The second method is to find it in the Control Panel, if you search for the ‘Disk’ or look under the Administrative tools section, where it is called ‘Create and format Hard Disk partitions’. You should choose NTFS file system if it’s not already selected for Windows Vista, 7 or 8.ĭisk management tool can be open in two different ways one is to type diskmgmt.msc into the search box in Vista or Windows 7 and then click on only result that appears in the menu above with the same name. Within a minute your hard drive will be formatted. Generally, you can leave all the settings unchanged and carry on with the ‘Start Button’. Choose format from the menu and a new Window will appear with a few formatting options.īy default quick format option is checked, you can choose the file system and allocation unit size as well as changing the volume label (the drive’s name). Just go to Start Button > Computer > right click on the Hard Drive you want to wipe. Windows Vista, 7 and 8 have a built-in Disk management tool.

This can be useful in certain situations but what if you want to format the entire hard drive. Formatting or single partitions can be executed without affecting the other partition.

Hard drive data storage can be divided into smaller sections or parts which is called partitions. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that hard disk is not damaged.īefore formatting of hard drive partitions process is carried out, it is important to first understand about partitions. Quick format: If the quick format option is chosen, format process removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible to make you sure that your drive is in healthy mode or not. Regular format: When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. Formatting hard drive can be categorized into two types: Quick format and Regular format.

Formatting a disk means configuring the disk with a file system so that Windows can store information on the disk.įormatting a hard drive lead to the deletion of all hard drive data stored on it. Hard disks, which are the primary storage devices on your computer, need to be formatted before you use them. Modified: April 4th, 2016 ~ How To ~ 4 Minutes Reading

How to format my hard drive vista