How To Format A Hard Drive On Windows

1. Format Hard Drive And Reinstall Windows 10
2. How To Format A Hard Drive On Windows Xp
3. How To Format A Hard Drive On Windows 7

Format Disk or Drive in This PC 1 Open This PC in File Explorer (Win+E), and do either step 2 or step 3 below. 2 Right click or press and hold on the drive (ex: 'D') you want to format, click/tap on Format, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below). DiskPart Format vs Hard Drive Formatting Tool Generally, there are three ways to initiate the task - Windows quick format (by right-clicking or using Disk Management), Windows DiskPart command, or a free third-party hard drive format tool.

Last updated on December 28th, 2020

In this tutorial you ill find step by step instructions on how to format a hard drive in command prompt with the FORMAT command or the DISKPART tool. By formatting a hard drive, you will delete all the data it contains, so make sure that you already have a copy of the data it contains.

In all Windows versions, the classic and most common method to delete, create and format partitions or hard disks is by using the Disk Management tool. But, sometimes it is impossible to delete or format a partition or volume on a hard disk by using the Disk Management tool, because the hard disk is not recognized by Windows for a variety of reasons. (e.g. when the file system on the disk is corrupted or because the hard drive is in RAW format, etc.).

In this guide you 'll find detailed instructions on how to format or to securely wipe a hard drive (HDD or SSD), from the Command Prompt with the 'Format' command, or by using the 'DiskPart' command line tool, in Windows 10, 8 or 7 OS. Keep in mind, that you can use the same instructions to format a hard disk, from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

• Related article:How to Securely Wipe a Hard Drive or Computer before selling.

How to Format a Drive from Command Prompt or DISKPART.

1. Open command prompt as administrator. To do that:

1. In the Search box type: cmd or command prompt
2. Right click on the command prompt (result) and select Run as Administrator.

2. Now, use one of the two following methods to format the drive:

Method 1. How to Format a HDD, SSD Drive in Command Prompt (CMD).

1. Find out the 'Volume Label' of the drive that you want to format, by typing this command: *

• vol X:

* Notes:
1. Where 'X' = the drive letter of the disk that you want to format.
2. Be very careful when selecting the hard drive to format.

e.g. If you want to format the drive D:, then type: vol D:

2. To format the hard drive (to erase the data it contains), give the following command and press Enter:

• format X:

3. When asked to 'enter the current volume label', type the volume label mentioned after typing the above command and press Enter.

e.g If the want to format the disk D:, with Volume Label 'New Volume', then type these commands in order:

• New Volume

Other examples of the FORMAT command:

• To QUICK FORMAT a hard drive in command prompt, type:format X: /q

• To format a hard disk in a specific FILE SYSTEM in command prompt, type: format X: /FS:Filesystem *

* Note: In 'Filesystem'you can specify one of the following file systems: FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS or UDF. e.g.:

• • To format the disk D: in the NTFS file system: format D: /fs:NTFS
  • To format the disk D: in the FAT32 file system: format D: /fs:fat32
  • To format the disk D: in the exFAT file system: format D: /fs:exFAT

• To preform a LOW LEVEL FORMAT on a hard drive, in order to securely erase it by writing zeros on every sector, type: format X: /FS:Filesystem /p:n *

* Notes:
1. Where 'n' = The number of times that you want to write zeros in every sector. Keep in mind that the command takes very long time to complete, even for one pass of writing zeros.
2. By filling with zeros a drive (hard disk, USB, Memory card, etc.), you ensure that all it's stored data will be erased permanently and no one can retrieve the data from it in any way.

• • e.g. : To format the disk D: with the NTFS file system and to write zeros in every sectors twice type: format D: /fs:NTFS /p:2

Method 2. How to Format a Hard Disk using DISKPART.

To format a hard drive using the DISKPART utility:

1. In the administrative command prompt window, type:

• diskpart

2. At DISKPART prompt, type:

• list disk

3. From the listed disks, locate which one is the disk that you want to format. You can easily find out which disk is in the list from its size in GB (Gigabytes).

4. Then select the disk by typing: *

• select disk DiskNumber

* Note: Where 'DiskNumber'= The number assigned to the disk that you want to format.

e.g. At this example, we want to format the 'Disk 1' (see screenshot below). So the command in this case is: select disk 1

5. Now according, what you wish to do, give one of the following commands (and press Enter):

• To delete all partitions and data on the drive, type: clean

• To completely erase all partitions (and the data), by writing zeros on every sector (low level format), type: clean all

* Notes:
1. The 'clean all' command takes very very long time to complete, so be patient. (For 1TB it takes about 5-6 hours).
2. By filling with zeros a drive (hard disk, USB, Memory card, etc.), you ensure that all it's stored data will be erased permanently and no one can retrieve the data from it in any way.

6. When the 'low level format' is complete, type the following command to create a partition on the disk:

• create partition primary

7. Then format the newly created partition, with this command:

• format fs=ntfs quick

8. When the format is completed, assign a drive letter on the formatted partition, by giving this command:

• assign

9. Finally, type exit to close the DiskPart tool and then close the command prompt window.

That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

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.

Restoring 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.

Format Hard Drive And Reinstall Windows 10

If 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 Windows

To erase your hard drive and reinstall Windows, follow the steps below for your version of Windows.

• Earlier versions of Windows and DOS

Windows 10

Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 10.

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Select the Settings option (looks like a gear).
3. In the Settings window, select the Update & security option.
4. Select the Recovery option in the left navigation pane.
5. Click the Get Started button in the 'Reset this PC' section.
6. 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.
7. 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.

How To Format A Hard Drive On Windows Xp

Windows 8

Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall Windows 8.

1. Press the Windows key+C to open the Charms menu.
2. Select the Search option and type reinstall in the Search text field (do not press Enter).
3. Select the Settings option.
4. On the left side of the screen, select Remove everything and reinstall Windows.
5. On the 'Reset your PC' screen, click Next.
6. 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.
7. 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 Vista

To 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.

Before following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.

1. Insert the Windows 7 or Vista installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
2. When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
3. Press Enter at the Windows Setup welcome screen.
4. When prompted, press any key on your keyboard.
5. On the 'Install Windows' page, select your preferred language and other preferences, then click Next.
6. On the License Agreement page, accept the terms and agreements and click Next.
7. On the Installation Type screen, choose the Custom option.
8. Select the Drive Options (advanced) option.
9. For Disk 0, delete all partitions. When all partitions are deleted, a single entry named 'Unallocated space' should be seen.
10. 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 2000

To 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.

Before following the steps below, make sure the computer is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive.

1. Insert the Windows XP/2000 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
2. When you see the message 'Press any key to boot from CD,' press a key on the keyboard.
3. Press the Enter key at the Windows XP Setup welcome screen, then press F8 to accept the Terms and Agreements.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to select a hard drive partition to format and install Windows XP on.
5. After formatting the hard drive, which erases all data, see our steps for reinstalling Windows.

Earlier versions of Windows and DOS

Follow these instructions to erase and reinstall MS-DOS 5.0+, Windows 3.x, 95, 98, ME, or NT 4.0.

Formatting the drive

1. Place 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.
2. At the MS-DOS prompt type, format c: /s

If the 'format c: /s' command does not work, you may need to download the format.com file to your boot disk.

1. The computer asks you 'Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:'
2. If you are ok with doing this, press 'Y' for yes and press Enter.
3. After doing this, the computer begins the formatting process. While the computer is formatting, make sure no errors are encountered.

1. 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.

1. 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 4.0

How To Format A Hard Drive On Windows 7

Windows 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. 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.

1. Place the CD into the computer.
2. Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
3. Once at the appropriate drive, type cd winnt and press Enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
4. Once at X:WINNT> type winnt /b.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Windows 95 with CD

1. Place the CD into the computer.
2. Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
3. Once at the appropriate drive, type cd win95 and press Enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
4. Once at X:WIN95> type setup to begin the installation.
5. 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 diskettes

1. Place the first diskette of Windows 95 into the computer.
2. At the A:> type setup and press Enter to begin the installation.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Windows 3.x

1. Place the first diskette of Windows 3.x into the computer.
2. At the A:> type setup and press Enter to begin the installation.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

MS-DOS

1. Place the first MS-DOS diskette into the computer.
2. At the A:> type setup and press Enter to being the installation.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Additional information

• See our format and system recovery definitions for further information and related links.