Formatting the hard drive at a low level. Low-level formatting of a hard drive: what, why and how

First of all, you need to understand what formatting is. This is a process by which your drive is cleared of the information on it. It is most often used in cases where it is necessary to quickly empty the disk of its contents and write other data to it. Or before installing the operating system. How can such an operation be performed? There is a program for this: Before using it, take care of the safety of the necessary files and documents, copy them, for example, to an external drive.

Formatting using the Control Panel

The very first way to perform drive cleaning is to use the computer's own capabilities. To use them, you need to use the control panel of your device. In this section, select “Disk Management” and see all the available options: assign labels and names, create partitions, perform the formatting we need, etc.

We find the drive or partition we need, hover the mouse over it, right-click and select “format”. This option is convenient because we initially see all the drives connected to the computer, even those that are inactive and we will not see them in the Explorer window. Before starting the procedure, the window that appears allows you to make some settings. You can change the volume label, that is, the name of the selected drive, and select the file system type. You need to pay attention to the fact that these parameters have already been pre-configured and set, so you don’t need to touch them, except in cases where there is an exact purpose for the changes.

Next, the program for formatting the hard drive offers you to choose full formatting or quick formatting, which differ significantly from each other. If the first option deletes data as efficiently as possible, without the possibility of recovery, then with the second the disk will be recognized as empty, but if desired, information from it can be recovered. It is recommended to use it if you are confident that the media is fully functional.

Using the Explorer window

The method described above is not the only solution to the problem assigned to us. It is possible to format the disk even more quickly. To do this, it is quite enough to open “My Computer”, get to all active ones. Then select the one we need, right-click to open the menu and click on the “formatting” item.

Before us is another program for formatting a hard drive. Using the window that opens with additional settings, you can adjust various parameters of the operation. Please remember that the actual disk capacity is less than the data provided to us by the manufacturer. For example, a 2TB drive will actually have 1.81TB of available space.

How to format a system disk?

If there is an operating system on the disk, then it, of course, cannot erase itself, so other methods have to be used. Why do this? This procedure is performed if a new one is installed on the system disk with the current OS. To do this, insert the installation disk with the operating system into the computer/laptop. It will launch and prompt you to start the installation. All you have to do is follow the instructions for performing this operation.

First, of its two types, we select installation from scratch, ignoring the option of updating the system. On the hard drive you are using, you can create and delete logical partitions and perform accelerated formatting. Then we continue to install the OS or, after removing the disk, we continue working on the computer.

We looked at Windows OS version 7. In the Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems, all actions are similar. But if you are servicing the system drive, then it is preferable to use third-party ones called Live CD.

Free hard drive formatting program

To format any storage devices, including hard drives connected to the device, you can use the HDD Low Level Format Tool program. System utilities are, of course, a good thing, but high-quality cleaning is better done using third-party software. The above utility is small, convenient, and supports working with different interfaces, for example, SATA, IDE, USB, Fir, SCSI. We can service devices from the following manufacturers: Seagate, Maxtor, Fujitsu, Samsung, Quantum, Toshiba, IBM. Also works with flash cards.

What else is good about this program? hard drive is its main merit. It destroys absolutely all data that is recorded on the media, without skipping boot sectors with separated logical partitions. Please remember that deleted information cannot be recovered.

How does HDD Low Level Format Tool work?

Download the distribution, launch and install. This is done so simply that we will not dwell on it in detail. Then we read and choose: use the free version or pay an extra three dollars and thirty cents and get an updated and faster program. We choose the first option. The only disadvantage of this utility is that every time you start it, you will have to see and delete the window asking you to pay extra money.

The interface is very simple. You will immediately see which storage devices are connected to the computer and are ready for use. Various data about these devices and various reference information are available.

Let's do some testing. We will not experiment with a hard drive; for this we will use a regular flash drive with a capacity of 4 GB. Select it from the list and click the “Continue >>>” button. We will see the characteristics of the flash drive and the start/stop formatting buttons. Before starting the process, the program will clarify whether you really want to start it. In the window you can monitor the progress of the operation.

The free version has a low speed (4.3 Mb/sec), so everything will last about 10 minutes. HDD Low Level Format Tool will not only format your drive, but will also be able to “repair” it if the computer does not see the flash drive.

How else can you format a hard drive?

One of the most powerful and functional utilities for this is Acronis. This program for formatting your hard drive is updated regularly and keeps up with the times. It is paid, but also has a free trial version. So if you like the utility, you can purchase the full version. The system requirements are not too large, so it can be installed on almost every computer.

There are many options offered, the choice is yours.

There are two types of failures of external hard drives, these are: damage caused by mechanical impact on the external hard drive, in which some elements of the device fail. Of course, it is almost impossible to correct such a malfunction yourself. Another type is failures of such equipment, which are most often associated with power outages. You can solve this problem yourself using regular formatting.

Standard formatting method

You can use standard Windows operating system software to format your hard drive. To do this, you need to connect the external drive to your computer and then open it. Next, in an empty space, you need to right-click and select “Format”. Here the user will have access to two systems: FAT 32 and NTFS. It is advisable to use the first one if files not exceeding 3.5 GB in size will be stored on the hard drive. The second system is used in all other cases. After selecting the system, you need to click on the “Full formatting” button and start the procedure. Upon completion, you can again check the hard drive for functionality and if it still does not work properly, you will need to use other software.

Formatting a hard drive using special software

For example, one of the best utilities, proven over the years, is Acronis Disk Director. It is distributed absolutely, which means it can be easily found on the Internet. After installation and launch, you will need to select the manual mode of working with the program. A special window will open in which absolutely all disks installed on the computer will be displayed. The user needs to select an external hard drive and click on the “Format” button. Here you will also need to select a file system from NTFS or FAT32 according to the criteria described above.

You can also use the HDD Low Level Format program to format an external hard drive. It is worth noting that this software is best suited for “advanced” personal computer users, since its interface is not so easy to understand. This utility performs low-level formatting of various devices, even those connected via a USB cable. It works with SATA, IDE and SCSI HDD. After launching this software, the user just needs to click on the LowLevel button located at the very top, select the formatting section, and then click on the Format This Device button.

Sources:

• External hard drive won't format

Today the outside is tough disks can be programmed with several file system options. In order for the device to work on your PC, you need to format it correctly.

You will need

• Computer, external hard drive.

Instructions

Today, there are several types of external hard drives. Some of them are implemented with pre-installed formatting for a specific file system, while some devices are universal; they are formatted for the desired file system during installation. Let's consider two options for formatting external .

Formatting a disk with a pre-installed file system. After you connect the device, it will be displayed in the “My on PC drivers” section, which you will find included with the hard drive. The installation wizard will automatically detect your computer's file system and format the device with the appropriate settings.

Now many modern PC users have no idea how often any program for formatting a hard drive previously helped out.
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.

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 give up using 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

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.

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 recommended to pay attention to the installation process, since unnecessary utilities can be installed along the way.

Rice. 2 - EASEUS Partition Master window fragment

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

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

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

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.

Formatting a hard drive is the process of creating a file system on its partition, accompanied by deleting data and creating a new file system structure. Functionality for formatting hard drives and solid-state drives is contained in almost all modern operating systems, but the standard mechanism is not always optimal and applicable. This material will tell you in more detail how to format a hard drive in several ways.

It is very easy to format a HDD using standard tools. To do this, you need to select the desired partition in Explorer, right-click and select “Format” from the pop-up menu.

In the menu that opens, select formatting options. It is recommended to use NTFS as the file system, and leave the cluster size as standard. Checking the box next to “Quick formatting” significantly speeds up the process, but only the FS table is created anew. The data itself physically remains on the disk, although it becomes inaccessible. If you do not check the box, all data will be physically erased (filling each memory cell with zeros), but the process will take a long time. A hard drive with a capacity of several terabytes will take hours to format. But such formatting allows you to permanently destroy data, for example, when transferring the drive to a new owner.

An alternative way to format the HDD using standard means is through the “Control Panel”. To do this, you need to find the “Administration” menu, select “Computer Management” in it and find “Disk Management” in the left column. The menu that opens will display all drives in the form of a structure. The advantage of this method is that this way you can format disks that do not have a partition and therefore are not displayed in Explorer.

How to format a hard drive via the command line

To format a disk via the command line, there is a utility command called format. To use it, you need to run the command line as an administrator and enter the format command. It should look like this:

format [drive letter]:- formatting will happen without any questions, into the same FS that is on the disk, in a slow way (with complete erasing).

format [drive letter]: /q — the “/q” flag triggers a quick format, without physically clearing the contents of its memory. The flag can be placed in combination with any other keys.

format [drive letter]: fs:[file system]— formatting the selected partition into one of the supported file systems: NTFS, FAT, FAT32.

format [drive letter]: fs:[file system] /q- the same thing, but with quick formatting.

How to format your hard drive before installing Windows

To format your hard drive before installing Windows, you need to select a full installation, wait until the partition selection menu for installation appears, click on the desired drive and press the “Format” button at the bottom. The system will independently determine the optimal formatting method, file system type and cluster size. The whole process takes less than a minute.

Before you format your hard drive, installing Windows may require creating additional system partitions to load the OS. The screenshot below shows that such a partition takes up 100 MB. It stores part of the system bootloader.

The disadvantage of formatting this way is that you can't manually manipulate the parameters. Ordinary users do not need this, but sometimes they need FAT32 instead of the standard NTFS system. For example, such a need arises on tablets with Intel processors and two installed operating systems (Windows + Android), like the ten-inch Chuwi Hi10. In order for the Windows partition to be visible from Android, it must be formatted in a compatible file system. The “green robot” cannot work with NTFS without special plugins and third-party programs.

The correct answer to this question is “not at all.” The computer's BIOS is intended for slightly different purposes and does not have functionality for working with the HDD. Usually, “formatting from Bios” is popularly known as formatting via the command line in a text-based operating system (for example, MS-DOS). The advantage of this solution is that you can even work with a system partition that is not in use.

To format a hard drive using a boot disk with DOS, you need to create an image of such an OS, write it to a flash drive and copy the formatting utility there. Instead of DOS, you can also use a special program for working with HDDs, for example, GParted. This option is preferable as it is more functional.

To format a HDD from BIOS using a bootable USB flash drive, you need to download. This is an automatic installer that will download and write the latest version of Gparted to a flash drive.

After creating the flash drive, you need to restart the PC, go to Bios (usually by pressing DEl or F2) and find the Boot menu. In it you should select the item containing the words “Boot device priority” or something similar in meaning. Among them, you should put your flash drive first. Then you need to press F10, agree to save the settings and wait for loading from the flash drive.

In the loaded menu of the GParted program, you need to select the language, select the disk and find the item responsible for formatting. You can select the file system, cluster size, format type, and other options.

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, which 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 a 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 starting the installation, 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!