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If you need to completely format HDD and return the computer settings to their original settings, you need to perform a number of actions. Usually you need to reset the BIOS settings and perform several operations on the hard drive.
You will need
- - Partition Manager.
Instructions
You will need
- Installation disk with operating system.
Instructions
After formatting, you can install the operating system. How to format a computer - printable version
Formatting a Windows operating system hard drive
Let's look at something so interesting and not for everyone clear question - formatting the hard drive. Why is it needed and how to do it?
So what is formatting? Someone may answer that this is deleting all files from the hard drive (hard drive). Roughly speaking, this is true, but it is not only the removal of all information.
In general, formatting is the fundamental technical process of preparing a hard drive for operation. Moreover, the very beginning can be done only with the help of special equipment.
There are 2 main types of hard drive formatting:
- Physical
- Boolean
Physical formatting of the hard drive (low-level) is the process of dividing a new hard drive into tracks, sectors and other important technical features for its subsequent delivery for sale.
This initial preparation of the hard drive is carried out exclusively at the manufacturer’s factory, using special equipment. You cannot do it yourself or at home, because this requires special factory equipment.
At home, you can only perform software formatting of the hard drive. Although many who have encountered this issue have seen Internet programs that supposedly offer to do it are not true; you cannot do it at home, as mentioned above.
Logical (high level)- this is already quite feasible formatting at home.
In its process, boot records, sectors, the file system structure are created, that is, everything that is essential for the normal operation of the hard drive in computer.
It often happens that you need to format a new hard drive, let's describe the path it takes to begin full operation:
- Low-level formatting - carried out at the manufacturer. Then sent for sale.
- Division into sections. After the hard drive falls into our hands, we need to create partitions on it. This is necessary for proper operation operating system and subsequent safety of personal data. Usually they create 3 partitions - local drives C, D, E. You can read more about this issue in the article how to partition a hard drive.
- High level formatting. And now the final stage before installing the operating system (OS), this step is performed. This is what we all usually do when we need to format either a hard drive, a local disk before installing the OS, or a flash drive.
It comes in two types:
- Fast
- Complete
If we choose fast, we get only superficial updates, that is, file tables are quickly updated. Moreover, all the files are still stored in place, although invisible. They are not visible due to the updated file table.
In this case and recover data the easiest way and with almost 100% probability. It’s just extremely important to remember that if you plan to restore this information, you shouldn’t write anything down here.
Because new information will simply overwrite old files. If we perform a full format, then a whole range of measures are taken to clean and update the hard drive.
What is also very important is that at this moment all cells of the formatted partition are diagnosed for operability. If faulty ones are detected, they are marked as unusable and are not used by the operating system during subsequent operation.
Now let's see how you can format a hard drive or one of its partitions. In general, it can be produced:
- In the OS itself
Let's look at the second, easiest way
First, go to “My Computer”. There we usually see local drives C, D, E, although there may be fewer or more of them.
Select the disk that you want to format and right-click on it. A menu for working with this section will appear. Find “format” there and click on it:
Next, the settings menu will appear, in it we leave everything as it is, the only thing left to decide is whether we do quick or full formatting. What is their difference can be seen above. Once you have made your choice, click “start”.
A window about preventing data loss will appear; if you are confident in your actions, then we agree and the process will start. If you need to format the entire hard drive, this can only be done if you connect it to another computer or when installing/reinstalling the OS.
In general, that’s all, additional information on this topic can be read in the article how to format a flash drive. We looked at the issue of formatting the hard drive. What is this process? What types is it divided into and how to produce it.
It is usually recommended to format the hard drive before directly using any computer equipment. This procedure must be followed by every PC owner. Due to the special quality and capacity inherent in modern hard drives, they can be freely used throughout the entire period of use, without resorting to additional reformatting.
Why formatting is required
IN in some cases and with the flow certain period time, it is necessary to format the hard drive (hard drive), as this allows you to easily update it. Due to the fact that the Windows operating system sometimes becomes clogged, that is, it contains irrelevant, old files on the disk that are not used by current programs, formatting will be very useful. It will help get rid of such files that occupy a certain amount of memory space and can have a negative effect on system productivity.
For their convenience, PC owners periodically install and remove the applications they need from their computer. As a consequence of this, a file dump arises and grows rapidly, causing serious problems: each application, having become part of the OS, affects the configuration of the entire environment. The solution to effectively solve this problem in the most optimal way is to format the HDD (hard drive) after certain periods of time and reinstall the operating system.
Despite the radical nature of this method, it is the most effective, because it destroys not only useless files, but also malware and viruses. For this reason, it is recommended that before formatting the hard drive, rewrite the main data to some other media so as not to lose it.
It is worth noting that when formatting in sectors of hard service labels are created on the disk, which are necessary for searching for data and working with it correctly (reading, writing, deleting). In addition to this procedure, formatting creates service information intended for the file system. Due to the fact that unpartitioned disks are useless for use, formatting acts as a priority operation to prepare a new “untested” disk for successful operation.
Thus, to reduce the risk of losing important data in the uncertain future, formatting will help achieve:
- guaranteed fast cleaning of the hard drive;
- effectively detecting the presence of badblocks (damaged disk sectors);
- high-quality monitoring of all kinds of defective areas.
Quick or regular formatting: process analysis
The user has two types of formatting according to the capabilities of the Windows OS - quick (Quick Format) or normal (Format). The uninitiated user will see the difference in them only in the time spent on performing each of these processes. But besides the visible factor, there is a more significant difference.
Quick formatting – special method disk cleaning, which allows you to create a table of files without overwriting it, as well as deleting information on the hard drive. In terms of time, quick formatting occurs faster than regular formatting. As such, a quick format simply resets the file table: important information data can be restored - it is not destroyed. This method is appropriate when the user is confident that there are no damaged segments and the hard drive has not been previously formatted.
When resorting to conventional formatting, the PC owner always completely empties the disk of files and checks it for the possibility of incorrect, damaged segments. It is precisely the verification time that stretches, affecting the total duration of the entire process.
High-level formatting was discussed above, but practice shows that the understanding of the term low-level formatting is no less popular. When performing such an operation, special markings are applied to the disk plane, which are necessary for standard operation of the drive. This also allows you not only to save data and have open access to it, but also to ensure the correct operation of the internal circuits of the drive, in addition to hiding existing mechanical surface defects.
Can data be restored after formatting is complete?
Low-level formatting does not provide for the possibility of restoring previous information.
High-level formatting, in turn, gives significant chances to partially restore erased data. This is explained by the fact that at the time of formatting, new logical structures arise with selective overwriting of data.
Formatting Options: Practical Tour
It will be better to format a hard drive yourself if you move from theory to practice. Let's look at several methods, moving from the simple and most understandable to the more complex.
Formatting options:
- The simplest formatting method: open “My Computer”, right-click on the required type of formatting, select “Format” in the menu that appears and select the “Start” button.
- A special path in Windows: Open “Start” and go to the “Control Panel” to the “Administrative Tools” file, select “Computer Management”, and then “Disk Management”. We find the required disk and, to format it, perform the operations presented in the simple procedure.
Important: There may be slight differences in the path depending on the version of Windows.
- Command line: by pressing “WIN + R” and in the window that pops up, writing CMD followed by pressing ENTER, open the command line.
- There we write: format d: or format c: to start the process relative to the drive D:\ or C:\. After entering, by pressing ENTER you will see on the display: “ATTENTION, ALL DATA ON THE FIXED DISK WITH: WILL BE DESTROYED! Should I start formatting?
When ready to delete data, select Y and press ENTER. - When there is removable media with the operating system installation file. Those who have the installation disk and are familiar with Windows installation, probably know when it’s best to format disks. Perhaps this approach is used by few people only for formatting. However, it is very convenient if after the procedure the user plans to reinstall Windows.
“How can you format an HDD without uninstalling Windows” or “how to format an HDD under Windows” are very popular queries in search engines that remain unanswered. In this article we will figure out why there is practically no information on this topic on the Internet, and we will take a closer look at the problem.
What is formatting
To format a hard drive means to form a new file system on it, which means cleaning main table placement of MFT files. MFT is a database of files stored on disk, made in the form of a table, the rows of which are represented by file names, and the columns are their attributes. Attributes are metadata that describes the file. These include the date and time the file was created/modified, its storage directory, and access rights.
Considering the above, we can come to the conclusion that it is impossible to format a computer on which one HDD is installed. At least without resorting to tricks.
Who hasn't realized yet when special program or Windows starts formatting the hard drive, they delete the main file table. Due to this, access to all files using the standard method becomes impossible, and the space occupied by them is marked as free. If you try to format your computer using Windows, the operating system will display the information message below, because the files it uses are located on the first partition of this disk.
Let's be smart
Above we mentioned a certain trick, thanks to which you can format your computer while maintaining Windows functionality. Formatting a PC means cleaning a single hard drive.
If the computer has only one magnetic storage device, for some reason you want to format it but keep Windows with programs and settings, we will need a few things:
- Bootable USB flash drive with Acronis True Image;
- external hard drive or the ability to upload images to the cloud.
If user data is also located on the HDD, it will have to be uploaded to the cloud or copied to another medium.
Let's get started
- We restart the computer and boot from the flash drive, be it bootable media with True Image or WinPE with this program included.
- In the main window, click on the button icons as shown in the screenshot to open the window for creating a new copy of the disk.
- Select the source type.
- We indicate the target disk that we will format, making sure to select the space reserved by the system.
If all the information has been transferred to another medium, uploaded to the cloud, or is not valuable, select only the system volume.
- We decide on the storage location for the image. What’s noteworthy is that the program allows you to save it in the cloud or transfer it via local network, which is what we need.
- Click “Create Now”.
- We are waiting for the finish.
Keep in mind that when transferring an image, which can occupy a couple of tens of GB, it will take a lot of time to the cloud service, in contrast to saving it to a computer on the same local network or to a portable HDD.
- We boot from the flash drive and run the program that allows you to format the computer.
A tool that can format hard drives can be DOS, WinPE, Acronis DiskDirector, Partition Manager or another specialized utility.
- Again, boot from a flash drive with Acronis or WinPE and launch True Image.
- Select “Backup” and our copy of the hard drive or its system partition. Click “Restore disks” that you were able to format in step 8.
