A wide variety of methods can be used to format a hard drive or partition. The task is a little more complicated when you need to clean up the hard drive with the operating system installed on it.
It is necessary
- - Partition Manager;
- - Windows installation disc.
Instructions
Step 1
Few people need to format a system hard drive without installing a new operating system. If you still need to clear the hard drive from the OS, then use another computer for this. Remove the hard drive from the system unit. Connect the hard drive to another computer using it as a secondary hard drive.
Step 2
Turn on this computer. Open the list of existing hard disk partitions (menu "My Computer"). Right-click on the system partition of the disk and select "Format". Specify new cluster sizes, if required, and assign a volume label. Click the "Start" button to start the cleaning process.
Step 3
If you are unable to connect the hard drive to another computer, then use the Windows Seven or Vista installation disc. Insert one of the indicated discs into the drive. Run the operating system setup program.
Step 4
When a window appears with a list of existing partitions, click the Disk Settings button. Highlight the system partition and click the "Format" button. If you do not need to install a new OS, just turn off your computer.
Step 5
Use Partition Manager as an alternative to the installation disc. The advantage of this utility is that you can configure certain operations that will then be performed in DOS mode.
Step 6
Launch Partition Manager and enable Power User Mode. Right-click on the system partition of the disk. Select "Format". Confirm the selected operation in the next window. Specify the file system format of the blank volume.
Step 7
To start the process, click the "Apply pending changes" button. After a while, a window will appear asking you to restart your computer. Click the Restart Now button. The program will continue to run in DOS mode.
