Completely formatting a Hard drive

Format in Windows Explorer
First of all, click on the “Computer” icon on desktop to enter.

Then, users should select the drive they plan to format. Afterwards, right click on it and choose “Format…” from the pop-up menu to enter corresponding formatting window.

Here, users can set a file system for the drive waiting to be formatted. What’s more, they are able to change the allocation unit size (but we recommend users should keep the default value if there’s no special need). Also, they can choose to create a label for this drive or just skip this part. At last, users can click “Start” button to get formatting process begun.

A prompt window will appear at this time, warning users that the formatting operation will erase all data. If users are sure they want to format the drive, please click “OK” to continue. Then, at the end of formatting, users can close the window to put it to an end.

However, this method is only helpful when users want to reformat a drive which has already been formatted for data storage. If users need to create a new drive by using certain unallocated space and format it or initialize a new disk, they’d better using the following two ways.

2.Format in Windows Disk Management
Choose one way to open the Disk Management: click on the “Computer” icon on desktop and choose “Manage” option from pop-up menu; click on “Start” button in the lower left corner of desktop, find “Computer” option, right click on it and choose “Manage”. Now, choose “Disk Management” under “Storage”.

Then, right click on the unallocated space and choose “New Simple Volume…” to start. A “New Simple Volume Wizard” window will appear and users just need to click “Next” in each interface to continue. In this process, they can set volume size, drive letter, file system, allocation unit size and volume label. At last, click “Finish” and users will see the following interface which indicates the formatting has been completed.

Now, this drive created by using unallocated space can be used to store data. In fact, this method can also be applied to initialize the new disk for data storage. Besides, Disk Management tool can also help users format the drive which has already been put into use.

3.Format with Third-party Tool like Partition Wizard.