Format A Hard Drive on Windows

The post will show you the steps of formatting a hard drive on Windows.

 

Step 1. Go to "File Explorer" > "This PC".

Step 2. Right-click on the hard drive you want to format and hit "Format..."

Step 3. Check all format settings and start click "Start" 

Step 4. Type the drive name in "Volume label".

Step 5. When the format is completed, a warning message will be shown up. Click "OK" for confirmation.

 

 

The above method is really easy. Besides, you can also follow the instructions below if you encounter corespondent trouble.

 

1. Format the Hard Drive from Command Prompt

When your hard drive is inaccessible, this way is workable.

 

Step 1. Right-click on the Start icon to open "Command Prompt (Admin)".

Step 2. Type "diskpart" and press Enter key.

Step 3. At the DISKPART prompt, enter "list disk". Then, all the disk drives will be listed on the window.

Step 4. Mark down the number of the disk that you want to format. Next, type "select disk+[disk number]" at the DISKPART prompt and press Enter key.

Step 5. Type "clean" at the DISKPART prompt and press Enter key to erase all the data in the selected disk.

 

 

Step 6. Then, type "create partition primary" to create the specified partition.

Step 7. Next, enter format fs=ntfs (or format fs=exfat) at the DISKPART prompt and press Enter.

Step 8. At the DISKPART prompt, enter "assign" to finish the format.

 

2. Format the C Drive

Common methods are not usable for formatting C drive because the operating system is installed on it. Here are 3 easy ways to help you format C drive.

 

• Format C drive from a Windows setup disc.
• Format C drive using a System Repair Disc.
• Format C drive using the format command from Recovery Console.

 

3. Format the External Hard Drive

When a completely new hard drive is installed in the computer, it might not show on the File Explorer. If you want to format your new hard drive on Windows, you can reach the result with Disk Management.

 

Step 1. Right click "My Computer".

Step 2. Choose "Manage" > "Storage" > "Disk Management".

Step 3. Right-click on the targeted hard drive and hit "format..."

Step 4. In the pop-up page, type the name for the drive in the blank of the "Volume label" > enable "NTFS" for "File System" and "Default" for "Allocation Unit Size" > check "Perform quick format" option.

 

 

Step 5. After that, just click on "OK" and wait for finishing formatting.