"A Guide for Everyone: How to Format/Reformat a Hard Drive"

Today's hot topic: How to format or reformat a hard drive?

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Part 1: Why Format/Reformat Hard Drive?

There are several reasons why you might want to format or reformat a hard drive.

• When you sell or give away your computer: You will need to format the hard drive to remove all data.
• When fixing a broken computer or reinstalling the operating system: Another reason is if your computer is having problems, and you think that formatting the hard drive might fix it, or if you just want to start over with a new system.
• When trying to use a new USB/SD card on your computer: If you're setting up a new removable device, you'll need to format it first before you can use it.

Formatting a hard drive is a simple process that anyone can do, for any reason.

What does formatting a hard drive do?

What happens when you format a hard drive? Does formatting a drive erase everything? Find the answers here if you're unsure.

✔. Wipe all data from the drive, leaving some possibility of recovery

This means that any files you have saved to it and any programs you have installed are gone. However, formatting is not the same as erasing, which means that when you format a hard drive, you are simply clearing the address table, resetting the file system, and the file structure. Though difficult, your data is still recoverable.

✔. Reset drive format

Choose the file system for your internal or external hard drive.

✔. Remove viruses or malware from the hard drive

It can also be helpful if the disk is damaged and not working correctly, as formatting the disk may resolve the issue and allow you to continue using it.

Note that formatting will delete any files saved on the drive, so make sure to back up your data before proceeding.

3. Choose the Right Format for Your Hard Drive/External Drive

NTFS - The standard Windows file format (the best choice for most computers.)

FAT32/16 - For drives 32 GB and smaller.

ExFAT - Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux

HFS+/APFS – Mac support.

You may be interested in the details of some popular filesystems:

4. How to Reformat/Format a Hard Drive on Windows?

Format the hard drive on a Windows or Mac computer using a simple method. Note that you can't format the C drive unless you're creating a bootable device.

Method 1: Format Windows 10/11 Hard Drive Using Disk Management

Step 1: Type “Create and format hard disk partitions” in the search bar, and open “Disk Management.”

Create and format hard disk partitions

Step 2: Right-click on the drive you want to format (make sure you have the right one!) and select "Format..."

Step 3. Give your partition a label and select a file system, then click “OK” to begin formatting.

Method 2: Format the hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant

To format hard drive in Windows 10, you can use a user-friendly hard drive formatting tool - AOMEI Partition Assistant Free.

"Partition Master Free" is a software tool that aids in optimizing your computer by managing hard disk partitions, including operations such as resizing, formatting, deleting, creating, converting MBR to GPT, and copying data disks. It is user-friendly and equipped with numerous features to enhance your PC's performance.

Download this free hard drive formatting tool:

Format Windows 10/11 Hard Drive:

Step 1. Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard, right click the partition you want to format and choose “Format”.

Step 2: In the new window, type in the volume label, choose the FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 file system and set the cluster size as needed, then click “OK”.

Step 3: You will then see a warning message. Click “Yes” to proceed.

Click the “Do it!” button on the top left to preview the changes, and then click “Apply” to format the partition to FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4.

Method 3: How to Format a Hard Drive Using Disk Management

You can also use another built-in Windows utility – Diskpart, which is a smart choice to format or reformat a hard drive.

Step 1: Type “cmd” in the search bar. Right-click “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator.”

Step 2: Type each command and press Enter.

• diskpart • list disk • select disk x (Replace 'x' with your disk number, for example, Disk 2.) • list volume • select volume x (Replace 'x' with the volume number of the partition you want to format) • format fs=ntfs quick (If you need to format a hard drive with a different file system, replace NTFS with FAT32, exFAT, and so on.) • exit

Format Hard Drive with DiskPart

Do you know how to format a hard drive by yourself and clean the disk? On this page, we will show you how to quickly format a hard drive with the DiskPart format command and free third-party formatting tools in Windows 10/8/7.

Additional Tip: How to Format a New Hard Drive in Windows 10/11

If you have a new disk that isn't partitioned, you'll need to initialize the disk, create a partition, and format the partition. Use Disk Management to create and format a partition as follows:

1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management. 2. Right-click on the unallocated hard drive and choose "Initialize Disk."

In the Initialize Disk window, select the partition style, then click OK. MBR - For drives smaller than 2 TB. GPT - For drives larger than 2 TB.

5. Right-click on the unallocated space, and select "New Simple Volume." Click "Next."

1. Under "Simple Volume Size (MB)," accept the default size. 2. Check "Assign the following drive letter" and click "Next." 3. Set the formatting options for this volume – it's best to change the File system to NTFS, keep the Allocation unit size as "Default," and type a name for the volume label. 4. Only check the "Perform a quick format" option. 5. Click "Next" and then "Finish."

Create new simple volume

Still not enough? Check out the Home of the Best Disk Formatting Tools!

1. Partition Master Formatting Tool 2. HP USB Disk Storage Formatting Utility 3. Hard Disk Low-Level Formatting Tool 4. Windows File Explorer 5. Windows Disk Management 6. Windows Command Prompt

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V. How to format/reformat a hard drive on a Mac?

To format a disk, you can use Disk Utility.

Step 1: Open Disk Utility via Spotlight.

Step 2. Select the drive you want to format from the list on the left.

Step 3. Select the “Erase” tab from the top toolbar.

4. Click the “Erase” button to rename and format the disk.

Solving the hard drive formatting issue in Windows 10/11.

Unable to format the C drive with the Windows operating system

When trying to format the C drive, you might encounter an error that says, "The volume cannot be formatted." How do you fix this issue?

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You can first download the tool Partition Master to create a bootable disk, change the boot mode, and then use a hard drive formatting tool to format the C drive.

Get the in-depth guide:  How to Format C Drive.

✘. Windows was unable to complete the format

Due to unsupported drive formats, bad sectors, virus attacks, and more, you often encounter errors like "Can't format USB drive" and "SD card won't format". Tools like Partition Master can fix USB drives or SD cards by reformatting them. If a third-party tool doesn't suit your needs, you can use CMD and other recommended options. Check out the step-by-step guide:

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Recover Files from Formatted Hard Drive

Can data be recovered from a formatted hard drive? Yes! With the help of specific data recovery software – a free data recovery tool, you can recover your hard drive and all its data.

Watch the video tutorial to recover formatted hard drive:

✘. Formatting a hard drive with the RAW file system

If RAW is displayed, your hard drive is unaccessible, and the best fix is to format the hard drive with a compatible file system. You can recover data from a RAW hard drive first, then repeat the formatting steps from the “Disk Management” section above.

Other unexpected errors:

7. Conclusion - Was this Guide Helpful?

Now you know how to reformat a hard drive using built-in Windows tools or a disk formatting tool! It's the quickest way to format a hard drive on Windows 10/11 and Mac computers. After the disk cleanup, you no longer have to worry about data leaks or the device becoming unusable. We hope this guide has been helpful to you.