Formatting hard drives, external drives and USB sticks is usually a fairly simple process whatever computer you use, especially if you use the tools built into Windows and Mac OS.
However, since each hard drive is built by a different manufacturer and there may be compatibility problems, sometimes the best choice is to use an external program, a program to format disks that does not suffer from limitations and that also allows you to partition (i.e. divide a disk into volumes) and manage the space in the way you prefer, giving the maximum in terms of options and configuration.
The Windows Disk Management feature, explained in another guide, is especially useful for seeing how disks are partitioned and is also convenient for formatting and partitioning external drives, but it doesn't always work well.
For example, it may happen to buy a new external disk, connect it to the PC and find that this is not really seen or that the option to format it cannot be used because it is disabled and cannot be selected.
Both for those who need advanced functions, and when there are problems with managing disks and external drives, you can use some programs to format and partition free disks on Windows PC, free, really powerful that never fail and are optimized for each type, easy to use.
READ ALSO: What does it mean to partition disks and how to create, extend, join partitions
1) EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition is an excellent program to manage disks and volumes, clone and copy partitions or create boot disks.
EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition is easier to use than Window's built-in Disk Management feature, while also offering numerous additional options and features.
You can resize or move partitions, merge partitions, check disk errors, erase partitions, format partitions and edit labels.
For more advanced features like the one to convert or clone the partition, you will need to upgrade to the paid version.
We talked about this software in the past, in the article on how to create a partition on Windows by dividing a hard disk into several parts
2) MiniTool Partition Wizard is a powerful and effective freeware partitioning and formatting utility.
The interface is quite simple to use, especially to make the meaning and configuration of the more complex formatting options understandable to everyone.
It supports Windows 10, almost all file system formats, UEFI and EFI boot, MBR and GPT disks, RAID and SSD storage.
You can use it to extend the system partition, migrate the operating system from a standard HDD to an SSD, convert the file system and much more.
3) Paragon Partition Manager free is another excellent disk formatting program that works well on Windows 10 and other versions.
The software consists of four basic functions: backup and restore, partition manager, disk cleaner and drive copy.
Each function of the software has its own wizard, i.e. its guided procedure to make the configuration easy even for those less experienced in making this type of changes and operations.
4) AOMEI Partition Assistant has practically all the same features of the other programs mentioned above, available for free for personal use.
AOMEI is a brand of software that has become a guarantee of excellence for PC users at home and also for companies, so its formatting and partitioning program is regularly updated and supports Windows 10 as well as older operating systems.
We used this program to write the guide on how to put Windows 10 on a USB drive to use it in a portable version
5) Utility HP Disk Storage Format is the best program to format USB devices, such as traditional USB sticks and other flash drives such as SD cards.
This simple formatting utility has few options, but it is effective and has been recommended for years in any specialized forum.
READ ALSO: How to initialize and format new or unrecognized disc
However, since each hard drive is built by a different manufacturer and there may be compatibility problems, sometimes the best choice is to use an external program, a program to format disks that does not suffer from limitations and that also allows you to partition (i.e. divide a disk into volumes) and manage the space in the way you prefer, giving the maximum in terms of options and configuration.
The Windows Disk Management feature, explained in another guide, is especially useful for seeing how disks are partitioned and is also convenient for formatting and partitioning external drives, but it doesn't always work well.
For example, it may happen to buy a new external disk, connect it to the PC and find that this is not really seen or that the option to format it cannot be used because it is disabled and cannot be selected.
Both for those who need advanced functions, and when there are problems with managing disks and external drives, you can use some programs to format and partition free disks on Windows PC, free, really powerful that never fail and are optimized for each type, easy to use.
READ ALSO: What does it mean to partition disks and how to create, extend, join partitions
1) EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition is an excellent program to manage disks and volumes, clone and copy partitions or create boot disks.
EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition is easier to use than Window's built-in Disk Management feature, while also offering numerous additional options and features.
You can resize or move partitions, merge partitions, check disk errors, erase partitions, format partitions and edit labels.
For more advanced features like the one to convert or clone the partition, you will need to upgrade to the paid version.
We talked about this software in the past, in the article on how to create a partition on Windows by dividing a hard disk into several parts
2) MiniTool Partition Wizard is a powerful and effective freeware partitioning and formatting utility.
The interface is quite simple to use, especially to make the meaning and configuration of the more complex formatting options understandable to everyone.
It supports Windows 10, almost all file system formats, UEFI and EFI boot, MBR and GPT disks, RAID and SSD storage.
You can use it to extend the system partition, migrate the operating system from a standard HDD to an SSD, convert the file system and much more.
3) Paragon Partition Manager free is another excellent disk formatting program that works well on Windows 10 and other versions.
The software consists of four basic functions: backup and restore, partition manager, disk cleaner and drive copy.
Each function of the software has its own wizard, i.e. its guided procedure to make the configuration easy even for those less experienced in making this type of changes and operations.
4) AOMEI Partition Assistant has practically all the same features of the other programs mentioned above, available for free for personal use.
AOMEI is a brand of software that has become a guarantee of excellence for PC users at home and also for companies, so its formatting and partitioning program is regularly updated and supports Windows 10 as well as older operating systems.
We used this program to write the guide on how to put Windows 10 on a USB drive to use it in a portable version
5) Utility HP Disk Storage Format is the best program to format USB devices, such as traditional USB sticks and other flash drives such as SD cards.
This simple formatting utility has few options, but it is effective and has been recommended for years in any specialized forum.
READ ALSO: How to initialize and format new or unrecognized disc
