How to format a hard drive easily and effective in order to reinstall windows on a computer, one needs to format the hard drive. You can format a hard drive partition easily from disk management or file explorer. However, windows will not allow you to format a partition if the operating system has been installed on it. This is the reason why most people ask how to format a hard drive from BIOS.
However, if you want to ensure that your personal or confidential information does not fall into the hands then you should hire secure data destruction services.
Why Do You Need To Format A Hard Drive?
People usually want to format their hard drives mostly because they want to reinstall the operating system (OS) or if their systems are not booting properly. The reinstallation of the OS requires you to format your C drive and windows does not allow you to execute this step if the computer is being booted normally.
In addition you can format your hard drive should you have bad sectors or corrupt files within the hard drive. My advice shall remember you must back up your important files to ensure you don’t lose any critical files. When formating, you will lose all your data.
How Do I Check The Health Of My Hard Drive?
You can check your health, at first we must identify they aren’t any bad clusters within the hard drive. How do we for bad clusters and health of the hard drive is we can use multiple software to identify the hard drive health. One of the most popular ones is called HD sentinel.
This is a great piece of software and has been used by us over the years. We highly recommend this software, you must ensure your hard drive is healthy. Now in an unfortunate event, our recommendation would be to purchase a new hard drive from Amazon.
Can I Format A Hard Drive From BIOS?
To be honest, you cannot format a hard drive using BIOS. The main function of this particular firmware is to initialise hardware during the booting process. The BIOS also makes the data accessible for the microprocessor by providing runtimes to the programs and the OS. Therefore, you cannot use it to format your operating system.
Now that we know it is impossible to format a hard drive from BIOS you must be wondering if there is any other way of formatting a hard drive. Of course, there is; therefore, there’s no need to worry. The easiest way for you to do this is to boot the system with an installation media like a USB flash drive, DVD or CD.
In order to do this, you will have to enable formatting by making changes in the BIOS settings.
How to Format A Hard Drive From BIOS With An Installation Media?
You must use the Media Creation Tool from Windows 10 in order to create an installing media for your computer. This bootable media will allow you to format hard drive from the BIOS during the installation of windows or via Command Prompt.
However, you must create a backup of all of your personal data first on an external drive or cloud-based data storage. Your personal data may include a licensed software application, word files, pictures, and videos.
Once you have finished creating a backup of your data, you must adhere to the following steps:
Step 1
Set your installation media as the primary boot device and use it to reboot your computer.
Step 2
Wait for the windows setup to load and select your keyboard or input method, currency, time, and language.
Step 3
The subsequent screen will give you the option of either reinstalling a new Windows or Repair the current one. Choose the option of Repair from this screen.
Step 4
The next screen will give you the option to ‘Troubleshoot’. Clicking on it will take you to the advanced option screen
Step 5
This step requires you to click on ‘Command Prompt’.
Step 6
Use the following commands to find your system’s partition. Press ‘enter’ at the end of each command
- Diskpart
- List Volume
- Exit
- Dir F:
Step 7
Enter F: /fs: NTFS, after you have found your system’s partition, this will format the drive with the NTFS file system, which is usually given preference over exFAT or FAT32 because of its higher security and stability.
How To Wipe A Hard Drive Completely?
Choosing how to format a hard drive can free up some space for you to store the new files. However, you must always avoid the ‘Quick Format’ option because it only makes the selected drive appear empty with all the data still intact.
It is probably the fastest way of wiping the partition of a hard drive. The use of this option is fine as long as the laptop or computer is in your use. I wouldn’t recommend this option if you’re planning to resell your old computer or disposing of your hard drive.
The main reason why most people want to learn how to format a hard drive from BIOS or hire data destruction services is that they want to ensure that no confidential or personal information of theirs fall into the wrong hands.
Warning
Like I said earlier in the blog that you must ensure that you have created a backup of all your music, videos and photos on an external device before you start formatting your hard drive.
Tips To Format Hard Drive In Windows
The following tips will help you secure your personal data to some extent
Initialize Drive
You will have to format your new hard drive if you to make it manageable and usable.
Kill Virus
On contrary to popular belief, a good anti-virus is just not enough to keep your computer safe from viruses and malware. Sometimes, the only option for you will be to format the infected partition in order to eliminate the virus from your system.
Change Drive Size/ File System
In order to set a drive, you must determine its size and file system. Any desired change in the size or file system will require you to format the hard drive.
Format Inaccessible Drive
Sometimes a drive can become inaccessible, which leaves you with no other option but to format a hard drive.
A Few Bonus Tips On How To Format Hard Drive
- Check the Hard Drive Health with HD Sentinel, Free to download. When checking for health this should display health. Below a certain percentage consider purchasing a new Hard drive.
- Always Back up your important files before the formating process, just in case you format your hard drive and you will NOT be able to recover your data back again, making it extremely difficult for retrieving data. Then, this may go down the line of considering even using a data recovery specialist or a solution.
- When formatting your hard drive, ensure you create the right partition as required for your usage.
The hard truth about formatting is that anyone with basic computer skills can retrieve the data from your hard drive even after you have formatted it. A professional hard drive destruction service can help you in this regard. They will make sure that no fragment of your personal data is left in the device by making excellent use of their high-tech data destruction equipment.
Now that you have read this blog, you will have all the information on the topic of how to format a hard drive from BIOS and use the method explained in this blog to repair your existing operating system. The best way for you to format a hard drive from BIOS is to change the settings of your BIOS and use an installation media to boot your windows 10.
A Little About Us
Eco Green IT Recycling offers affordable, compliant and secure data destruction services to its clients in the UK. The company will guarantee the destruction of your data by offering you a ‘Certificate of Destruction’. We provide Computer recycling services within UK, and provide nationwide and international coverage, were required.
A similar topic we’ve recently written was How to disposal of old Laptop.
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