Formatting is the process of marking up and cleaning up a device that stores information. Most often, the hard drive is formatted, for example, during the reinstallation of Windows. Sometimes a disk is formatted to remove unnecessary files from it, as this is sometimes easier and faster to do than to manually delete folders and files.
Necessary
Computer with Windows OS
Instructions
Step 1
Before formatting, decide where the operating system will be located on your computer so as not to damage it by mistake and erase important files. It is best to back up your important data to another disc or burn it to a DVD.
Step 2
Click the left mouse button on the desktop on the "My Computer" icon. In the window that appears, you will see how many logical hard drives you have installed, for this, pay attention to the drive icons. Your computer may have a fairly large number of hard drives, but there are usually two or three of them.
Step 3
Now look at which disk you have Windows installed on (it cannot be formatted). Right click on My Computer, then select Properties. In the "Variables and Environments" window, which opens from the "System" -> "Advanced" -> "Settings" menu, you can see the directory in which the operating system is located. Usually Windows is located on the C drive, therefore, the rest of the disks, if there is no important information on them, can be safely formatted (save the previously necessary information to a DVD or other logical hard drive).
Step 4
To directly format the hard drive, go to "My Computer" and right-click on the drive to be formatted. Click "Format", select the file system type NTFS, leaving all other default options, and click OK.
Step 5
The operating system will warn you that all data will be destroyed, agree and wait for the end of the formatting process. Upon completion, you will receive a message from the operating system notifying of its completion. This completes the formatting of the hard disk and can be used.
