How to Format a Hard Drive


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  • Introduction

    • Formatting a hard drive is a basic task in working with computers and something everyone who does more than type on a keyboard should know how to do. Formatting a hard drive is not complicated, but it should be done with caution because there's the potential of losing a lot of data if you're not careful.

  • Step 1: Determine Your Needs

    1. Determine exactly what you want to do with your hard drive. Do you want to reinstall Windows? Do you want to just clean up your drive?Help With Windows.com: Clean Up Your Hard Drive Do you want to remove any sensitive data?
    2. Windows Security.com:Do You Leave Sensitive Data Lying Around?</ref> There are a couple of different ways to format a hard drive, and your particular needs will determine the best way to proceed. Often reinstalling Windows can fix stability problems you get from frequently changing hardware and installing and uninstalling programs.
    3. If you're simply re-installing Windows and want to start fresh, Windows will give you an opportunity to do this while you run through the setup program. Often reinstalling Windows can fix stability problems you get from frequently changing hardware, installing and uninstalling programs. PC World: Step-By-Step: Reinstall Windows
    4. If you want to format a new hard drive, install a non-Windows operating system or just leave the hard drive blank, then you need to follow the steps for formatting from DOS.Dr DOS:DOS Frequently Asked Questions
    5. If you are trying to remove sensitive data, you need to be aware that simply formatting will leave data visible to those who have the desire and the tools to look at your data.White Canyon: XP Formatting Guide If this is the case, you will want to do all that you can to wipe your old data before formatting.

  • Step 2: Backup Everything

    • If you are formatting a hard drive with data on it, make sure you have a backup or copy of everything on that hard drive just to be safe. Yahoo Security:Do I Need to Backup My Computer
    1. Look at all of the programs that are installed on your computer.
      1. Make sure you have a copy of the program to reinstall and have its serial number written down.
      2. Make sure you backup any data files associated with the program.
    2. Backup all of your documents such as Word or Excel documents.
    3. Don't forget to save your bookmarks and emails.
    4. You can manually backup your data by copying all of the files you know you need or you can use a backup software program. There is one that comes with Windows XP that you can use. This article details how to install and use that program. Microsoft: Windows XP Backup Made Easy

  • Step 3: Wipe Off Your Old Data

    1. If you plan to just re-install an operating system than it's probably a good idea just to go ahead with the standard formatting (skip to the instructions below for reinstalling windows) without any other additional methods for deleting data.
    2. However, if you are giving away, selling, trading or otherwise disposing of the hard drive, you should probably make sure your data can't be recovered. This is good to prevent any kind of identity theft or just keep your information private from anyone else who might read it. Follow these steps for wiping your data. Z-A Recovery.com:Data Wiping
      1. Decide the level of security you need. You can either buy software or hire a company to wipe your old data. Wiping is done by overwriting your entire hard drive with either a 0 or a 1.
      2. Find a reputable company and buy the software or their services.
      3. Use the software to completely over-write your drive one or more times.
      4. Now you are ready to format the drive.

  • If You're Reinstalling Windows

    1. Go into your BIOS and set the boot priority to start with your CD-ROM drive.
      1. To do this restart your computer and watch the screen for the instructions on which key to hit during the start-up process to enter the BIOS.Hiren.info: How to Set BIOS to Boot from CDROM: It is often the Delete or F8 key.
      2. Hit the appropriate key and look through the menus for a boot priority option.
      3. When you find the boot priority option, change it to boot from the CD first, this is often done by using the arrow keys or pageup and pagedown keys.
    2. Restart your computer with the Windows (Win98 & higher) disc in the drive.
    3. Follow the steps to boot from the CD.
    4. You can choose to install a fresh copy of Windows or refresh Windows but this will not give you the option to format.Microsoft: How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
    5. Using the commands given delete the current partition.White Canyon: How to Format a Hard Drive with Windows XP
    6. Select the now un-partitioned space and create a new partition. WorldStart.com: What does it mean to Partition your hard drive?
    7. Choose that partition and format it choosing a file system (Fat or NTFS)
    8. Continue installing Windows.

  • If You're Not Reinstalling Windows

    1. Make, create or download the files to make a boot disk. Bootdisk.com is a good resource.BootDisk.com: Bootdisk Software
    2. Go into your BIOS and set the floppy disk as the first boot device. Hiren.info: How to Set BIOS to Boot from CDROM:
    3. Restart your computer with the boot disk in the drive.
    4. Choose to boot your computer using CD ROM support.
    5. Type the following command "fdisk."Microsoft: How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk
    6. Select "Y" to enable large disk support
    7. Use this program to create a partition and set the partition to active.
    8. When formatting is done reboot with the boot disk again.
    9. Type in the following command "Format c:" where c is the letter of your hard drive
    10. Type "y" to accept.
    11. You are now done formatting the drive.

 


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