Format a Hard Drive

The process for formatting a hard drive is different depending on your operating system. For Windows XP, you'll need the Windows installation disc. In Windows 7, you can format drives from the Control Panel. If you're using OS X on a Mac, you can use Disk Utility. For older versions of Windows, such as Windows 98, you may need a boot disk. If you're using Linux, you can use a live CD to format a drive.

Steps

For Windows XP

  1. Back up your data. If you want to save any of the data on the disk, back it up by copying it to a CD or another hard drive. Formatting will destroy ALL of the data on the disk.
  2. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to boot the computer.
  3. Select the "Recovery Console" option.
  4. At the prompt, type FORMAT C:
  5. Also open computer, then right click "local disk (c:)", select "format...", click start (If other than c drive and windows not installed on the drive.

For Windows 7

  1. Back up your data. If you want to save any of the data on the disk, back it up by copying it to a CD or another hard drive. Formatting will destroy ALL of the data on the disk.
  2. Click Start.
  3. Click Control Panel.
  4. Click System and Security.
  5. Click Administrative Tools.
  6. Click Computer Management. Type in your password if asked.
  7. Click Disk Management, under Storage. Storage should be located on the left.
  8. Right-click the item your want formatted.
  9. Click Format.
  10. Follow the prompts.

For Mac OS X

  1. Back up your data. If you want to save any of the data on the disk, back it up by copying it to a CD or another hard drive. Formatting will destroy ALL of the data on the disk.
  2. Open the Hard Drive.
  3. Open the Applications Folder.
  4. Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
  5. Click Disk Utility.
  6. Select the drive you wish to format from the list on the left.
  7. Select your volume format.
    • Mac OS Extended is the most basic, standard option. Journaled will help the computer track changes over time and is usually a good idea.
    • Case Sensitive is for use with UNIX.
    • MS-DOS is best if you wish to share files between and connect the computer with a Windows system.
  8. Name the drive.
  9. Click Erase. Follow the prompts, wait for it to finish, and you're done.

For Windows 9x (95, 98, Me)

  1. If you want to save any of the data on the disk, back it up by copying it to a CD or another hard drive. Formatting will destroy ALL of the data on the disk.
  2. Use a startup floppy (sometimes called a "boot disk") to obtain a DOS prompt.
  3. Type FORMAT C:

For Linux or BSD

  1. Boot from a livecd
  2. Open a terminal window (usually something like xterm or konsole)
  3. Log in as root by typing su or sudo -i
  4. Enter the code. Type mkfs.ext2 /dev/hdxy where you change the ext2 by the filetype you want (e.g. ext2, ext3, reiserfs,...) and the x by the letter of your drive and y by the number of the partition you want to format. (e.g. /dev/hda1, /dev/hdc32,...). Using the -j option (mke2fs -j) will create the ext3 (or journaled) file system that is much more resistant to the unexpected power loss.(Under Linux, you can also format the hard drive in FAT file system that is readable from Windows (use mkfs.vfat instead of mkfs.ext2). However such partition cannot store the root of the Linux operating system).



Tips

  • Advanced: Choose a good filesystem for your new partition. For Windows, NTFS is the best option. Linux and BSD are more varied. XFS or EXT3 are good choices. XFS has higher performance, while EXT3 has better recovery. Mac users should use HFS+. Solaris users should definitely choose ZFS. Dragonfly BSD users should consider HAMMERFS.
  • Give the process some time to complete. Install your operating system of choice, or use the blank disk for another purpose.
  • Partition(s) must be created on a drive before it is formatted.
  • C: and /dev/hda are your primary partitions. If you are trying to format another partition or drive, replace C: or hda with the appropriate drive letter, such as D: or /dev/hdb, for example.
  • For more secure formatting, there are programs available which write zeros or garbage characters over the entire disk, making the deleted information unrecoverable.

Warnings

  • Make sure that you format the correct drive, and that you have backed up any data you don't want to lose.
  • Hard drives can have multiple partitions, so be sure to check which drive and which partition you're formatting. For example, a C: and D: partition may exist on one drive. It isn't unusual to have them exist out of sequence due to Microsoft's FAT and NTFS partitioning scheme. For example, C: and E: may be partitions on the first drive, and D: may be a partition on the second drive. If in doubt, use a partition tool such as Gparted or Fdisk to determine which partition is on which drive.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

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