Formatting a disk in Windows is one of the oldest operations since PCs exist, which allows you to clear the contents of the disk and prepare it to accommodate new data inside it.
The disk formatting operation must be done to prepare a new external or internal disk for the first use and then also to reset a USB stick, if full of useless data or if it has writing problems.
On the other hand, it will be difficult to format the main disk of the PC, since the reinstallation of Windows 10 can be performed without having to prepare the disk as it was required with the old versions.
Note that from Windows it is not possible to format the primary partition C: where the operating system is installed.
Recall that the meaning of formatting is to prepare a mass storage medium, such as the hard disk or USB stick, for writing files, thus giving them instructions on how to store this data.
Formatting a disk also means erasing any data inside it, so that new data can be written over it.
There are several file systems where you can format a drive (NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT are the most popular), each of which works correctly in Windows, which may not work on other types of computers or devices.
In this guide we see how to format a disk using Windows 10 or Windows 7, with a procedure that applies to hard drives, SSD drives, SATA drives, USB flash drives and internal or external drives .
To format a disk from Windows 10 and also from Windows 7 and 8 it is necessary to use the Disk Management Utility to which I had already dedicated a guide.
To open Disk Management you can use the search bar of the Start menu or you can go to Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management or even, in Windows 10, by pressing the right mouse button on the Windows icon or by pressing together the Windows-X keys.
from the Disk Management utility you will find all the disks on your computer, both internal and external ones and also hidden system partitions.
If you have just inserted a new disk into your computer or if you have connected an external disk or a USB stick, it should be listed in both the top and bottom list, with the space inside it indicated as " Not allocated "and ready to be initialized and formatted.
To format a disk listed here and already active (except the system one), for example also a USB stick with data inside that we do not care about or of which we have a backup ready, you can press the right mouse button on the drive to be format and click on " Delete volume ".
This operation turns the drive or partition into an unallocated space and will delete all data on that drive.
Once the disk or partition is with unallocated space, it can be correctly formatted in whole or even in part, creating several partitions.
We have already explained in another guide what it means to partition disks, which leads to dividing a disk into several separate parts, as if they were different drives.
In the case of external hard drives or large USB sticks, it makes sense to create partitions if you want to use part of the space to store personal files, and another part to install a portable operating system such as a Linux distro on it.
Once decided, press the right mouse button on the large black bar that represents the unallocated space and press on " New simple volume ".
From the wizard options you can choose, on the second screen, whether to allocate all the space or whether to leave part of the space unallocated and ready for a new partition.
If you want to have only one single partition, then you can write, as a simple volume size, the same number displayed as the " Maximum size in MB on disk ".
Below you can choose which letter to assign to the unit to recognize it.
The next screen asks you to choose the type of filesystem .
In this regard, we make a summary of the main things you need to know:
- Among the types of File system there are NTFS, exFAT or FAT32.
We have seen the ways of formatting disks and the differences between NTFS, FAT32 and FAT in another article.
NTFS is the fastest system for Windows even if it may have compatibility problems, FAT32 is rather universal but limits the size of the files (no larger than 4 GB), while exFAT is an updated version of FAT32 without the size limits, therefore the best option.
- Allocation unit size : the larger the drive size, the higher the reading speed even if it must be adapted to the size of the files on the disk, otherwise there is a risk of wasting space.
If you are creating a disc to watch movies on TV, it is worth choosing a larger size for the allocation unit, otherwise it is better to stay on the default value.
- Perform quick format : if there is no particular hurry, it is better to remove this option in order to scan the disk to find bad sectors and correct them, ensuring better performance.
After selecting the most suitable options, go ahead and complete the volume creation procedure which formats the allocated disk space.
If you chose to format only a part of the disk, the remaining space remains colored black and marked as unallocated, ready to create a new volume.
In this case, you can choose in the future to extend the created partition to take up the rest of the allocated space.
In case of problems, we have seen how to initialize and format new or unrecognized disk .
Last but not least, you can also use free programs to format disks and manage hard disk partitions .
READ ALSO: Format a hard disk to completely delete data and files from your computer
The disk formatting operation must be done to prepare a new external or internal disk for the first use and then also to reset a USB stick, if full of useless data or if it has writing problems.
On the other hand, it will be difficult to format the main disk of the PC, since the reinstallation of Windows 10 can be performed without having to prepare the disk as it was required with the old versions.
Note that from Windows it is not possible to format the primary partition C: where the operating system is installed.
Recall that the meaning of formatting is to prepare a mass storage medium, such as the hard disk or USB stick, for writing files, thus giving them instructions on how to store this data.
Formatting a disk also means erasing any data inside it, so that new data can be written over it.
There are several file systems where you can format a drive (NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT are the most popular), each of which works correctly in Windows, which may not work on other types of computers or devices.
In this guide we see how to format a disk using Windows 10 or Windows 7, with a procedure that applies to hard drives, SSD drives, SATA drives, USB flash drives and internal or external drives .
To format a disk from Windows 10 and also from Windows 7 and 8 it is necessary to use the Disk Management Utility to which I had already dedicated a guide.
To open Disk Management you can use the search bar of the Start menu or you can go to Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management or even, in Windows 10, by pressing the right mouse button on the Windows icon or by pressing together the Windows-X keys.
from the Disk Management utility you will find all the disks on your computer, both internal and external ones and also hidden system partitions.
If you have just inserted a new disk into your computer or if you have connected an external disk or a USB stick, it should be listed in both the top and bottom list, with the space inside it indicated as " Not allocated "and ready to be initialized and formatted.
To format a disk listed here and already active (except the system one), for example also a USB stick with data inside that we do not care about or of which we have a backup ready, you can press the right mouse button on the drive to be format and click on " Delete volume ".
This operation turns the drive or partition into an unallocated space and will delete all data on that drive.
Once the disk or partition is with unallocated space, it can be correctly formatted in whole or even in part, creating several partitions.
We have already explained in another guide what it means to partition disks, which leads to dividing a disk into several separate parts, as if they were different drives.
In the case of external hard drives or large USB sticks, it makes sense to create partitions if you want to use part of the space to store personal files, and another part to install a portable operating system such as a Linux distro on it.
Once decided, press the right mouse button on the large black bar that represents the unallocated space and press on " New simple volume ".
From the wizard options you can choose, on the second screen, whether to allocate all the space or whether to leave part of the space unallocated and ready for a new partition.
If you want to have only one single partition, then you can write, as a simple volume size, the same number displayed as the " Maximum size in MB on disk ".
Below you can choose which letter to assign to the unit to recognize it.
The next screen asks you to choose the type of filesystem .
In this regard, we make a summary of the main things you need to know:
- Among the types of File system there are NTFS, exFAT or FAT32.
We have seen the ways of formatting disks and the differences between NTFS, FAT32 and FAT in another article.
NTFS is the fastest system for Windows even if it may have compatibility problems, FAT32 is rather universal but limits the size of the files (no larger than 4 GB), while exFAT is an updated version of FAT32 without the size limits, therefore the best option.
- Allocation unit size : the larger the drive size, the higher the reading speed even if it must be adapted to the size of the files on the disk, otherwise there is a risk of wasting space.
If you are creating a disc to watch movies on TV, it is worth choosing a larger size for the allocation unit, otherwise it is better to stay on the default value.
- Perform quick format : if there is no particular hurry, it is better to remove this option in order to scan the disk to find bad sectors and correct them, ensuring better performance.
After selecting the most suitable options, go ahead and complete the volume creation procedure which formats the allocated disk space.
If you chose to format only a part of the disk, the remaining space remains colored black and marked as unallocated, ready to create a new volume.
In this case, you can choose in the future to extend the created partition to take up the rest of the allocated space.
In case of problems, we have seen how to initialize and format new or unrecognized disk .
Last but not least, you can also use free programs to format disks and manage hard disk partitions .
READ ALSO: Format a hard disk to completely delete data and files from your computer
