The command to format the disk in the command. We are formatting the hard drive. Programs for formatting HDD. Formatting a hard drive through the command line: why you need it

Greetings to all readers of my blog, Denis Trishkin is with you.
Using a computer for a long time, sooner or later it becomes necessary reinstall Windows... This can be done in several ways. The correct one is the one before which you need to do formatting hard disk... In this article, I will tell you exactly how this happens, and also introduce you to the main concepts.

So what is formatting? Back in school, this process was presented as a division into sectors and tracks, with the loss of all information previously recorded on the carrier. In the realities of today's technological world, formatting is the process of marking up an electronic data carrier, regardless of its shape and structure, whether it is an optical or hard disk, a memory card, a flash drive.

Simply put - the process is like erasing all existing files in the specified area. Moreover, when new ones appear, they are already placed on top whole way... Because of this, in the future, access to them will be easier, and, therefore, the speed of processing requests will decrease. The OS and individual programs will run faster.

File system types( ^)

Before proceeding directly to acquaintance with the process itself, it is important to acquaint you with such a concept as file system and its types... So, it is a table that indicates the order of storing, recording and naming information on media. In other words, she is responsible for all processes related to the transfer and reading of data.

There are several of the most famous and used types:

Formatting process( ^)

We need to clarify right away that we are talking about formatting before installing Windows... Therefore, we will focus on working with hard drives, and not with other data storage devices.

This process consists of three stages:

1 Low-level formatting is considered the main one. During this process, the information storage area is marked. This is done directly during the manufacture of the hard drive. With low-frequency formatting, all structures necessary for operation are created in the corresponding area. These include:

• tracks (tracks);

• information management program.

In the future, this markup will not change over the entire period of use of the media. Many utilities that claim to be able to do low-level formatting don't actually do it. At best they only prescribe new program management.

2 Partitioning. During this process, the entire volume of the hard disk is divided into logical parts (most often they are called letters of the Latin alphabet: C, D, E and others). This is done by built-in services of the operating system itself or by third-party programs. The process is optional - you can skip it - the media will only have one partition. But due to the fact that modern hard drives have large amounts of memory, they are usually divided into logical partitions.




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3 High-level formatting. During the process, logical structures are formed that are responsible for storing files. This type is divided into two types:

How to format before installing a new system( ^)

There are only a few ways to format before installing new windows:

using built-in capabilities;

command line (same tool used);

third-party software (most often this Acronis Disk Director);

use a different computer.

Step-by-step formatting instructions with built-in capabilities( ^)

It should be noted right away that I will talk about Windows 7, 8, 10, as previous versions Microsoft has stopped supporting. So, when, during the installation of a new operating system, you have reached the point of selecting a disk, you need:

The built-in tool allows you to format the disk only in a quick way.

However, it does not provide additional functions. That is why many professionals use special formatting programs that work even without an operating system installed. The most convenient is the above Acronis Disk Director... This application is paid, although there is the possibility of temporary use.

Formatting with Acronis Disk Director( ^)

To work with the application you need:

1 Download the program image file using a torrent tracker.




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2 Write the downloaded image to a USB flash drive




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3 Via BIOS (BIOS), check that the system boots from the USB flash drive first, press the F10 button, agree.




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4 After rebooting, confirm the operation from the flash drive.

5 A black screen appears where you need to select full version Acronis Disk Director.




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6 On the pop-up window, mark the "manual" mode.

7 After that, select the section and click on the item in the left menu.




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9 After that, the program sends us to the initial window for selecting a section. This is required to make additional changes. But since we are only doing the formatting of the disk, on which Windows will be installed later, we click on the checkbox.




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10 We are waiting for the end of the process. After that, you can exit the program and continue installing the OS. In this case, it is no longer necessary to format the disk with the built-in program.




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Command line formatting( ^)

Almost no one uses this method, since the above methods are enough for most of them. But sometimes there are still situations when he remains the only one.

Several times I have come across situations when malicious software (aka virus) damaged system files on your hard drive. As a result, the operation of important mechanisms is disrupted, which leads to a formatting error in the standard utility. It turns out that in order to cope with the "infection", you need to install a new Windows. And it wouldn't make sense without formatting.

The situation can be solved using a third-party computer. An infected hard drive is connected to it and is cleaned in the standard system. To do this, after booting the system in the section " My computer"You need to select the damaged section, click on it right click, and then select the appropriate menu. The file system, cluster size and volume label are listed.

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After formatting, the hard drive is installed on the original computer and Windows is installed. Sometimes during this, the system requires you to re-divide the section into sectors and tracks. Don't worry - that's okay.

Formatting your hard drive before installing Windows is an important step. If you don't do it, a new version will work with errors and most likely not for long.

Hopefully this article will clarify for you the basic questions that are related to the formatting procedure. Subscribe, recommend me to your friends, and with sleep you become literate in the computer field.

Formatting hard disk - a software process of labeling elements of the memory area of \u200b\u200bmagnetic plates and creating a new file structure of the carrier. Without labels and file structure system hard a disk is a useless device, which cannot be written to due to the physical and software features of the processes of recording, storing and reading information.

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

Hard disk formatting is divided into two types. This is low-level and high-level formatting.

Low-level formatting is a process by which special electronic tags called servo tags 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 on the disk, which determine the physical format of the drive. This procedure is performed on special factory equipment, since before that there is no information on the media on the sectors and tracks of the plates (s), due to the absence of which it is impossible to work with the media. Due to the volumetric expansion coefficient of the materials (which is known to many of the physics lessons in school), from which HDD plates 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, in the controller's opinion, the head was in the desired sector, it could physically be on an adjacent track. Because of this, the hard drive malfunctions and bad (inoperative) sectors appeared (if the controller considers that the head is in the first sector, but in reality it positions, for example, above the 5th sector, then the first four sectors are inaccessible to it). Such hard drives needed repeated low-level formatting throughout their entire service life, which required complete and repeated destruction of all data on the hard disk platter / platters.

In new HDDs, this problem was solved by using a voice coil in the readhead mechanism, due to which the effect of thermal expansion was compensated for by recalibrating the operating parameters of the disk heads (if it is simpler, 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 production facilities of the manufacturer to create the physical structure of the manufactured hard disk before testing it 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 slightly shifts in relation to the formed grid of tracks and sectors);
• complete, reliable and irreversible 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 - the process of forming the file structure of the hard disk, which consists in creating the master boot record, file table, file system structure and, depending on the formatting option, checking the surface of the hard disk platters for bad sectors with their subsequent replacement or deactivation. 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: fast and full. During the quick process, the file table is updated, which stores the names of files and paths to them, attributes, etc. After that, its new structure is formed, and the main one is created. boot record disk or its logical partition. Upon completion of the process, the operating system detects a hard or logical drive as clean, although physically all information on it will remain intact, with the exception of the file table - all data in it will be marked as non-existent and in the process of work will be overwritten with new bits of information.

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

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

• during reinstallation of the operating system to reset all data on them and form a new disk structure;
• during partitioning of the drive into logical disks;
• for a high-quality check 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 windows family is located on a disk or its partition, which is designated as the system one; it contains the master boot record and Windows system files, thanks to which the software part 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 sections and connected to the computer hard disks are not systemic. The second and subsequent hard disks are non-system ones, therefore the procedure for formatting them is no different from formatting removable USB drives.

Consider the methods of forming the file structure of non-system hard drives using built-in operating system means and with the help of third-party software products developed to work with hard drives.

2.1. BIOS formatting

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

In addition to extraneous 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. More details about all these options will be discussed further.

2.2. Windows formatting

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

2.2.1. Through properties

The easiest way to prepare a hard drive for work, to clear it of unnecessary information and generate new system, is formatting via context menu.

2.2.2. Through "Creating and formatting hard disk partitions"

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

Disk Management - System windows 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 restarting the operating system, which will not distract the user from the main work.

You can start Disk Management in one of the following ways.

Through the start menu

Through "My Computer"

Through the "Control Panel"

We 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 dialog box and a system signal.

2.2.3. Command line

In addition to formatting hard disks through graphical interfaces, the operating system, since the time of the console MS-DOS, allows the formation of a new file system of the hard drive with the removal of all files and, with full formatting, checking its surface for integrity by using the system commands entered into the command a 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 an outsider software... It is a window for entering text commands that are 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 disk. To do this, launch the system console using any of the listed methods or in a more convenient way.

Through the "Run" window

Through the start menu

Through Windows Explorer

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

By running 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 from 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 disk unnamed by pressing "Enter" (see screenshot).

The process of formatting the hard drive, depending on the specified parameters and the volume of the drive, can last from a few seconds to several tens of minutes. The formatting is accompanied by the inscription: "Creation of file system structures".

At the end of the process, the console window will display the inscription: "Formatting 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, or HDDLLFT for short, is designed for low-level formatting of hard disks 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 disk through the utility does not require any special user knowledge.

Please note that in free version HDD Low Level Format Tool formatting speed is limited to 50 Mb / s, which with significant volumes of modern hard drives during full formatting with checking the drive for broken 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

The system hard disk is, as a rule, a high-speed (with a rotational speed of the platters equal to 10,000 rpm, although it can be with the standard 7200 rpm) hard drive on which the operating system is installed. Based on this, it will not work to format it using Windows. Formatting the system hard disk is carried out by a different method, the essence of which does not differ from the formation of a new file system of a conventional hard drive. The only difference is that the utility to create a new file system will have to be run from the installation disk or flash drive.

3.1. Formatting using a bootable flash drive or disk

3.1.1. Through the installer of the Windows operating system

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

We will not consider how to create bootable media, many articles have been written on this subject in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. Let's get down to business right away.

1. Insert bootable USB drive into the USB socket of your computer or laptop (or a CD into its drive).
2. We reboot or turn on the computer.

Immediately after loading the basic I / O system and carrying out initialization and testing of the equipment, we begin to click on the button for quickly selecting the bootable media.

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

3. As a device to which control of the system will be transferred, we select our media (in our case, this is a 4 GB USB flash drive for booting from under 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 passed control.

4. Depending on the Windows assembly, we select the option to install the operating system (with a different bootloader interface, using third-party assemblies, the essence of the process will remain the same).
5. Select the installation language. It will naturally be Russian, just like the keyboard layout, time format, etc.

In the next window, just click "Install -\u003e".




We accept the operating system operating conditions, preferably after reading them.




We dwell on the second option so that we can get into the hard disk setup menu.

6. We click "Full installation ...".
   

Using the keyboard and mouse manipulator, select the required hard disk, if several are 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 through the command line, 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, booting from a disk or flash drive with installation files operating system Windows.

3.2. Acronis Disk Director

1. To start the bootable media creation wizard, go to the " Backup and recovery "on the program control panel, which is made in the style of the ribbon, 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 bootable media. It is recommended that you select the Windows PE-based boot loader option. Click "Next".
   

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

It is enough to format the hard drive acronis softwareDiskDirector. If you wish to have a tool to create backup copies of your partitions, also choose AcronisTrueImage.




4. Select the type of Acronis bootable media to create.

   
   
5. Then we confirm our intentions to write the program files to the USB flash drive, after destroying all the files on it, and wait for the end of the recording process.

6. We are loading from the created drive.

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

   
   

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

   
   

7. We are waiting for the download of the program.

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

8. We select our hard drive and call the procedure for formatting it using any method:
   
9. In the dialog box that appears, select the parameters for formatting the hard drive:
   • 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 "Auto" if you have no idea what this value is. However, to store a huge number of small files, it is recommended to choose a cluster size less than 4KB;
   • volume label - enter the name of the hard disk 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 with the name "Apply pending operations (1)".




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



10. If you are sure of the actions you are performing, check the correctness of the specified parameters and click on the "Continue" button.

After a few seconds of committing the operation, the procedure for formatting the hard disk will start.

Be careful, the program will not display a warning window asking about the confirmation of the operation and will not notify you about the destruction of all data on the hard disk.

Formatting will take place within a few seconds, as the utility uses the fast formatting algorithm. At the end of the procedure, the window will close automatically, and the hard disk with the cleared file table and the new file system will be ready for further use.

3.3. Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager - is the most powerful of the free software products for working with hard drives. Naturally, it can be used to format any hard drive or its section. In addition, the utility can work with backups, modify and create logical partitions, install several operating systems on a disk, and so on.

1. We load the LiveCD or the 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 the USB flash drive in the BIOS or choosing 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. We call the context menu of the magnetic drive and select the "Format" command in it, which is located in one of the first places.
   
7. We indicate the file system and the new label of the hard drive.
   
8. Click "Additional parameters" 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 commands "Format", which we familiarized ourselves with when formatting the disk from the command console, or use the developers' own algorithm.
   

9. Click "Format".

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

   To do this, click on the "Apply pending changes" button, which is located in the toolbar under the main menu.

   
   

   Use the magnifying glass button to view the pending changes.

10. In the dialog, we agree to make changes by clicking "Yes".
    
11. We are waiting for the notification of the completion of the program.
    

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

4. Possible errors and ways to solve them

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

Make sure that 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 in use, especially for system partitions. Also, some application can use the hard drive or its partition, even if it is in read mode, while the user is trying to format it. The way out is to use bootable LiveCDs or Windows distribution media.

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

As you know, the "format c:" command, originally related to MS-DOS tools, for computer systems with Windows on board it is used quite often. Let many people do not be confused that support for MS-DOS by Microsoft has been ended a long time ago, since the built-in system tool in the form of a command console works exactly according to its principles, and some actions without the command line cannot be performed at all, as well as access to hidden windows capabilities... Next, we will consider the main aspects related to formatting and its practical application, without going too deeply into the technical components of the additionally applied attributes.

What is the "format c:" command?

As is already clear, the command itself is intended specifically to format the hard disk, but in this particular case we are talking purely about the system partition in which the operating system is installed (according to windows default it is installed on the "C" drive, unless another location is specified, for example, when installing a second OS into a virtual partition).

Immediately I would like to draw the attention of all users to the point that this toolkit can be used exclusively on the command line. For the "format c:" command itself, some additional attributes are provided that allow you to activate certain options, depending on what action needs to be performed when formatting a system or logical partition.

Command scopes

First, let's decide when this command may be needed, and then move on to its practical application.

For the most part, disk formatting is required when installing an operating system or reinstalling it after critical failures or a virus impact, when it is impossible to restore functionality using Windows or remove virus threats.

The command can also be used when dividing a hard disk into additional partitions using the diskpart tools (although in this case it is not the "C" drive that is formatted, but the created logical partition). Actions with the system partition are performed only in the above situations. Sometimes such measures even help restore the performance of the hard drive.

Some nuances associated with starting formatting

Digressing somewhat from the description of the "format c:" command, I would like to cheer up the readers. There is such a good anecdote when a phone call rings in the support service:

My Word doesn't work, what should I do?

Do you have Word on the C drive?

Write: "format c:" and press Enter.

Will it help?

And how! The most effective remedy!

But this is, of course, a joke. The fact is that in a loaded (running) system, no matter how hard you try, formatting the disk (system partition) cannot be started. Windows simply won't let you do this (well, won't the system give permission to self-destruct?).

Thus, the question of how to make "format c:" is reduced only to boot from removable media initially, then call the console and use the command already in its environment. Sometimes, however, you can meet non-standard situations.

For example, a user has installed two Windows systems of different modifications. One is on the "C" drive, the second is on the "D" drive. Formatting of the "C" section can be done if you boot into the environment of the second system and call the command console in it.

The same can be observed in the case when a virtual machine with the tested "operating system" is installed on the computer, which is a complete likeness of a real computer, but in virtual form.

View all command line attributes

But back to the main "format c:" command. The command line allows you to perform many operations using this function. In order not to describe absolutely all the applied attributes, any user can be advised to view them on their own.

Just call the command line and write the "format /?" Command in it. After its completion, a complete list of additional attributes with a detailed description of each of them will appear on the screen.

Practical implementation of formatting

Now about the practical use of the "format c:" command. Windows systems will not allow it to execute, so we assume that the boot is performed from removable media (installation or recovery disk or flash drive).

Entering the command in its standard form will fully format the specified section. If you set the additional attribute "/ Q", it will lead to quick formatting (Quick format). It is unlikely that an ordinary user will be able to set the size of clusters or other specific actions, so for now you can limit yourself to such a simple example.

Formatting when creating new sections

The creation of new partitions and bootable media looks much more interesting. True, the "format c:" command in this case is not used as such, but familiarity with the general use of the formatting command may be useful to many users:

When using the "diskpart" toolkit it is sometimes necessary to create a primary partition and then activate the boot partition. At one of the stages, formatting is necessary (you can even use manual indication of the preferred file system), for which an additional "FS" operator is introduced, after which, for example, the type of NTFS is indicated. If such a pointer is not used, formatting will be performed with the current system preserved.

The use of such tools sometimes allows you to quickly change the disc format from unreadable (RAW) to normal. This is much faster than trying to change it with the same operating system tools.

When using the general command, if the "/ U" attribute was not initially specified, it is possible to cancel formatting by entering the UNFORMAT command, since the old file allocation table is saved along with the root directory. However, such actions are mostly related to processes associated with removable media and logical partitions.

Finally

That's all there is to the formatting command in short. Here, the description of each applied attribute was not specifically considered, since for most users in practical use they turn out to be unnecessary, but are mainly required system administrators or specialists engaged in the repair of computer equipment (in particular hard drives).

But even the general knowledge presented above will help any user to understand what the described command is for, how and where it is used. However, situations are different, so you should not neglect the use of formatting through the command line, especially since the general command is used even when manually creating bootable media using the operating system, which excludes the use of third-party software.

Popular list free software for various types of hard disks (HDD, SSD, RAID) and removable media (USB, Firewire, SD) formatting. In this article, you will learn how to properly format your hard drive, learn about different types HDD formatting - including low-level. Let's also choose a good program for partitioning the hard drive.

HDD Formatting Methods - From Easy to Complex

Formatting is a simple operation that can be performed by inexperienced users. Next, I will tell you how to format the HDD yourself - from simple to complex, depending on your skills and level of PC proficiency.

Using standard Windows tools when formatting

The Windows XP-10 operating system has built-in tools for performing this operation. Formatting the hard drive is done like this:

1. Open "Explorer" (or another file manager),
2. We go to the section "My Computer"
3. Click on the desired disk
4. Select the item "Format"
5. Next, click on the "Start" button

This is the easiest way to format your computer without additional tools. For all its simplicity, however, all stages must be carried out consciously, clearly understanding why you are doing this. Before you give your consent to formatting, carefully check that the correct drive is selected.

Perhaps the video tutorial shows you more clearly how to format the disk.

Alternative way of formatting in OS Windows 7/8/10

1. In different systems, the path to Disk Management is different - the easiest way is to open the program search and enter "management". When the system gives a search result, find "Computer Management" and open it
2. In the menu on the left go to "Disk Management"
3. Right click on the desired section and select "Format". Since the process takes place inside a running OS, the "Format" menu item will be inactive on the system partition
4. Next, select a label for the new partition, the type of the future file system and the required cluster size (if you do not know what size you need, leave it "default")
5. For high-level formatting, you can leave the "Quick Format" checkbox active. If you want to deep cleaning section contents, then uncheck this box
6. After clicking "OK", the system will ask for confirmation - click "OK" again

Administration section "Computer Management"

Formatting the hard drive via the Windows command line

To start formatting, on the computer, the command line (console). To do this, use the key combination WIN + R, in the "Run" window that appears, enter cMD command, press ENTER.

Note... To format the disk via the command line, you need administrator () rights. Start - CMD - open the context menu by clicking on the application icon "Command Prompt" - Run as administrator. If you try to format the disk without administrator rights, you will fail: access will be denied. In general, watch the video where I show you how to format as an administrator.

To format through the console, use the following commands:

Format drive letter

Press Enter. We carefully read what is written in the console, we perform further actions with the hard disk according to the situation.

Full formatting of the hard drive via HDD Low Level Format Tool

Low-level formatting will optimize the HDD structure. This is useful in preparation for reinstalling the operating system. At the same time, you can solve problems with bad sectors of the hard disk.

HDD Low Level Format Tool is suitable for low-level formatting. The utility will help you format your computer hard drive, external HDD, tablet sd card and other storage devices.

In addition to the main functions, HDD Low Level Format Tool can be used to read SMART indicators, check read errors, disk runtime, etc.

how totallyformat the hard drive:

1. After installation, run hDD program Low Level Format
2. In the Drive selection window, select a hard disk (if several HDDs are connected to the PC). The easiest way to tell one hard drive from another is its size. Click Continue
3. Go to the LOW-LEVEL Format tab
4. For quick formatting (deleting partitions and MBR records), select the Perform quick wipe option.
5. For full formatting of the hard disk, the above option should be ignored
6. Before completely formatting the hard drive, make sure the correct drive is selected. Only then click the Format this device button.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The program offers a number of useful functions, including low-level formatting of hard drives and most types of removable media. The interface resembles standard windows tools, so it won't be difficult to figure it out:

1. The main window automatically displays the disk with the installed OS. If you need to format another device, select it by clicking the "Disk" item in top menu
2. In the lower block of the left menu, select "Erase Hard Drive"
3. When you press this button, you will be prompted for the number of passes of the operation. If in the future it is planned to recover destroyed data, then select a value from 1 to 7. If you specify parameter 8 or more, it will be almost impossible to recover information from the device
4. Confirm your choice by clicking "Yes"
5. To start formatting, you will need to reboot the system - after clicking the "Restart now" button there will be no turning back, so make sure you select the correct drive and desired settings operations

After restarting the computer, the program will perform all the specified actions and you will have a blank hard disk at your disposal.

DiskWipe

DiskWipe is an excellent solution for situations when data on a medium needs to be permanently destroyed. The program uses several proven algorithms in its work (Dod 5220-22.M, US Army, Peter Guttman), and advanced settings allow you to select the formatting depth. According to the developers, the program does not contain hidden viruses, etc., and also does not transfer user data.

DiskWipe

Formatting the desired device using DiskWipe is extremely simple:

1. Run the program. In the block on the left you will see all the devices available for formatting
2. Select the desired device and click "Wipe Disk" in the top menu
3. The advanced settings will open with predefined default values. For complete and irreversible formatting, you can mark all available fields with checkmarks, and in the right block indicate "Highest"
4. After selecting the settings and clicking "OK", the formatting of the selected device will start

Paragon Partition Manager

A test period of 30 days allows you to evaluate the capabilities of the program and format required devices in various modes. Since Paragon Partition Manager has several options for working with partitions (splitting, restoring and others), it is distributed shareware.

Paragon Partition Manager

The formatting process is intuitive:

1. In the main window, click "Partition Manager" in the left menu, then select "Launch Partition Manager"
2. From the proposed list of devices, select the one you need, open the context menu with the right mouse button, and click "Format Partition"
3. Specify the type of the future file system and the name of the volume, then click "Format"
4. The procedure will be queued - to apply the changes, you must click on the green checkmark in the top menu
5. After confirming the operation ("Yes" button), it will no longer be possible to stop its execution

Separately, it is worth noting the fact that Paragon Partition Manager not only formats the device, but also creates new section with the specified file system, so after the system boots, the disk can be used without additional steps.

reference Information

What is formatting?

Formatting a disc is the process of labeling a storage device — a hard disk drive (HDD), memory card, CD / DVD, or other storage medium. Format operation is equally useful for new and "worn" HDDs that have served their time.

A disk that has no markup is completely useless. In addition to the fact that you mark the disk, formatting erases all data almost irrevocably (although there are many programs for recovering after formatting). Therefore, you need to be careful and prepare in advance to format your hard drive.

Over the years of operation of the operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux), the hard disk turns into a "trash heap", since many programs leave their files on the disk, and after uninstallation their "roots" still remain on the HDD. As a result, the system is slow and unstable. There are various freezes, slowdowns, the disk clicks, makes noise - behaves inadequately. After reformatting, the hard drive is optimized and performs better. Many devices serve for a long time without this procedure. I advise you to insure yourself and format your hard drive at least once a year.

Sooner or later, disk formatting is inevitable. However, before doing this, it is very important to update or reinstall the operating system on your computer. Together with the removal of unnecessary files, you get a completely clean environment without defects, harmful viruses, unused programs, data that lead to conflicts. Thus, before reformatting the hard drive, we reinstall the OS.

Back up any important data on another drive before formatting. As already mentioned, during the execution of this procedure, various service information, marks, are recorded on the disk, which allow you to subsequently record information on the HDD without hindrance.

Hard disk formatting steps

Low level- at this stage, the basic marking is applied to the disc at a low level. This is usually the responsibility of the hardware designer. In this case, special tracks and service data are applied to the disk. This information remains on the hard disk almost forever - it can be overwritten only using proprietary utilities. These programs can only replace service data. By the way, if you make a low-level formatting of the hard disk, then you will not be able to recover data later, unfortunately or fortunately. Therefore, if your goal is to destroy information, then you can use this format. Read about low-level formatting

Breakdown of sections... It is clear that storing data on a disk without partitions is rather inconvenient. For some logical organization, the HDD is divided into special zones, drives - drive C :, drive D: and so on. For these purposes, both the service utilities built into the OS and external programs for formatting the hard disk, which I have already written about, can be used.

High-level... During this type of reformatting, boot sectors and file tables are created.

Types of disk formatting

Perhaps you know that the standard system tools provide 2 methods by which you can format a hard drive - external or internal:

quick format: takes less time, allows you to carry out the procedure as it is. The bottom line is that with this type of computer formatting, files in the file table are overwritten with zeros, while the data is stored as if nothing had happened, you can later restore them. Also at this method you are not optimizing the file structure, and if there were defects on the hard disk, you cannot fix them with the quick method

normal formatting: Longer time and deeper formatting of the hard disk. Data on internal or external drive completely destroyed, the file system is checked for possible mistakes, damage. bad sectors, bad blocks. Thus, in the usual way of reformatting, you kill two birds with one stone, although you lose a little more time.

When installing the operating system, as well as when changing files, redistributing space between partitions, you need to clean up the hard disk. This is a fairly common operation performed by PC users. If you have not done anything like this before, then let's deal with the theoretical part of the question.

Formatting process, what is it?

Layout of information storage areas, in which some of it is deleted, is called formatting. It creates a system for accessing stored information and is performed for:

• changes from one file system to another;
• deleting files from disk space.

At the moment, there are many different file systems. They are used on a variety of equipment, including not only computers, but also mobile devices. To work in the latter windows versions the file system is NTFS.

How to format a hard drive: detailed video instruction

Why delete files from disk?

Formatting is performed to remove files from the hard drive, as well as to change one file system to another.

Why clean the disc

In most cases, it is resorted to:

• before installing a new OS;
• to create an installation windows image, for example, on a USB flash drive;
• for the reason, the need to clean the disk of files, in case they are not needed.

Windows utilities for deleting files

Despite the large number of programs for working with a disk, Windows has its own set of utilities.

Consider the process of formatting disks using Windows:

1. select the disk to be cleaned;
2. press the right mouse button;
3. select the Format item;
4. in the window that appears, select the file system, cluster size, and formatting method;
5. as a file system, it is recommended to set NTFS, and leave the cluster size by default - 4096;
6. after setting the necessary parameters, click Start.

Windows also includes more full service to work with a hard drive.

To open this menu, do the following:

1. right-click on My Computer;
2. select Management;
3. open the Disk Management item;
4. in this menu, the user can perform various operations with the hard disk.

You can perform this operation using the command line:

• press the key combination Win + R;
• enter cmd and press Enter;
• in the command line, write the command format y :, where y is the letter of your drive, maybe, for example, c or d;
• the system will ask you to confirm the operation by pressing the Y key;
• after confirmation, the system will start the cleaning process;
• when finished, this message will appear

If you need to format a disk partition from the BIOS, you have to tinker a little. Unfortunately, the BIOS does not have tools for this purpose, therefore, you should use third-party software to perform these operations.

One of the most common is Acronis Disk Director. To work with it, you need to create a bootable media with the files of this program in the operating system. But before you start creating bootable media, it is worth considering another option - formatting using Windows Installer. This decision is a simpler option compared to Acronis Disk Director.

For this method, you only need a disk or flash drive with a recorded installation package for Windows, and you also need to do the following:

Attention! The drive letters may not match. For a more precise definition of the required disk, use the command wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, size, description.

To create a bootable flash drive you will need:

Algorithm of actions:

1. insert a USB flash drive;
2. install and open the program;
3. in the application, open the Tools section and select Acronis Bootable Media Builder;
4. click "Next";
5. select the type of bootable media Windows PE;
6. in the next menu, you should mark the necessary components for writing to a USB flash drive;
7. after selection, you must select the medium to which the recording will be made, and click Next. The USB flash drive should be formatted in FAT 32 format using the Windows utility;
8. you can also create an image for later burning to a flash drive or disc using Ultra ISO.

To download a USB flash drive you need:

How to format an external file drive to NTFS

The most convenient formatting method is to perform all actions with standard utilities OS. This solution does not imply additional installations software and creating bootable disks.

If you do not have an OS installed, then in this case you should use special programs, such as Acronis.

To execute as ntfs:

Utilities

In addition to the standard Windows, there are various utilities used for the same purpose. Of the most common options, the following can be noted:

What is the best program in ntfs to format drives?

Each program has its own characteristics, but the main direction for all utilities remains one - working with disks, including creating partitions, forming into others file systems and so on. Therefore, their choice is a purely personal question of each user.

Problems and solutions

• format command - cannot be used for system diskif she is in his environment;
• if the OS is located in another partition of the hard drive, it cannot be deleted;
• antivirus settings can block access to different sections of the hard drive;
• different applications and viruses can block access.

If you removed the above factors, but you still cannot start the process, you will have to resort to special programs. The most popular tool is HDDscan, which is easy to install and free.

Algorithm of actions:

• download the utility;
• open and install;
• run as administrator;
• click on the sphere-shaped icon located in the center of the interface;
• select Surface tests;
• check the box next to Erase;
• go to the Add test tab;
• click on Scan;
• in the lower right corner, write down the error data;
• set the EraseWAITs option to ON and select Scan again;
• repeat until the error clears up.

You can also use Acronis Disk Director. If it is impossible to format a portable drive using this program, most likely it is partially out of order. And the whole procedure, sometimes it is possible to perform, only from bootable media, that is, not in the operating system.

How to force format a USB flash drive?

You can use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool to clean up flash drives.

How do I format a write-protected drive? Simply, first open a command line and write the following commands in it:

1. diskpart;
2. list disk;
3. select disk Z. Z - flash drive number, the execution of the previous command is shown;
4. attributes disk clear readonly;
5. clean;
6. create partition primary;
7. format fs \u003d ntfs;
8. exit.

Windows includes utilities that:

• provide the required set of functions;
• have a fairly simple interface that will be easy for novice users to work with.