recovery option in the left navigation pane.
Click the Get Started button in the 'Reset this PC' section.
Choose either the Keep my files or Remove everything option, depending on if you want to preserve your files or delete everything and start over.
Follow the prompts to begin the recovery process.
Windows will be reset, either keeping your files intact or erasing everything, depending on the option you selected.
Windows 8Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 8.
Press the Windows key+C to open the Charms menu.
Select the Search option and type reinstall in the Search text field (do not press Enter).
Select the Settings option.
On the left side of the screen, select Remove everything and reinstall Windows.
On the 'Reset your PC' screen, click Next.
On the 'Do you want to fully clean your drive' screen, select Just remove my files to do a quick deletion or select Fully clean the drive to have all files erased.
On the 'Ready to reset your PC' screen, click Reset.
The hard drive will be erased, and Windows 8 will be reinstalled.
Windows 7 and VistaTo restore a Windows 7 or Vista computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original Windows 7 or Vista installation disc. If you do not have a set of restore discs, contact the computer manufacturer to order a new set or restore discs.
NoteBefore following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.
Insert the Windows 7 or Vista installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
Press Enter at the Windows Setup welcome screen.
When prompted, press any key on your keyboard.
On the 'Install Windows' page, select your preferred language and other preferences, then click Next.
On the License Agreement page, accept the terms and agreements and click Next.
On the Installation Type screen, choose the Custom option.
Select the Drive Options (advanced) option.
For Disk 0, delete all partitions. When all partitions are deleted, a single entry named 'Unallocated space' should be seen.
Click Disk 0 and select Next.
The Windows installation process starts by creating a new partition, formatting the partition, and installing Windows on the hard drive. The formatting process erases the hard drive before installing Windows.
Windows XP and 2000To restore a Windows XP or 2000 computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original Windows XP or 2000 installation disc. If you do not have a set of restore discs, contact the computer manufacturer to order a new set or restore discs.
NoteBefore following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.
Insert the Windows XP/2000 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
Press the Enter key at the Windows XP Setup welcome screen, then press F8 to accept the Terms and Agreements.
Follow the on-screen instructions to select a hard drive partition to format and install Windows XP on.
After formatting the hard drive, which erases all data, see our steps for reinstalling Windows.
Earlier versions of Windows and DOSFollow these instructions to erase and reinstall MS-DOS 5.0+, Windows 3.x, 95, 98, ME, or NT 4.0.
Formatting the drivePlace the bootable diskette or disc inside the computer and reboot to get to the DOS prompt. In some cases, you may need to boot the computer with CD-ROM support or press a key to boot from the disk.
At the MS-DOS prompt type, format c: /s
NoteIf the 'format c: /s' command does not work, you may need to download the format.com file to your boot disk.
The computer asks you 'Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:'
If you are ok with doing this, press 'Y' for yes and press Enter.
After doing this, the computer begins the formatting process. While the computer is formatting, make sure no errors are encountered.
Once the format process is completed successfully, at the MS-DOS prompt, type 'fdisk /mbr' and press Enter. After entering this command, it should return you to the MS-DOS prompt with no message. This step is not required, but recommended.
Once back at the MS-DOS prompt, reboot the computer with the boot disk still inserted and follow the steps below to reinstall Windows on the hard drive.
Windows NT 4.0Windows NT can be installed in different ways. We recommend Windows NT be installed using the steps below as we feel that these steps by far are the easiest way to install Windows NT 4.0.
First, we recommend all users wanting to install Windows NT use the /b switch, which allows the users to not need to create the diskettes. How to cut the clip in imovie. We do, however, recommend the user create the emergency recover diskettes if they have not already been created after the installation of Windows NT.

Erasing the hard drive and reinstalling WindowsTo erase your hard drive and reinstall Windows, follow the steps below for your version of Windows.
Earlier versions of Windows and DOS
Windows 10Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 10.
Open the Start menu.
Select the Settings option (looks like a gear).
In the Settings window, select the Update & security option.
Select the Recovery option in the left navigation pane.
Click the Get Started button in the 'Reset this PC' section.
Choose either the Keep my files or Remove everything option, depending on if you want to preserve your files or delete everything and start over.
Follow the prompts to begin the recovery process.
Windows will be reset, either keeping your files intact or erasing everything, depending on the option you selected.
Windows 8Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 8.
Press the Windows key+C to open the Charms menu.
Select the Search option and type reinstall in the Search text field (do not press Enter).
Select the Settings option.
On the left side of the screen, select Remove everything and reinstall Windows.
On the 'Reset your PC' screen, click Next.
On the 'Do you want to fully clean your drive' screen, select Just remove my files to do a quick deletion or select Fully clean the drive to have all files erased.
On the 'Ready to reset your PC' screen, click Reset.
The hard drive will be erased, and Windows 8 will be reinstalled.
Windows 7 and VistaTo restore a Windows 7 or Vista computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original Windows 7 or Vista installation disc. If you do not have a set of restore discs, contact the computer manufacturer to order a new set or restore discs.
NoteBefore following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.
Insert the Windows 7 or Vista installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
Press Enter at the Windows Setup welcome screen.
When prompted, press any key on your keyboard.
On the 'Install Windows' page, select your preferred language and other preferences, then click Next.
On the License Agreement page, accept the terms and agreements and click Next.
On the Installation Type screen, choose the Custom option.
Select the Drive Options (advanced) option.
For Disk 0, delete all partitions. When all partitions are deleted, a single entry named 'Unallocated space' should be seen.
Click Disk 0 and select Next.
The Windows installation process starts by creating a new partition, formatting the partition, and installing Windows on the hard drive. The formatting process erases the hard drive before installing Windows.
Windows XP and 2000To restore a Windows XP or 2000 computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original Windows XP or 2000 installation disc. If you do not have a set of restore discs, contact the computer manufacturer to order a new set or restore discs.
NoteBefore following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.
Insert the Windows XP/2000 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
Press the Enter key at the Windows XP Setup welcome screen, then press F8 to accept the Terms and Agreements.
Follow the on-screen instructions to select a hard drive partition to format and install Windows XP on.
After formatting the hard drive, which erases all data, see our steps for reinstalling Windows.
Earlier versions of Windows and DOSFollow these instructions to erase and reinstall MS-DOS 5.0+, Windows 3.x, 95, 98, ME, or NT 4.0.
Formatting the drivePlace the bootable diskette or disc inside the computer and reboot to get to the DOS prompt. In some cases, you may need to boot the computer with CD-ROM support or press a key to boot from the disk.
At the MS-DOS prompt type, format c: /s
NoteIf the 'format c: /s' command does not work, you may need to download the format.com file to your boot disk.
The computer asks you 'Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:'
If you are ok with doing this, press 'Y' for yes and press Enter.
After doing this, the computer begins the formatting process. While the computer is formatting, make sure no errors are encountered.
Once the format process is completed successfully, at the MS-DOS prompt, type 'fdisk /mbr' and press Enter. After entering this command, it should return you to the MS-DOS prompt with no message. This step is not required, but recommended.
Once back at the MS-DOS prompt, reboot the computer with the boot disk still inserted and follow the steps below to reinstall Windows on the hard drive.
Windows NT 4.0Windows NT can be installed in different ways. We recommend Windows NT be installed using the steps below as we feel that these steps by far are the easiest way to install Windows NT 4.0.
First, we recommend all users wanting to install Windows NT use the /b switch, which allows the users to not need to create the diskettes. How to cut the clip in imovie. We do, however, recommend the user create the emergency recover diskettes if they have not already been created after the installation of Windows NT.
Finally, before the installation of Windows NT, we recommend you run smartdrv, which helps the installation of Windows NT run a lot faster.
Place the CD into the computer.
Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
Once at the appropriate drive, type cd winnt and press Enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
Once at X:WINNT> type winnt /b.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Windows 95 with CDPlace the CD into the computer.
Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
Once at the appropriate drive, type cd win95 and press Enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
Once at X:WIN95> type setup to begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
If you are encountering issues during the setup process, you can add additional switches to the setup command line. These switches are on our Windows 95 setup switches page.
Windows 95 with floppy diskettesPlace the first diskette of Windows 95 into the computer.
At the A:> type setup and press Enter to begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Windows 3.xPlace the first diskette of Windows 3.x into the computer.
At the A:> type setup and press Enter to begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
MS-DOSPlace the first MS-DOS diskette into the computer.
At the A:> type setup and press Enter to being the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Additional informationSee our format and system recovery definitions for further information and related links.
 Feb 26, 2021 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
A computer's hard drive experiences malfunctions over time, which are caused by multiple factors like viruses, or sketchy or incompatible software, or the computer's old age. To help maintain and resolve performance issues, reformatting the hard drive every year is advisable. In this article, we will learn how to format the hard disk in Windows 7. If in case you forget to create a backup of your files, then we will show you how to recover those files.
Overview of Formatting Disk in Windows 7Windows 7, introduced many user-friendly features with its release. One of them was revamping the method to format the hard drive on the go by adding the freshly minted Disk Management utility. It allowed the user to create partitions and format the hard drive with ease. Here in this section, we will discuss everything related to disk formatting on Windows 7.
1. What Is Hard Drive Formatting?Disk formatting permits the user to remove the used storage from the storage device altogether and also helps in managing one or more new file systems. It can also be used to check for faulty tracks or defective sectors within a hard drive.
Formatting is the process of setting up/preparing a storage device for first use, which includes main on-disk structures initialization, partitioning (dividing disk space into segments), and executing another file system's tasks.
Formatting can be done on almost every kind of storage device like a Hard disk drive, USB flash drive, external hard drive, and an SSD. Before formatting any type of hard drive, we recommend that you should form a backup of all the crucial files present inside the storage device. The backup will allow you to open and use the data again after the formatting is finished.
2. Reasons for Formatting the Hard Drive:There may be multiple factors behind formatting a storage drive, we will discuss some of those reasons in this section of the article.
Sluggish Speed: If your Hard Drive is old, then there is a chance that it has piled up a stack of unwanted cache memory or temporary files. It is easy to remove such files, but sometimes you can't seem to find them. This cluster of data can reduce the performance of the system. The only feasible solution is to format the entire Hard drive, which will release it from the burden of unnecessary files.
Changing the File System: If you have decided to replace your computer or to switch from Windows to macOS, then you need to change the file system of your drive compatible with the Mac. To change the file system, formatting the disk is necessary.
Clean the HDD from Unwanted Apps and Viruses: Windows PC is always prone to unwanted Malware, which puts the data and your personal information at risk. If you do not have anti-virus software on your computer, then you must format the entire drive to get rid of your malware problem.
Types of Hard Drive Formatting For You to Choose:There are two types of formatting procedure that the computer may ask you to choose, which we will discuss briefly:
Quick Format:The quick formatting process is used to make the formatting process quick. This method does not check the drive for bad sectors, so you must only opt for this method if your purpose is just to clear some space in the HDD. The major disadvantage of this method is that the data doesn't get completely wiped out so if your drive is still causing problems after the quick format, then you should perform a full format scan on your hard drive.
Full Format:A Full Format is recommended if you believe that your computer is infected with malware and viruses. This method checks the hard drive for bad sectors, and it usually takes longer to erase data than a quick format.
If your drive is misbehaving and performing sluggishly, then you must perform a full format on your HDD. It is a better option to make sure no issues exist with the drive. You can initiate the formatting process by simply unchecking the 'Quick Format' tab and then clicking on Start.
How to Format a Hard Drive in Windows 7 by Disk Management?The Disk Management utility:The Disk Management Utility offers you the full management of the disk-based hardware(HDD) recognized by Windows, which also includes an external storage source. At the bottom end of Disk Management, you can see the graphical representation of the physical drives installed in your computer. Disk Management is the place that allows you to create and attach virtual hard disk files in Windows OS. You can create single makes, which acts like a Hard Drive, which offers you to store data on them from the primary hard drive or any other location like an external hard drive.
You can format your Hard disk drive with the help of Disk Management. The utility is an inbuilt Windows tool that can be used to perform the following functions:
It enables the user to view and manage the disk drives
It also helps in formatting the hard drive and creating new partitions.
It provides the feature for you to convert an empty MBR to a GPT disk, and vice versa.
Disk Utility also enables to extend and shrink partition.
You can also change the disk volume's letter and paths with the help of this utility.
Precautions before formatting a Hard Drive:If you are preparing to perform a reformat on your computer's hard drive, then you must take necessary precautions before moving forward with the process. The formatting method will erase absolutely everything on the disk if you don't make the right arrangements. Here are the things that you must do before cleaning the hard drive.
Save your photos and videos on an external hard drive or sync them with a cloud storage service, like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Write down the list of your computer's drivers and other third-party apps that you might want to use again.
Copy all of your browser settings.
How to Reformat a Hard Drive?Reformatting is the method of erasing the used space of a disk drive or the entire storage device. Such a scenario arises if you want to use a Mac-based disk with a Windows computer, you would need to reformat it using a Windows-compatible file system that would be the FAT32.
Here in this section, we will discuss the method to format and reformat a volume of the hard drive through the disk management utility. How to get excel 2007.
Type 'diskmgmt.msc' in the search box on the start menu.
Click on Disk Management. The management window will open.
Right-click the drive you want to format.
Click on Format.
Choose a file system. You can keep the rest as it is unless you have specific reasons to change it.
Check the 'Perform a Quick Format' tab, if you want to format the drive quickly, otherwise keep the option unchecked.
Click on OK.
After formatting a hard drive, you will find that the software program conflicts or glitches that were causing problems on your PC will disappear, and the computer's performance will improve significantly. You can perform this procedure on any kind of USB flash drive and external hard drive.
How to Format a New Volume of the Hard Drive on Windows 7?New volumes are created if you intend to create new partitions or change the size of your volume. For example, if you have recently installed an SSD on your computer, then you will find an unallocated storage space where the previous version of your Windows OS was stored. You can create and format a new disk volume on a hard disk, with that unallocated disk space on your computer's hard drive.
Please follow our guide to create a new volume by assigning it a new name and formatting it.
Open Disk Management.
Right-click on unallocated space on your hard disk, which is located at the bottom of the window with the black graphical representation.
Click on New Simple Volume and click on Next.
Check the format this volume with the following setting option and click on Next
You will be asked to assign a letter to the newly created volume.
Click on Finish and the drive will be formatted.
How to Recover Data from Hard Drive After Format?After formatting your hard drive and losing all the data as a result, if you intend to use those files again, then there is a way to recover all of that data back. But, you should not save any new information on the formatted hard drive, or it will be overwritten entirely, so it is extremely essential to perform the recovery operation as soon as possible.
Recoverit by Wondershare:How To Reformat Hard Disk On MacYou can recover your data by using data recovery software on your PC. We recommended that you use the Wondershare Recoverit data recovery software for Windows to restore deleted files from the formatted hard drive in Windows 7.
Features of Recoverit:
It offers fast scanning speed and a near 100% efficiency.
It recovers data in almost every type of file format known in the tech world.
Recoverit supports all types of File system formats like exFAT, FAT32, HFS, NTFS.
After installing the app, you are required to launch it from the Start menu by searching Recoverit and double-clicking on the icon. From there, you are required to follow our three-step process to recover deleted files.
Step 1 Select the Location:After the Recoverit data recovery software for windows is opened on the computer, then please follow the steps mentioned below:
Select the 'Location' of the disk volume or folder.
Click on the 'Start' button to initiate the process.
Step 2 Scan for Lost Data:The scanning process will start. It will take some time for the scan to finish, depending on the storage space of the drive/folder.
A scan completion pop up will appear on the screen with a beep tone.
The results will be displayed, you can view them from the File Type and File Path section.
You can pause or stop the scanning process by clicking the Pause button.
Step 3 Recover the Lost Data:Recoverit allows users to Preview the recovered files to check their authenticity.
You can select the files and retrieve them by clicking on the 'Recover' button to reclaim your data back.
Closing Words:Formatting a drive on Windows 7 is an easy as well as fast, which saves the user both time and money. If in case your hard drive gets infected with some virus, then you must perform a full format on your drive. Now you know the way to create and delete partitions on your Windows PC by using the disk management utility. Formatting the disk means that your data will get erased with no trace, but Recoverit by Wondershare allows you to recover that data if you ever feel the need to use it again.
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