Hard disk formatting, including any other storage devices such as USB flash drive, pen drive and memory card, is meaningful and helpful. Let's give some examples.
- 1. Incompatible file system error - in most cases that you have to convert FAT32 to NTFS or NTFS to FAT32 by means of formatting so that a specific drive can put it in use on Windows, Mac or otStep .
- 2. To clean install Windows OS on a hard drive, formatting is the primary job.
- 3. Hard drive corrupted, developed bad sectors, access denied due to RAW file system that Windows asks you to format before you can use it.
Actually, there are still many situations that require a format of your hard disk, and generally there are 3 ways to initiate the task, Windows quick format, Windows command prompt and a free third-party hard drive format tool.
Windows quick format is easy to get started but with limited functions. So the last two options become the best choices. What's the difference though? And which way fits you the best?
First, Hard disk formatting through Windows Command Prompt is widely known by typically higher-leveled users, who get used to managing a computer with diskpart command.
Second, average users who are with little technical background are not suggested to attempt formatting with cmd. It's prone to cause error such as diskpart has encountered an error access denied, and no professionals are there to give you a support.
Note - Both formatting solutions will erase hard drive data completely, so make sure that you have backed up all important data.
How to Format Hard Drive from Command Prompt?
To format a hard drive using cmd via Command Prompt, use the diskpart commands given below carefully. Try your best to avoid mistakes.
Step 1. In Windows 10, for example, type cmd in the search box, you can get the best match called Command Prompt. Right-click on it and choose Run as administrator.
Step 2. On the Command Prompt black window, type diskpart and press enter.
Step 3. Now type list disk and press enter. All the disk drives will be listed, including your external drives that ç to the computer.
Step 4. Refer to the list disk information, type select disk + disk number, for example, select disk 1 and press enter. You're telling diskpart to format disk 1.
Step 5. Go on to type clean. This step starts to clean up all files and folders on the selected hard disk.
Step 6. Type create partition primary and press enter.
Step 7. After diskpart successfully created the specified partition, type format fs=ntfs (or format fs=exfat) and press enter. You're telling diskpart to format the drive with a file system, let it be NTFS, exFAT, etc.
Step 8. At last, assign a drive letter to the newly created partition by typing assign.
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