Today there are many programs, utilities and all kinds of applications with a convenient graphical interface, allowing you to carry out any formatting of disks. However, not so long ago, only the command line was at the disposal of users. Oddly enough, even now you can still get into situations where the old proven formatting method is preferred over all convenient programs. In addition, the skills of "manual" operating system commands will always be a good base for any user. How do I format my hard drive via the command line?
Instructions
Step 1
Call the command line. To do this, in the main menu of the "Start" button, select the "Run" function. The "Run Program" window will appear on the screen. In the "Command name" field, enter the command "cmd", then press "Enter" on the keyboard. A command line window will appear on the screen.
Step 2
Write the command "format" on the line. After the space, put the letter-name of the drive to be formatted, then a colon. This is the basic command to clean up the disk.
Step 3
Set the formatting options as desired. Usually, the program installs by default the same file system that was on the disk. But it can be changed. To do this, put a space in the command and write "/ FS:", and then, without a space, indicate the type of the desired file system: FAT32, NTFS, FAT.
Step 4
If you need to set a disk label, put a space and write "/ V:" and then write down the desired label name without a space.
Step 5
In order to quickly clean up the disk, the "/ Q" parameter is provided. It must also be written in the command, separated by a space. All command parameters can be sequential or absent altogether.
Step 6
Before formatting the disk, make sure that none of your applications work with it. Run the entered command from the command line by pressing the "Enter" key.
Step 7
The format command will automatically determine the current file system of the disk and its physical size. Next, you will be prompted to set a disk label. If you do not want to set it, just press "Enter" - the formatting process will start.
Step 8
The time it takes to format a disk depends on its size and the speed of your system. Upon completion of the process, a message about this will appear in the window. Next, a brief description of the disk layout will be displayed. As well as the default volume serial number. The disk is formatted with the specified parameters.
