Formatting the hard disk of a computer running Windows can be carried out using additional software or using standard tools of the system itself. The use of built-in tools is considered preferable.
Instructions
Step 1
Please use the appropriate Windows interface. To do this, call the main menu by clicking the "Start" button and go to the "Control Panel" item. Expand the "Administrative Tools" link and select the "Computer Management" section. Expand the Disk Management node and open the context menu of the volume or logical partition to be formatted by right-clicking. Specify the "Format" command and confirm the execution of the selected action by clicking the "Start" button in the dialog box that opens.
Step 2
Use a command line utility to format the selected hard drive. To do this, return to the main Start menu and go to the Run dialog. Type cmd in the "Open" line and confirm the launch of the Windows command interpreter by clicking OK.
Step 3
Type format in the text field of the command line utility. Next, use the syntax: drive_name: Windows> format drive_name:. Thus, the complete format command looks like: format: drive_name: Windows> format drive_name:. Confirm the selected action by pressing the function key Enter, and wait for the system warning that everything the data on the selected disk will be destroyed during the formatting process. Confirm your selection again by pressing the function key Y.
Step 4
Another way to format your computer's hard drive is to use a boot disk. To do this, you must boot from disk and format or repartition the selected volume using the operating system setup program. Please note that this method of performing the procedure allows you to format the system partition. If you select the quick format option, user data will be saved. If you select the full format option, the damaged sectors of the disk will be found and repaired.
