Formatting refers to the process of applying special marks to the drive. It can be used for both new and used drives. Format new HDD necessary to create markup, without which it will not be perceived by the operating system. If there is already any information on the hard drive, it is erased.

For these reasons, formatting may be relevant in different cases: when connecting a new HDD to a computer, for complete cleaning disk when reinstalling the OS. How to do this correctly and what methods exist? This is what this article will discuss.

HDD formatting is required for several reasons:

• Creating basic markup for further work with the hard drive

  This is performed after connecting the new HDD to the PC for the first time, otherwise it simply will not be visible among the local drives.

• Clearing all saved files

  Over the years of operation of a computer or laptop, the hard drive accumulates great amount unnecessary data. These are not only custom, but also system files, which are no longer needed, but are not deleted on their own.

  As a result, the drive may become overfilled, unstable and slow work. The easiest way to get rid of garbage is to save necessary files V cloud storage or to a flash drive and format the hard drive. This is in some way radical method optimization of HDD operation.

• Complete reinstallation operating system

  For better quality and clean install It is best for the OS to use a blank disk.

• Error correction

  Fatal viruses and malware software, damaged blocks and sectors and other problems with the hard drive are often corrected by creating new markup.

Formatting steps

This procedure is divided into 3 stages:

1. Low level

   The term " low level formatting» has been adapted for users. In the usual sense, this is the erasure of information, as a result of which everything is freed disk space. If in the process were found bad sectors, then they are marked unused in order to eliminate future problems with writing and reading data.

   On older computers, the Low Format feature was available directly in the BIOS. Now, due to the complex structure of modern HDDs, this feature is not available in the BIOS, and real low-level formatting is done only once - during manufacturing at the factory.

2. Partitioning (optional step)

   Many users split one physical disk into several logical partitions. After this, one installed HDD becomes available under different letters. Usually « Local disk(WITH:)" used for OS, "Local Disk (D:)" and subsequent ones - for the distribution of user files.

3. High level

   This method is the most popular among users. During this process, the file system and file tables are formed. After this, the HDD becomes available for data storage. Formatting on high level is performed after partitioning, data on the location of all files recorded on the hard drive is erased. After it, you can fully or partially restore data, unlike low-level recovery.

Formatting Types

There are two types that are used to format internal and external HDD:

• Fast

  It doesn’t take very much time, since the whole process boils down to overwriting the file location data with zeros. However, the files themselves do not disappear anywhere and will be overwritten with new information. The structure is not optimized, and if there are problems, they are overlooked and not corrected.

• Complete

  All information is completely deleted from the hard drive, and at the same time the file system is checked for various errors, bad sectors are corrected.

HDD formatting methods

You can format your hard drive different methods. For this purpose they are used as built-in Windows tools or third party programs. If you want to carry out this procedure and clean the HDD, then use one of the suggested options.

Method 1: Using formatting programs

There are both small utilities and powerful programs, performing additional tasks in addition to the main one, for example, partitioning the hard drive and checking for errors. To format OS partitions, you will need to create a bootable USB flash drive with the program installed.

Acronis Disk Director

One of the most famous utilities that works with physical disks and their partitions. The program is paid, but very powerful, as it has many features and functions.
Allows you to format hard drive, changing file system, cluster size and volume label. The interface resembles a standard Windows program "Disk Management", and the operating principle is correspondingly similar.

Method 3: Via BIOS and command line

To format the HDD in this way, you will need a bootable USB flash drive with a recorded OS. All data, including Windows, will be deleted, so if you need to format a drive with an installed OS, this procedure will not be possible using the previous method.

Follow these steps:

1. Connect the flash drive to your computer.
2. Restart your PC and go into BIOS. To do this, after start, press the enter key - usually this is one of them: F2, DEL, F12, F8, Esc or Ctrl+F2(the specific key depends on your configuration).
3. Using the keyboard, change the device from which the computer will boot. To do this, go to the section "Boot" and the list of boot devices in first place ( "1st Boot Priority") insert your flash drive.

   

   If the BIOS interface is like in the screenshot below, then go "Advanced BIOS Features"/"BIOS Features Setup" and select "First Boot Device".

   

Please note that due to differences in BIOS versions Menu item names may vary. If your BIOS does not have specified parameter, then look for the most suitable name.

4. Click F10 To save the settings and exit, to confirm your actions, press "Y". After this, the PC will boot from the selected device.
5. IN running environment work with Windows 7, at the very bottom, click on the button "System Restore.
   
   

   In the options window, select "Command line".

   

   On Windows 8/10, also select "System Restore".

   

   Then press the buttons in sequence Diagnostics > Troubleshooting > Command Prompt.

   

6. Determine the drive that will need to be formatted. The fact is that when you start a PC from a bootable flash drive, their letter designations may differ from those that you are used to seeing in Windows, so first you need to find out the real letter of that hard drive. To do this, write the following command on the command line:

   wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, size, description

   The easiest way to determine a HDD is by its size - it is indicated in bytes.

   After the letter has been determined, write this on the command line:

   format /FS:NTFS X: /q - with changing the file system to NTFS
   format /FS:FAT32 X: /q - with changing the file system to FAT32
   or just
   format X: /q - quick formatting without changing the file system.

   Click Enter every time the command line requires it, until the process completes.

   Clarifications: Instead of X use the letter of your HDD.
   You can also assign a volume label (disk name in Windows Explorer), replacing the command /q on /v:IMYA DISKA
   Modern hard drives use NTFS. For older PCs, FAT32 is suitable.

   

Method 4: Formatting before installing the OS

If you plan to format the drive before installing new version operating system, then repeat steps 1-5 from the previous method.

Now you know what formatting is, what it is, and how it can be done. The method depends on which drive needs to be formatted and what conditions are available for this.

For simple and quick formatting enough built-in Windows utilities, which can be launched through Explorer. If it is impossible to boot into Windows (for example, due to viruses), then a suitable method formatting via BIOS and command line. And if you are going to reinstall the operating system, then formatting can be done through the Windows Installer.

Usage third party utilities, for example Acronis Disk Director It makes sense only if you do not have an OS image, but you can create a bootable USB flash drive with the program. Otherwise, it's a matter of taste - to use standard tool from Windows, or a program from another manufacturer.

When installing the operating system, as well as when changing files or redistributing space between partitions, it is necessary to format the hard drive. It's pretty frequent operation performed by PC users. If you haven’t done anything like this before, then let’s look at the theoretical part of the question.

What is the formatting process?

Marking areas for storing information, in which some of it is deleted, is called formatting. It creates a system for accessing stored information.

Typically done for:

• changing one file system to another;
• deleting files from your hard drive.

On this moment exists a large number of various file systems. They are used on various equipment, including not only computers, but also mobile devices. To work in the latest Windows versions The NTFS file system is used.

Video: How to format a hard drive

Why format your hard drive?

Formatting is performed to delete files from the hard drive, as well as to change one file system to another.

In most cases they resort to it:

• before installing a new operating system;
• for creating installation image Windows, for example, on a flash drive;
• due to the need to clear the disk of files if they are not needed.

Formatting with Windows tools

Despite the large number of various programs for working with hard drive The Windows operating system has its own set of utilities.

Let's look at the process of formatting disks using Windows:

1. select the disk that needs to be formatted;
2. press the right mouse button;
3. select Format;
4. in the window that appears, select the file system, cluster size, and formatting method;
5. It is recommended to set NTFS as a file system, and leave the cluster size at the default – 4096;
6. After setting the necessary parameters, click Start.

Windows also includes more full service for working with hard drives.

To open this menu, do the following:

1. press right click mouse to My Computer;
2. select Management;
3. open Disk Management;
4. V this menu the user can perform various operations on the hard drive, including formatting.

Formatting via the command line

Execute this operation you can also use command line:

• Press the key combination Win+R;
• enter cmd and press Enter;
• in the command line we write the command format y:, where y is the letter of your drive, maybe, for example, c or d;
• the system will ask you to confirm the operation by pressing the Y key;
• after confirmation, the system will begin the formatting process;
• When finished, this message will appear

Formatting HDD in BIOS

If you need to format from the BIOS hard section disk, you'll have to tinker a little. Unfortunately, the BIOS does not have tools for formatting a hard drive, so you should use third-party programs to perform these operations.

One of the most common is Acronis Disk Director. To work with it, you need to create bootable media in the operating system with the files of this program. But before you start creating bootable media Another option worth considering is formatting using Windows installer. This decision is a simpler option compared to Acronis Disk Director.

For this method you only need a disk or flash drive with a recorded installation package operating system.

To format, you must perform the following steps:

Attention! The drive partition letters may not match. To more accurately determine the required disk, use the wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, size, description command.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Acronis Disk Director

To create a bootable flash drive you will need:

Algorithm of actions:

1. insert the flash drive;
2. install and open the program;
3. in the application, open the Tools section and select Acronis Bootable Media Builder;
4. click next;
5. select boot type Windows media PE;
6. in the next menu it should be noted necessary components for recording to a flash drive;
7. After selection, you must select the media on which to record and click Next. The flash drive should be formatted in FAT 32 format using the Windows utility;
8. you can also create an image for later burning to a flash device or disk using the Ultra ISO program.

Working with a bootable USB flash drive Acronis Disk Director

To load a flash drive you need:

How to format an external hard drive to NTFS

The most convenient formatting method is to do everything using standard utilities operating system. This solution does not require installation additional programs and creating additional boot disks.

If you do not have an operating system installed, then in this case you should use special programs, such as Acronis.

Steps describing how to format HDD like ntfs:

Utilities

Besides standard program Windows has a variety of utilities used for the same purpose.

The most common options include the following:

What program in ntfs is better just format the drives?

Each program has its own characteristics, but the main direction for all utilities remains the same - working with disks, including creating partitions, forming into other file systems, etc. Therefore, the choice of program is purely personal question each user, which depends on his preferences.

Problems and solutions when formatting

How to quickly format a disk without losing data?

Unfortunately this is not possible. All stored information will be deleted. Only part of the data can be recovered.

Which drive is better: external or external?

Formatting external drives is performed in the same way as for a regular hard drive. During this process, all information will be deleted, including windows, after execution the disk will be like new without windows.

Unable to format hard drive

If you did everything according to the instructions, but did not achieve results, do not sound the alarm. This doesn't always mean something bad.

• format command - cannot be used for system disk, if she is in his environment;
• if the operating system is located in another partition of the HDD, it cannot be deleted;
• settings antivirus program access to different partitions of the hard drive may be denied;
• various applications and viruses can block access.

If you have removed the above factors, but still cannot format the hard drive, you will have to resort to special programs. The most popular tool is HDDscan, which is easy to install and free.

Algorithm of actions:

• download the utility;
• open and install;
• run as administrator;
• click on the icon in the form of a sphere located in the center of the interface;
• select Surface tests;
• check the box next to Erase;
• go to the Add test tab;
• click on Scan;
• in the lower right corner, write down the error data;
• set the EraseWAITs option to ON and select Scan again;
• repeat until the error is cleared.

You can also use Acronis Disk Director. If you can't format portable hard disk, using this program, most likely the hard drive has partially failed. And the entire procedure can sometimes be performed only from bootable media, that is, not in the operating system.

How to force format a flash drive?

To format flash drives you can use the program HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

• provide the necessary set of functions;
• They have a fairly simple interface that will be easy for novice users to work with.

When installing the operating system, as well as when changing files or redistributing space between partitions, it is necessary to format the hard drive. This is a fairly common operation performed by PC users. If you haven’t done anything like this before, then let’s look at the theoretical part of the question.

What is the formatting process?

Marking areas for storing information, in which some of it is deleted, is called formatting. It creates a system for accessing stored information.

Typically done for:

• changing one file system to another;
• deleting files from your hard drive.

At the moment there are a large number of different file systems. They are used on various equipment, including not only computers, but also mobile devices. To work in latest versions Windows uses the NTFS file system.

Video: How to format a hard drive

Why format your hard drive?

Formatting is performed to delete files from the hard drive, as well as to change one file system to another.

In most cases they resort to it:

• before installing a new operating system;
• to create an installation Windows image, for example, on a flash drive;
• due to the need to clear the disk of files if they are not needed.

Formatting with Windows tools

Despite the large number of various programs for working with a hard drive, the Windows operating system has its own set of utilities.

Let's look at the process of formatting disks using Windows:

1. select the disk that needs to be formatted;
2. press the right mouse button;
3. select Format;
4. in the window that appears, select the file system, cluster size, and formatting method;
5. It is recommended to set NTFS as a file system, and leave the cluster size at the default – 4096;
6. After setting the necessary parameters, click Start.

Windows also includes a more comprehensive service for working with hard drives.

To open this menu, do the following:

1. right-click on My Computer;
2. select Management;
3. open Disk Management;
4. In this menu, the user can perform various operations on the hard drive, including formatting.

Formatting via the command line

You can also perform this operation using the command line:

• Press the key combination Win+R;
• enter cmd and press Enter;
• in the command line we write the command format y:, where y is the letter of your drive, maybe, for example, c or d;
• the system will ask you to confirm the operation by pressing the Y key;
• after confirmation, the system will begin the formatting process;
• When finished, this message will appear





Formatting HDD in BIOS

If you need to format a hard drive partition from the BIOS, you will have to tinker a little. Unfortunately, the BIOS does not have tools for formatting a hard drive, so you should use third-party programs to perform these operations.

One of the most common is Acronis Disk Director. To work with it, you need to create bootable media in the operating system with the files of this program. But before you start creating bootable media, you should consider another option - formatting using Windows Installer. This solution is a simpler option compared to Acronis Disk Director.



For this method, you only need a disk or flash drive with a recorded operating system installation package.

To format, you must perform the following steps:




Attention! The drive partition letters may not match. To more accurately determine the required disk, use the wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, size, description command.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Acronis Disk Director

To create a bootable flash drive you will need:




Algorithm of actions:

1. insert the flash drive;
2. install and open the program;
3. in the application, open the Tools section and select Acronis Bootable Media Builder;
4. click next;
5. select the Windows PE boot media type;
6. in the next menu you should mark the necessary components for recording to a flash drive;
7. After selection, you must select the media on which to record and click Next. The flash drive should be formatted in FAT 32 format using the Windows utility;
8. you can also create an image for later burning to a flash device or disk using the Ultra ISO program.

Working with a bootable USB flash drive Acronis Disk Director

To load a flash drive you need:

How to format an external hard drive to NTFS

The most convenient formatting method is to perform all actions using standard operating system utilities. This solution does not involve installing additional programs or creating additional boot disks.

If you do not have an operating system installed, then in this case you should use special programs, such as Acronis.

Steps describing how to format a hard drive as ntfs:

Utilities

In addition to the standard Windows programs There are various utilities used for the same purpose.

The most common options include the following:

What is the best program to format drives in ntfs?

Each program has its own characteristics, but the main direction for all utilities remains the same - working with disks, including creating partitions, forming into other file systems, etc. Therefore, choosing a program is a purely personal question for each user, which depends on his preferences .

Problems and solutions when formatting

How to quickly format a disk without losing data?

Unfortunately this is not possible. All stored information will be deleted. Only part of the data can be recovered.

Which drive is better: external or external?

Formatting external drives is performed in the same way as for a regular hard drive. During this process, all information will be deleted, including windows, after execution the disk will be like new without windows.

Unable to format hard drive

If you did everything according to the instructions, but did not achieve results, do not sound the alarm. This doesn't always mean something bad.

• format command - cannot be used for a system disk if it is in its environment;
• if the operating system is located in another partition of the HDD, it cannot be deleted;
• Anti-virus program settings can block access to different partitions of the hard drive;
• various applications and viruses can block access.

If you have removed the factors described above, but still cannot format your hard drive, you will have to resort to special programs. The most popular tool is HDDscan, which is easy to install and free.

Algorithm of actions:

• download the utility;
• open and install;
• run as administrator;
• click on the icon in the form of a sphere located in the center of the interface;
• select Surface tests;
• check the box next to Erase;
• go to the Add test tab;
• click on Scan;
• in the lower right corner, write down the error data;
• set the EraseWAITs option to ON and select Scan again;
• repeat until the error is cleared.

You can also use Acronis Disk Director. If it is impossible to format a portable hard drive using this program, most likely the hard drive is partially damaged. And the entire procedure can sometimes be performed only from bootable media, that is, not in the operating system.

How to force format a flash drive?

To format flash drives you can use the program HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.

How to format a write-protected drive?

• open command line;
• enter the following commands:

1. diskpart;
2. list disk;
3. select disk Z. Z - flash drive number, execution of the previous command is shown;
4. attributes disk clear readonly;
5. clean;
6. create partition primary;
7. format fs=ntfs;
8. exit.

The operating system includes utilities that:

• provide the necessary set of functions;
• They have a fairly simple interface that will be easy for novice users to work with.

An external hard drive is a compact device that provides the ability to store copies of data and transfer large amounts of information from one device to another. The advantage of an external HDD is the use of a USB interface, which allows you to conveniently connect the device to any tablet, laptop and PC. Its remaining parameters are similar to a regular computer hard drive.

Despite the advantages regular hard drives, the device also has disadvantages. When working with external HDD users may have next problem: The drive cannot be accessed and needs to be formatted. Let's look at the causes of this problem and how to deal with it.

To organize and store information on any type of storage device ( external hard disk, flash drive, hard drive), you need to apply a set of special rules determined by the location and method of storage. This is a certain set software, providing access to information in a convenient form for various applications. The most popular file system now is NTFS. It is also used on external hard disks.

Damaged or missing file system

When viewing information about an external drive to which access is prohibited and if it is necessary to format it, you can see that the NTFS file system has become RAW. This indicates a missing or damaged file system on the disk. Often the data itself remains intact.

Not all users know that in addition to recorded files, there are special file identifiers on the HDD. They contain information about the file type, its size and other attributes. This method In terms of organizing information storage, it is permissible to compare it with a table. There is a key and the data itself, and they can be accessed by using a specific identifier. If the key column disappears, it will be quite difficult to gain access to specific information. This occurs when the disk file system is damaged.

Options for solving the problem when the external hard drive does not open

Most in a simple way to return the file system to the external drive would be to use standard type CHKDSK commands:

1. The command line is launched (press Windows + R, enter “cmd” in the field that appears and click “Run”).
2. A console will appear in which to write the command “CHKDSK disk_name: /f”. In disk_name, enter the name of the external drive that has the RAW file system.
3. This method copes with minor damage to the file system. There is a risk of losing some data.

There are applications that provide file system recovery on disk. The most popular is GetDataBack. The utility recovers all data without loss.

If these two methods do not work, and the external drive still does not open and asks for formatting, then you need to perform hard formatting disk. Quick formatting will not result in data loss. Information in the form of zeros and ones will remain on the disk, but access to it is lost. There are applications that help restore this information. Normal formatting completely deletes information, but solves the problem of accessing an external hard drive.

Formatting using Windows

The following steps are required:

1. Connection external hard disk to your computer and open the “My Computer” window.
2. After definitions of hard disk by the system and its appearance in the “My Computer” window, you need to open the context menu of the external disk and select “Format”.
3. A window will then open showing the disk formatting settings. Here you need to select a file system, specify the disk name and enable the quick format function.

It is better to choose the NTFS file system. FAT has a large number of restrictions, and when modern conditions it has become frankly outdated. Using the Quick Format feature will create a clean file system without physically deleting files from the external drive.

When you disable the Quick Format feature, this process may last several hours. The volume label is optionally set. After setting the required parameters, you need to click on the “Start” button. Then a window opens with a warning about deleting all existing data on the disk being formatted. Once the formatting process is complete, the external drive will open again and be available for use.

Formatting via the command line

You can format your external hard drive using the command line. To do this, connect the disk and launch the Windows command line.

Disks are formatted using the FORMAT command. To search for all parameters that accepts this command, just enter “FORMAT /?”.

To format an external hard drive, you must execute the FORMAT command with the following parameters:

1. /Q – enables the quick formatting function.
2. /V:MyDisk – indicates the name of the disk. You can use any other name instead of MyDisk.
3. /FS:NTFS – formatting using the NTFS file system.

To format an external hard drive, you can use this summary command: FORMAT X: /FS:NTFS /V:MyDisk /Q. Here the letter X represents the name of the external drive being used. When formatting using the command line, it is important not to mix up the drives.

There are no additional warnings displayed during the disk formatting process using the command line, so you need to be careful.

Formatting via Disk Management

Windows OS has handy tool, which is called "Disk Management". Its functions include formatting disks, creating and deleting partitions, as well as performing other operations. To access this instrument you need to open the “Run” menu and enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”.

After opening the window, the following steps are performed to format the external hard drive:

1. Search for an external hard drive and open its context menu (right mouse button).
2. Choice in context menu"Format" item.
3. The user is shown a warning about deleting all data from this disk. To start formatting, click on the “Yes” button.

External hard disks very convenient and useful devices. If a situation arises when the external hard drive does not open and asks for formatting, then you can solve the problem yourself. Just follow the instructions given above in the article. To prevent incidents of information loss, you can copy important data to other storage media.

Do I need to format my external drive?

Users ask questions about formatting flash drives. I also had a question about formatting external hard drives. So far I have only used SSD drives. When you connect them (the first time), the system installs the necessary software and that’s it, then they work normally. There was no question about formatting. Does this mean that these drives are not formatted (or are not formatted)? And is it necessary (or desirable) to format them? And what actions need to be taken for this? How is it going with HDD drives? And one more question, in what cases do you need to format optical disks?

Paul12-16 | December 20, 2016, 20:42
Depends on how exactly you will use this particular drive. Usually, external drives supplied formatted, with the NTFS file system different versions. In principle, this is the most universal file system at the moment if you use this disk with computers on Windows systems. If you are satisfied that the entire disk is divided into one volume, then you can do nothing.

In case you want to have 2 or more volumes (read - logical drives), then you will have to break this disk using some program, such as or .

Alek55sandr5 | March 21, 2016, 03:57
If, when connecting a disk, it needs to be formatted, the OS itself will inform you about this. This usually occurs when you try to access a disk. If the disk works fine without formatting, then it does not need to be formatted. By the way, formatting destroys all data on the disk. In order to format the disk, go to "My Computer" and then right-click on to the desired disk. Then select "Format" and then "Start". On account optical disks, then they are not formatted, but erased if they are rewritable.

Samovar | 8 March 2013, 13:15
They are all formatted when you buy them. Only the file system may be different. Format it yourself and choose a file file NTFS system. Just keep in mind that when Windows prompts you to select the size of sectors in clusters, select minimum size, if disk space is important to you, that is, the number of files that can fit on it, or choose maximum size, if speed of information processing is important to you. But in this case, when writing files, many sectors will remain empty. I could be very wrong, but it seems that with 30 gigabytes recorded, 2 GB will be unavailable for recording.
Flash drives are sold with the FAT32 file system and there is no need to change it, because, for example, my Samsung MX-D630D does not see the NTFS file system. DVDs need to be formatted when you want to use them. using Windows to write anything on them, because staff program may malfunction and mistake a DVD for a CD, and write no more than 700 MB of information onto a disc with a capacity of 4.37 GB. If you use programs like