What is the best way to format a hard drive? Full formatting or quick formatting? Formatting methods. Formatting your hard drive when installing Windows

Hello.

Almost every user sooner or later is faced with reinstalling Windows (viruses, system errors, buying a new disk, switching to new equipment, etc.). Before installing Windows, the hard drive must be formatted (modern Windows 7, 8, 10 operating systems offer to do this right during the installation process, but sometimes this method does not work...).

In this article I will show you how to format a hard drive in the classic way via BIOS (when installing Windows OS), and an alternative option - using an emergency flash drive.

1) How to create an installation (bootable) USB flash drive with Windows 7, 8, 10

In most cases, the HDD hard drive (and SSD too) is easily and quickly formatted during the Windows installation stage (you just need to go to the advanced options during installation, as will be shown later in the article). This is where I propose to start this article.

In general, you can create both a bootable USB flash drive and a bootable DVD (for example). But since DVD drives have been rapidly losing popularity lately (some PCs don’t have them at all, and some laptops install another disc instead), I’ll focus on a flash drive...

What you need to create a bootable USB flash drive:

• bootable ISO image with the desired Windows OS ( where can I get it? Probably no need to explain? 🙂);
• The bootable flash drive itself, at least 4-8 GB (depending on the OS you want to write to it);
• Rufus program (office site) with which you can easily and quickly write an image to a flash drive.

The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive:

• First, launch the Rufus utility and insert the flash drive into the USB port;
• then in Rufus, select the connected flash drive;
• specify the partition scheme (in most cases, it is recommended to set MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI. You can find out the difference between MBR and GPT here:);
• then select the file system (NTFS recommended);
• The next important point is choosing an ISO image with the OS (specify the image you want to burn);
• in fact, the last step is to start recording, the “Start” button (see the screenshot below, all the settings are indicated there).

Options for creating a bootable USB flash drive in Rufus.

After 5-10 minutes (if everything is done correctly, the flash drive is working and no errors occurred), the bootable flash drive will be ready. We can move on...

2) How to configure the BIOS to boot from a flash drive

In order for the computer to “see” a flash drive inserted into the USB port and be able to boot from it, you must correctly configure the BIOS (BIOS or UEFI). Despite the fact that everything in Bios is in English, setting it up is not that difficult. Let's go in order.

1. To set the appropriate settings in the BIOS, you must first enter it. Depending on the manufacturer of your device, the login buttons may be different. Most often, after turning on the computer (laptop), you need to press the button several times DEL(or F2). In some cases, the button is written directly on the monitor on the first loading screen. Below is a link to an article that will help you enter Bios.

How to enter Bios (buttons and instructions for different device manufacturers) -

2. Depending on the BIOS version, the settings can be very different (and, unfortunately, there is no universal recipe for how to configure the BIOS to boot from a flash drive).

But generally speaking, the settings from different manufacturers are very similar. Need to:

• find the Boot section (in some cases Advanced);
• first turn off Secure Boot (if you created the flash drive as described in the previous step);
• then configure the boot priority (for example, in Dell laptops this is all done in the Boot section): in first place you need to put the USB Strarage Device (i.e. bootable USB device, see screenshot below);
• then press the F10 button to save the settings and restart the laptop.

Setting up BIOS to boot from a USB flash drive (using a Dell laptop as an example).

For those whose Bios is slightly different from the one shown above, I suggest the following article:

• BIOS setup for booting from flash drives:

3) How to format a hard drive with Windows Installer

If you correctly burned the bootable USB flash drive and configured the BIOS, then after restarting the computer the Windows welcome window will appear (which always pops up before the installation starts, as in the screenshot below). When you see this window, just click next.

Start installing Windows 7

Then, when you reach the installation type selection window (screenshot below), select the option complete installation(i.e. with setting additional parameters).

Next, you can actually format the disk. The screenshot below shows an unformatted disk that does not yet have a single partition. Everything is simple with it: you need to click the “Create” button, and then continue the installation.

If you want to format the disk: just select the desired partition, then click the “Format” button ( Attention! The operation will destroy all data on the hard drive).

Note. If you have a large hard drive, such as 500 GB or more, it is recommended to create 2 (or more) partitions on it. One partition for Windows OS and all programs that you will install (50-150 GB recommended), the rest of the disk space for another partition (partitions) - for files and documents. This makes it much easier to restore the system in the event, for example, that Windows refuses to boot - you can simply reinstall the OS on the system disk (and the files and documents will remain untouched, since they will be on other partitions).

In general, if your disk is formatted through the Windows Installer, then the task of the article is completed, and below will be a method of what to do if you can’t format the disk this way...

4) Formatting the disk via

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition

A program for working with drives with IDE, SATA and SCSI, USB interfaces. It is a free analogue of the popular programs Partition Magic and Acronis Disk Director. The program allows you to create, delete, merge (without losing data) and format hard drive partitions. In addition, in the program you can create a bootable emergency flash drive (or CD/DVD disk), after booting from which you can also create partitions and format the disk (i.e., it will be very helpful in cases where the main OS does not boot). All major Windows operating systems are supported: XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive in AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition

The whole process is very simple and understandable (especially since the program fully supports the Russian language).

1. First, insert the flash drive into the USB port and launch the program.

After 3-5 minutes, the wizard will finish its work and you can insert the USB flash drive into the PC on which you plan to format the disk and reboot (turn on) it.

Note. The principle of working with the program when you are using an emergency flash drive, which we took a step above, is similar. Those. all operations are done in the same way as if you had installed the program on your Windows OS and decided to format the disk. Therefore, I think there is no point in describing the formatting process itself (right mouse button on the desired disk and select the one you are looking for in the drop-down menu...)? (screenshot below) :)

Formatting a hard drive partition

This is where I end today. Good Luck!

When working on a personal computer, not only the information that we need is not always recorded, but also a lot of unnecessary or temporary information. During operation, failures may occur in system and simple programs, which very often corrupt or create unnecessary files on the disk. At the same time, disk space very quickly becomes clogged with unnecessary information, and it is not always possible to clean it.

You cannot simply delete system files or files related to programs running on your computer. To do this, you need to use special programs or format the disk.

The question arises: how to format the system hard drive. The procedure is not complicated and will not take much time. It can be done by running a standard program in the system itself or using additional software.

How to format a system disk using a third-party bootloader

• The source for downloading can be an external disk with an operating system installed on it, a boot floppy disk, a boot or installation DVD, a CD disk or a flash drive with the necessary software.
• By booting from an external drive, we can easily clear information we don’t need using standard operating system tools. These tools include: Removing and formatting the disk. The only difference is that after deletion it is possible to restore information, but after formatting it is not.
• When you launch the boot disk for reinstallation, you will be asked to format the disk before installing the new operating system on it.

How to clean up your system disk using other programs

For this there are programs Acronis, Partition Magic... You download them from the Internet, install them and then use them to perform the actions you need. You can enter F8 safe mode at boot and in this mode you can also delete unnecessary files.

Next way:

• Go to Start/Run and enter cmd in the line that appears
• The program switched to command line mode
• DriveName:\Windows>format DriveName:
• The entire line will look like this: format:drive_name:\Windows>format drive_name:
• We confirm the command line and after the system warning
• Formatting has started

Formatting a system disk is a very dangerous action and therefore must be approached very seriously and carefully. Before this action, you need to transfer all the necessary information to another place (to another disk or flash drive) and only then start working. It is advisable to write down all the settings on a piece of paper so that you can set them later.

Formatting a hard drive is a software process of applying marks to elements of the magnetic platter memory area and creating a new file structure of the media. Without labels and file system structure, a hard drive is a useless device; you cannot write information to it due to the physical and software features of the processes of recording, storing and reading information.

Physically, nothing happens to it when formatting a hard drive, but at the software level, its logical structure is organized on the media - a certain order necessary for recording, storing, editing and deleting data. Otherwise, the logical structure of the disk is called a file system. Depending on the selected file system, the speed of access to information, the maximum length of a file name, the number of files in one directory, the efficiency of the drive, search methods, recording information, etc. will differ.

Formatting a hard drive is divided into two types. These are low-level and high-level formatting.

Low-level formatting is a process by which special electronic marks called servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface of the polished platters of your HDD. They contain service information about the positioning of the read heads and the position of sectors and tracks of the disk, which determine the physical format of the drive. This procedure is performed on special factory equipment, since before this the media does not contain any information about the sectors and tracks of the plate(s), due to the absence of which, working with the media is impossible. Due to the coefficient of volumetric expansion of the materials (as many know from school physics lessons) from which HDD platters were made in the past and the stepper motors that control the positioning of the heads, sectors and tracks were displaced relative to the read heads. Thus, when, according to the controller, the head was in the desired sector, it could physically be on the adjacent track. Because of this, the hard drive malfunctioned and bad (inoperative) sectors appeared (if the controller thinks that the head is in the first sector, but in reality it is positioned, for example, above the 5th, then the first four sectors are inaccessible to it). Such hard drives required repeated low-level formatting throughout their entire service life, which required the complete and repeated destruction of all data on the hard disk platter(s).

In new HDDs, this problem was solved by using a voice coil in the read head mechanism, due to which the influence of thermal expansion was compensated by recalibrating the operating parameters of the disk heads (to put it simply, everything was solved at the software level by simple redirection).

Low-level formatting is necessary to solve several problems and is performed in such cases:

• at the manufacturing facility to create the physical structure of the manufactured hard drive before testing and delivery to the end user;
• on old hard drives to reset the file system (due to the coefficient of linear expansion of materials when heated during long-term operation of the HDD, the head moves slightly in relation to the formed grid of tracks and sectors);
• complete, reliable and irrevocable erasure of all information stored on the hard drive, for example, before selling your own computer or the hard drive itself.

High-level HDD formatting is the process of forming the file structure of a hard drive, which consists of creating a master boot record, a file table, a file system structure and, depending on the formatting option, checking the surface of the hard drive platters for damaged sectors and then replacing or deactivating them. High-level formatting prepares the hard drive for use by the operating system to store data on it.

High-level formatting is divided into two types: quick and full. During the fast process, the file table is updated, which stores file names and paths to them, attributes, etc. After this, its new structure is formed, and a master boot record of the disk or its logical partition is created. Upon completion of the process, the operating system will recognize the hard or logical drive as clean, although physically all the information on it will remain intact, with the exception of the file table - all data in it will be marked as non-existent and will be overwritten with new bits of information during operation.

Full formatting is a procedure for clearing the file table, as during quick formatting, but with subsequent rewriting of each sector with zero bits of information. Also, during full formatting, all sectors of the hard drive will be checked for functionality. If a bad sector is detected, it will be replaced with a functional one that is in reserve, or simply excluded, as a result of which the usable volume of the HDD will slightly decrease.

High-level formatting of hard drives and their partitions must be performed in the following cases:

• during reinstallation of the operating system to reset all data located on them and form a new disk structure;
• when dividing the drive into logical drives;
• for high-quality testing of magnetic plates for the presence of damaged sectors;
• immediately after low-level formatting to form the file structure of the disk by the manufacturer or user (mandatory procedure);
• deleting all information on the hard drive.

2. Formatting a non-system hard drive

Any operating system of the Windows family is located on a disk or partition thereof, which is designated as system. It contains the master boot record and Windows system files, thanks to which the software interacts with the hardware. There may be several such partitions, but, as a rule, the user has one operating system installed, which implies the presence of a single system partition. All other partitions and hard drives connected to the computer are not system drives. The second and subsequent hard drives are non-system, so the procedure for formatting them is no different from formatting removable USB drives.

Let's consider methods for forming the file structure of non-system hard drives using tools built into the operating system and using third-party software products designed to work with hard drives.

2.1. Formatting using BIOS

One way to format a hard drive is to use a bootable flash drive or CD with an installation distribution of the Windows operating system, the so-called LiveCD or bootable media with one of the programs for formatting storage media. There are versions of programs, such as AcronisDiskDirector, that can boot directly from a flash drive, which means they work without an operating system. The latest versions of Acronis have a bootable media creation wizard. Such a flash drive will allow the AcronisDiskDirector program to boot from the BIOS and format the hard drive.

In addition to third-party programs, formatting a hard drive with BIOS can be done by booting from the installation disk with the Windows distribution using the command line or the operating system installer. All these options will be discussed in more detail below.

2.2. Formatting using Windows

The Windows operating system contains all the tools necessary to format hard drives. In this section, we will consider all the methods to format a hard drive using the tools provided by the Windows operating system.

2.2.1. Through properties

The simplest way to prepare a hard drive for work, clear it of unnecessary information and form a new system is to format it through the context menu.

2.2.2. Through “Creating and formatting hard disk partitions”

The second method to format a hard drive using the Windows operating system tools is the Disk Management snap-in, located in the Computer Management system console.

“Disk Management” is a Windows system service designed to manage flash drives, hard drives and their partitions. This program allows you to format hard drives connected to your computer in one of three file systems and create new partitions on them. Almost all actions are performed without rebooting the operating system, which will not distract the user from his main work.

You can start Disk Management using one of the following methods.

Via the Start menu

Via "My Computer"

Via "Control Panel"

We have launched the Computer Management service. Next, you need to go to its subsection called “Disk Management”, which, in turn, is located in the “Storage Devices” section.

During formatting, you will not see any windows with the progress of the operation, except for the inscription “Formatting” in the “Status” line (see screenshot).

Our hard drive is formatted in the selected file system and is ready for further use. You will be notified of this by a dialog box and a system signal.

2.2.3. Command line

In addition to formatting hard drives through graphical interfaces, the operating system, since the days of console MS-DOS, allows the formation of a new file system of the hard drive with the deletion of all files and, with full formatting, checking its surface for integrity, using system commands entered into the command line console, also called the Windows command interpreter.

The command line allows the user to interact with the computer directly, without any intermediaries in the form of third-party software. It is a window for entering text commands understandable to the operating system with many parameters for direct control of the operating system or computer hardware. Naturally, using the command line, you can quickly format the hard drive. To do this, launch the system console using any of the listed methods or a more convenient method for you.

Through the Run window

Via the Start menu

Using Windows Explorer

The command line is launched by calling the file “cmd.exe” located in the “System32” folder of the system directory of the Windows operating system. To launch the command line, you can go to c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe or use the shortcut to launch the command interpreter.

Having launched the command line, we will see a black window on the screen where you can enter text commands that are understandable for the Windows operating system, starting with its first versions.

If you did not enter a label, the operating system will ask you to enter it before formatting or leave the hard drive without a name by pressing “Enter” (see screenshot).

The process of formatting a hard drive, depending on the specified parameters and storage capacity, can last from several seconds to several tens of minutes. Formatting is accompanied by the inscription: “Creating file system structures.”

At the end of the process, the console window will display the message: “Format completed” and the results of the operation will appear.

Now our hard drive is formatted using the system console and is ready for further use.

2.3 Formatting a disk using the HDD Low Level Format Tool

The HDD Low Level Format Tool utility, or HDDLLFT for short, is designed for low-level formatting of hard drives and digital storage media based on memory chips. It copes with the task perfectly even in cases where the magnetic surface of the plate is severely damaged.

Carrying out the procedure for formatting a hard drive through the utility does not require any special user knowledge.

Keep in mind that in the free version of the HDD Low Level Format Tool, the formatting speed is limited to 50 Mb/s, which, with significant volumes of modern hard drives, during a full format and checking the drive for bad sectors, can result in several hours of work. The second drawback of the program is the inability to specify the cluster size.

3. Formatting the system hard drive

A system hard drive is, as a rule, a high-speed (with a platter rotation speed of 10,000 rpm, although it can be with a standard 7200 rpm) hard drive on which the operating system is installed. Based on this, it will not be possible to format it using Windows. Formatting a system hard drive is carried out using a different method, the essence of which is no different from forming a new file system for a regular hard drive. The only difference is that the utility for creating a new file system will have to be launched from the installation disk or flash drive.

3.1. Formatting using a bootable USB flash drive or disk

3.1.1. Through the Windows operating system installer

One of the most common methods to format a hard drive used as a system drive is to use removable media or a CD and a Windows OS installation distribution.

We will not consider how to create bootable media; many articles have been written on this subject on the Russian-language segment of the Internet. Let's get straight to the point.

1. We insert the bootable flash drive into the USB socket of your computer or laptop (or the CD into its drive).
2. Reboot or turn on the computer.

Immediately after loading the basic I/O system and initializing it and testing the equipment, we begin to click on the quick selection key for boot media.

This key can be "F9" or "F11" (see the manual for your motherboard or laptop for instructions), and this data is also displayed during BIOS boot.

3. We select our media as the device to which control of the system will be transferred (in our case, it is a 4 GB USB flash drive for booting from UEFI).
   

When a similar black screen with an inscription appears, press any button on the keyboard.




Information will be read from the bootloader program to which the BIOS has transferred control.

4. Depending on the build of Windows, we select the operating system installation option (with a different bootloader interface, using third-party assemblies, the essence of the process will remain the same).
5. Select the installation language. Naturally, it will be Russian, as will the keyboard layout, time format, etc.

In the next window, simply click “Install ->”.




We accept the terms of use of the operating system, preferably after reading them.




We stop at the second option so that we can get into the hard drive settings menu.

6. Click “Full installation...”.
   

Using the keyboard and mouse, select the required hard drive if there are several of them connected to the computer, and click “Disk Setup”.




The toolbar will change slightly.

Click on the “Format” button.




A standard window will appear warning that all files and programs on the disk will be destroyed.

7. Click “Ok” to confirm your intentions.
   

After clearing the table of contents, the hard drive will be formatted and ready to install the operating system.

This method is reasonable to use in cases where the Windows operating system cannot format the hard drive, for example, because it is used by some application or is a system partition.

3.1.2. Formatting the system hard drive via the command line by booting from the installation disk/flash drive

Another simple option to format the disk on which the operating system is located is to use the command line by booting from a disk or flash drive with installation files for the Windows operating system.

3.2. Acronis Disk Director

1. To launch the bootable media creation wizard, go to the “Backup and Restore” tab on the program control panel, which is designed in a ribbon style, like Microsoft Office, starting with the 2007 edition.
2. Click on the “Create bootable media” item.
   
3. Depending on the version of the program, a window may appear asking you to select the type of boot media. It is recommended to select a bootloader based on Windows PE. Click “Next”.
   

We select the necessary components on the basis of which the wizard will create a bootable USB flash drive.

To format a hard drive, the AcronisDiskDirector program is sufficient. If you want to have a tool for creating backup copies of partitions, also select AcronisTrueImage.




4. Select the type of Acronis bootable media to be created.

   
   
5. Then we confirm our intentions to write the program files to the flash drive, having first destroyed all the files on it, and wait for the end of the writing process.

6. We boot from the created drive.

   To do this, restart the computer and select our flash drive as boot media. This is done by changing the priority in the list of boot devices (the “Boot” menu item) in your BIOS or by using the boot device selection hotkey.

   
   

   In most cases, during the initialization procedure, which occurs before loading the operating system, you must press the F11, F9 or other key to bring up the boot menu. In it, select the USB drive and click “Enter”.

   
   

7. We are waiting for the program to load.

   Typically, this procedure takes little longer than loading Acronis Disk Director in Windows.

8. We select our hard drive and call the formatting procedure using any method:
   
9. In the dialog box that appears, select the hard drive formatting options:
   • file system – it is recommended to use NTFS, due to support for files larger than 4 GB, which is not available for FAT and FAT32;
   • Leave the cluster size at “Auto” if you have no idea what this value is. However, to store a huge number of small files, it is recommended to select a cluster size of less than 4 KB;
   • volume label – enter the name of the hard drive or leave the field blank.

Having set all the parameters, we turn our attention to the toolbar located at the top of the screen. Click on the button labeled “Apply pending operations (1)”.




After a short loading of the list of operations, a small window will appear with their detailed description and parameters.



10. If you are confident in the actions you are performing, check the correctness of the specified parameters and click on the “Continue” button.

After a few seconds of fixing the operation, the hard drive formatting procedure will start.

Be careful, the program will not display a warning window asking you to confirm the operation and will not notify you that all data on the hard drive has been destroyed.

Formatting will occur within a few seconds, since the utility uses a quick formatting algorithm. At the end of the procedure, the window will close automatically, and the hard drive with a cleared file table and a new file system will be ready for further use.

3.3. Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager is the most powerful free software product for working with hard drives. Naturally, you can use it to format any hard drive or partition. In addition, the utility can work with backups, change and create logical partitions, install several operating systems on a disk, and so on.

1. Load the LiveCD or installation distribution of the Windows operating system, which includes the Paragon Partition Manager program.
2. We write the image to removable media and boot from it, specifying the highest boot priority from a flash drive in the BIOS or selecting the drive with the Paragon Partition Manager distribution as the boot device.
3. We select our program using the mouse cursor or cursor keys and the “Enter” button, depending on the graphical menu and the bootloader used to create the LiveCD.
4. The main menu of the utility will appear, where we select “Partition Manager” in the list on the left, and then in its right frame.
   

5. In the next window, in the list of your hard drives, select the one you want to format.

   This can be done both in the “Disk Panel” tab and in the lower frame called “Partition List”.

   
   
6. Call up the context menu of the magnetic drive and select the “Format” command in it, which is located in one of the first places.
   
7. Specify the file system and the new hard drive label.
   
8. Click “Advanced options” if you want to change the number of sectors in one cluster. You can also specify here whether to perform formatting using the built-in Windows “format” command, which we became familiar with when formatting a disk from the Shell, or use the developers’ own algorithm.
   

9. Click "Format".

   The program will not ask for confirmation of the operation, but it will not start executing the command specified to it.

   To do this, click on the “Apply intended changes” button, which is located in the toolbar under the main menu.

   
   

   To view planned changes, use the magnifying glass button.

10. In the dialogue, we agree to make changes by clicking “Yes”.
    
11. We are waiting for a notification that the program has completed its operation.
    

The same is done through the main menu of the program.

4. Possible errors and ways to solve them

One of the many problems that users face when formatting a hard drive is the use of outdated software. This happens because the user has not updated the disk management program that he trusts for several years. Also, using queries like “download hacked acronis” often leads to the most popular sites, which have been at the top of search engines for many months and contain outdated versions of the software.

Make sure your hard drive software is up to date, especially if you are using one of the latest versions of Windows.

The second problem is an error when trying to format the disk being used, especially for system partitions. Also, some application can use the hard drive or its partition, even in read mode, while the user is trying to format it. The way out of this situation is to use bootable LiveCDs or media with a Windows distribution.

An error in the process of formatting a hard drive due to a huge number of damaged sectors occurs when trying to fully format a hard drive, the surface of which is replete with damaged memory cells. Run a HDD scan, for example, with the Victoria utility, with reassignment of damaged areas or their exclusion from the area used for storing information.

Nowadays, many modern PC users have no idea how often any program for formatting a hard drive has helped in the past. .

After all, hard drives had to be formatted regularly.

This is all due to the imperfection of software products - both those that were used for basic user purposes and those that were used to perform maintenance operations on installed systems.

Background

Another aspect of the need for the once frequent use of programs to format hard drives is problems with the hardware. Small media volume, frequent hardware errors and the like.

But oddly enough, over time, the need to format disks still remained, even with the advent of modern solid-state drives. At the same time, the formatting operation has ceased to be an everyday norm, and if it is necessary to format a hard drive, many users are at a loss as to how and in what way it can be done.

Fortunately, over time, both the quality of software products designed for formatting hard drives and their number have increased noticeably. And now the user is not limited to built-in system utilities, but has access not just to third-party software products, but to entire sets of software tools that allow you to perform not only formatting, but also several other useful operations, in particular, improving the condition of the hard drive and the lifespan its operation.

Some of these tools are classified as shareware, some come with a free license, and the rest are only available upon purchase. Each of them has its own advantages and we propose to consider several of the most commonly used and popular tools with sufficient functionality.

Paragon Partition Manager Free Edition

A program for formatting a hard drive called Paragon Partition Manager Free Edition stands out from other similar software products in its ability to perform operations on virtual storage media. In addition, for those who still cannot refuse to use Windows XP, it will provide the ability to support high-capacity disks of the order of 2 TB or more. But it also works on modern Windows 7 and 8 operating systems.

An additional advantage of this complex is its support for multi-boot management functions. This option will be useful for those who use several operating systems in test mode or simply require their parallel use.

The program interface is quite simple and understandable, and in some cases it is simply irreplaceable. An example of this is the function of merging partitions without losing data, which is especially important when formatting partitions. In this case, the user is given the opportunity to even convert partitions.

As for file systems, the number of them supported is quite large. They can be converted from one to another using this program, in particular, NTFS to HFS.

Among other functionality, there is copying and restoring disks, merging them, moving them and resizing them. And all this with a Russified shell.

Some may find the defragmentation function superfluous, but absolutely everyone will like protection against system failures and detection of bad sectors.

Rice. 1 – Paragon Partition Manager window fragment

EASEUS Partition Master

This program for formatting a hard drive has the advantage of having several versions with different functionality. Some of them are free, but the Home Edition and Master Free versions deserve special attention from ordinary users.

The program has excellent functionality, accessible through the Russian-language software shell. It can run under the Windows operating system family, in particular, versions 7, 8 and 10, both 32-bit and 64-bit, and some versions allow you to work through Linux.

The software product provides work with a wide range of heterogeneous drives, the most important of which are:

• HDDs;
• SSD solid state drives;
• USB flash drives;
• memory cards in various designs.

You can not only format them, but also create or change sections, for example, merging, deleting, copying and resizing.

The program has access to work with RAID arrays and provides user interaction with MBR and GPT. Some operations can be performed using built-in wizards, which greatly facilitates the user’s work.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that each version of the product has its own restrictions, in particular, on the maximum storage size. For example, in the Home Edition it is 8 TB, and in Master Free it is only 4 TB. The user is also advised to pay attention to the installation process, since unnecessary utilities can be installed along the way.

Rice. 2 – EASEUS Partition Master window fragment

Aomei Partition Assistant

A program for formatting a hard drive called Aomei Partition Assistant is a product that is distributed free of charge, but has decent functionality. It provides a number of functions that are not available in other free products and therefore belongs to a completely different class.

This software package, like the previous product, has a Russian-language shell and supports modern operating systems of the Windows and Linux families and, accordingly, file systems running under their control: FAT 12/16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3/4, exFAT/ReFS.

In parallel with work on physical media, the program also performs operations on virtual disks.

As for the special functionality, it is implemented in the form of access to disks invisible to other software. The program allows you to check them, test them and a number of other useful operations. All this against the backdrop of minimum system requirements, ranging from the processor version to the amount of available disk memory.

This software product is able to work even under such conditions when the device has 128 disks installed and the volume size is 16 TB. It is also one of the few products that can work with SSHD, flash drives and flash cards. Is it worth mentioning that it supports UEFI Boot, and all operations performed are performed without damaging user information, according to the creators?

Rice. 3 – Aomei Partition Assistant Window

MiniTool Partition Wizard

This program for formatting a hard drive is more modest, but much more popular, not only in the domestic space, but throughout the world. It is free and provides interaction under operating systems of the Windows family, including the latest versions of various bits, while also processing EXT disk partitions, as well as Linux Swap.

The software interface has a Russified shell and provides work with partitions with a capacity of more than 2 TB. It is quite simple and will be understandable even for a novice user. The functionality of the interface is quite wide and even includes the new-fangled migration from HDD to SSD.

The software product also performs a number of basic operations with disks and their partitions, including their cloning, creation and modification. An additional operation can be considered the conversion of FAT/FAT32 file systems to NTFS while maintaining the integrity of user data, which is complemented by the functionality of backing up stored information and a data recovery utility after failures. If desired, the user can test their disks by testing their performance.

Like some of the programs described above, this one can convert disks from MBR to GPT, and this is important when a frequently used system partition is worn out. In parallel with this, it is possible to assign active sections and interact with them.

Rice. 4 – MiniTool Partition Wizard Window

HDD Low Level Format Tool

This hard drive formatting program falls into a different category than the software tools discussed above. Therefore, it deserves special attention. This is not a large software package with wide functionality, but a small program that only has the ability to low-level formatting in its set of functions.

This option provides, with the given settings, the ability to restore the functionality of storage media. Moreover, this functionality applies to both hard drives and flash drives. The only problem for the user in this case is the complete destruction of the data on the media without the possibility of further recovery.

Unfortunately, there are no other operations that this product can perform with media.

Rice. 5 – HDD Low Level Format Tool window

Acronis Disk Director

This program for formatting a hard drive is also quite interesting. Its peculiarity is that it can be launched from any media. So, you can install it on a boot disk or flash drive and even without a full-fledged operating system be able to work with disk partitions.

This functionality is especially important in emergency situations, when it is more important for the user to restore the system’s functionality, and not just create an additional partition for more convenient storage of data or installation of a game. The program's functionality is suitable for working with disks running both Windows and Linux. However, this product has one significant drawback, which is noticeable when compared with the above programs - its cost.

In fact, this application belongs to the category of shareware products. After the specified trial period has expired, the user is offered two options - purchase a license or delete the software product. Therefore, it can be safely used and compared with other programs on a free basis, but for a limited period.

Otherwise, this is a full-fledged tool for working with disks and their partitions with wide functionality. It includes all the basic operations for working with partitions, including formatting, and also allows the PC owner to view the information stored on these partitions in a general way.

Rice. 6 – Acronis Disk Director window

Standard Windows OS Tools

When describing programs for formatting disks, one cannot fail to mention standard operating system tools that are available to users without downloading third-party software products. This can be done using the example of operating systems of the Windows family. A special feature of these systems is that they have several tools for working with hard drives and their partitions.

The first tool is quite simple and this utility is available to the user from the Explorer program. In order to use it, you can call up the context menu for the logical partition of the hard drive, and select “Format” from it. After this, a form will become available in which you can specify the desired parameters of the formatting operation.

This functionality will be available for all logical disk partitions, with the exception of the active system disk. In this case, you need to use a slightly different tool, accessible exclusively from the command line. Working with it requires special skills that are only available to experienced users.

Important! To have access to them, you need to have a boot disk, as well as settings in the BIOS that force the PC to boot from removable media, and not from the hard drive, in order to provide the functionality the system needs. This is provided by a small utility called diskpart. But its main problem is that the user does not receive high-quality visualization of the actions being performed, and any error in their execution can cost the functionality of the system.

This state of affairs forces users to resort to using third-party software products.

Rice. 7 – Formatting utility window

Formatting your hard drive before installing Windows

In the video I will show you how to format a hard drive. This may come in handy when you reinstall the Windows operating system.

How to format a new drive bought the day before or given as a gift from someone? If the hard drive has already been used before, it may already be formatted and you don’t need to take any action, you can immediately clutter it with your files; when you connect the hard drive, the operating system will assign a drive letter to it and you can work with it, but if you bought a new hard drive The disc is in a crisp package, then you can’t do without formatting.

How to format a new drive

So, friends, this article assumes that you already have one hard drive in your computer and the Windows 7 operating system is installed on it. But as usually happens, we didn’t have enough disk space and we purchased another 1 TB hard drive and also installed it into our system unit, then we turned on the computer and we don’t know what to do. Here's what you need to do. Let's go to Disk management.

Start, then right-click on Computer and select Management from the drop-down menu

Disk management

The Disk Management window opens and there is already one hard drive, designated by the system as Disk 0, capacity 500 GB (in Windows, hard drive numbers start from zero), it has three partitions (C:), (D:), (F :) and on (C:) the Windows 7 operating system is installed. Our new hard drive with a capacity of 1 TB is unallocated space. You may ask why the operating system did not fully identify a 1 TB hard drive, but how - Disk 1, capacity 940, 45 GB, this is written in great detail in our article ""

After initialization, in order to put our new hard drive into operation, we need to format it into the NTFS file system and assign it a drive letter, the result will be a New Volume. We will do this with you with the help Partition Wizards, right-click on the unallocated area of ​​Disk 1 and click Create a simple volume

In this window we need to specify the size of the volume to be created, I suggest leaving everything as the system suggests and creating one large volume. If you want to split your hard drive into several volumes, you can do this using this article: