How to Secure Format Hard Drive in Windows 10/8/7?

Here come 3 different methods to securely format hard drive in Windows 10/8/7- Command Prompt, Disk Management and 3rd partition manager.

By AOMEI / Last Updated April 26, 2020

About hard drive format in Windows 10

Whenever you get a new hard drive, you need to format it before starting to store files inside it. Namely, formatting hard drive is an essential task before using a new drive normally. That can ensure the drive is working well and completely clean without any malware/virus.

However, it is not just an operation on a new hard drive, but also for used hard drive. With the formatting process, you can delete files from the hard drive quickly instead of remove them one by one manually, and you can change its current file system to another proper one for avoid compatibility issues. Therefore, learning how to format hard drive is quite important.

How to format hard disk via Windows 10 native tools?

No matter why you decide to format hard drive in Windows PC, for instance, your partition has been ruined by viruses and you want to wipe them from your PC; or you try to delete all personal data inside before upgrading to a larger one, you can first try the following 2 methods:

Tips: It is suggested to backup data to cloud or external since all files on the hard drive will be erased.

1. Format hard drive via Command Prompt

As many users are asking how to format hard drive using Command Prompt in Windows 10, here we will show how to complete this task first of all.

Step 1. Press «Win+R» at the same time to open Run dialogue, input “cmd” and press Enter to open Command Prompt window.

Step 2. In the window, type “diskpart” and hit on “Enter” to launch DiskPart tool.

Step 3. Then execute the following commands in given order.

list disk

select disk #

list partition

select partition #

format fs=fat32 quick

When it is 100 percent completed, you can execute “exit” command to leave this window. Using Command Prompt to format hard drive can be a great choice for computer IT and experts.

2. Format Hard drive in Windows 10 with Disk Management

Same as Command Prompt, Disk Management is a Windows 10 built-in tool for users to perform some basic operations on hard disk partition such as formatting/creating/deleting/extending/shrinking partition. To use this tool to format Windows 10 hard drive, you should open Disk Management through one of the following ways at first.

Ways of opening Disk Management:
1. Right click «This PC» > «Manage» > «Disk Management».
2. Click «start» menu and then type Disk Management to search.
3. Click «start» menu and type cmd to open command line and then input «compmgmt.msc» and then click Enter.
4. Press «Windows + R» to open the command line and then enter «diskmgmt.msc» to launch Disk Management.

After getting Windows 10 Disk Management open, do as below, please:

Step 1. Right click the Windows 10 hard drive partition you need to format (partition D) and then choose “Format”.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, you can set file system and cluster size and then click «OK».

Unable to format hard drive in Windows 10

Above is on how to format a partition in Windows 10 with the help its native tools. Basically, the built-in Command Prompt and Disk Management can accomplish the disk formatting tasks. However, they will be unable to format hard drive in Windows 10 under some special situations including:

в–¶The target hard drive is over 32GB and you are trying to format it to FAT32 file system.

в–¶You are trying to format the C drive when Windows is running.

в–¶The selected partition is on the internal hard disk and you plan to format it to exFAT file system.

в–¶The hard drive is write-protected or becomes RAW due to the file system corruption.

Best way to format hard drive successfully in Windows 10/8/7

To successfully format hard drive in Windows 10, a powerful disk formatting tool is a better choice. Here we would like to share you with a free partition manager: AOEMI Partition Assistant Standard.

When you cannot format partition in any of the above situations, it can be a nice alternative. It is able to format large hard drive to FAT32, force format hard drive which is write-protected, or format internal hard drive to exFAT, etc. More powerful than Windows native formatting methods! Next we will take formatting an over 32GB hard drive to FAT32 as an example.

Note : before you do, you can use free backup software — AOMEI Backupper Standard to backup necessary data.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Free, install, and launch it. choose the Windows 10 hard disk partition you want to format and select «Format Partition».

Step 2. In the pop-up window, you can set the type of file system, the size of cluster. And then click «OK».

Step 3. To execute the operations, please click «Apply» > «Proceed». Then you can successfully format the hard drive in Windows 10.

вњЌ Tips:
● If you are formatting a FAT32 partition into NTFS, or NTFS partition to FAT32 file system, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard’s “NTFS to FAT32 Converter”, which allows you to convert file systems between NTFS and FAT32 while keeping inside data safe instead of formatting.
в—Џ To format C drive in Windows 10, you need to create a bootable media first. Then, boot Windows 10 from the bootable media by setting boot priority to the bootable drive you created in BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). Finally, format C drive in WinPE mode.

Summary

With three different methods introduced to format hard drive in Windows 10, now you can choose one based on your actual requirements. If you format the hard drive with the purpose of protecting personal data from leakage, it is recommended that you use “wipe partition” feature of AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

To enjoy more advanced disk partition management functions such as converting boot disk between MBR and GPT without deleting partitions, recovering deleted data or boot partitions, allocating free space from one partition to another, and more, you can upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant

How to Format Hard Drive in Windows 10 [5+ Fixes]

On this page, we’ll show you how to format hard drive in Windows 10, wipe a hard drive, and guide you through the process, making your drive ready for storing data, installing Windows, or other purposes.В

Formatting is an essential step before you start using a new hard drive, an internal or external hard drive on Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista. Whether you are using Windows 10 or old Windows 7, check out how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive on your own now.

Windows 10 Hard Drive Format Overview

People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard driveВ in Windows 10 for various reasons. Here is a list of reasons or let’s call it benefits that explains why people intend to format their hard drives, external hard drives, USB or SD, etc., storage devices:

• Format new hard drive before usage
• Format to change a hard drive file system for some specific purposes
• Format a hard drive for a clean installation of the Windows system
• Reformat or wipe a hard drive to erase data, such as restoring the full capacity of a disk

However, only a few people know how to get the job done correctly. In the following, we’ll introduce you to format a new hard drive in Windows 10, format internal/external hard drive, and how to reformat or wipe a hard drive on your own.В

During the process, you may need to use Windows Disk Management, Windows File Explorer, Windows DiskPart, and even a third-partyВ partition manager, etc., for help.

How to Format a New Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to: Format brand new hard drive or external hard drive on Windows 10.

Requested Tools:В в‘ . New HDD/SSD or external HDD;В в‘Ў. Connection cable — SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable;В в‘ў. Format tool — EaseUS partition manager or Disk Management.

If you have a new hard drive or a new external hard drive, you’ll need to initialize it first and create a new partition on it before you can format it. The reason is that a new hard drive doesn’t have a partition, and as a result, itВ won’tВ appear in File Explorer.

But you can use a third-party partition manager software like EaseUS Partition Master or Disk Management for help. Insert or connect your new hard drive to the computer, start initializing a new HDD/SSD and format it in Windows 10 now:В

Method 1. Initialize and Format a New Hard Drive using EaseUS Partition Master

Best for:В Windows beginners

Advantages:В Easy to operate

For most Windows beginners, Windows disk management is not user-friendly as the whole operating process is tricky for them. To help you quickly make the new hard drive usable again, here we suggest you try EaseUS Partition Master.

It’s efficient and easy. You can start to format your own new hard drive now:

First. Initialize New Hard Drive

Step 1. EaseUS Partition Master. Connect the hard drive or SSD to PC.

Step 2. Initialize your HDD/SSD

Right-click the target HDD or SSD and select «Initialize to MBR» or «Initialize to GPT» according to your need.

Step 3. Click «Execute Operation» to keep the changes.

Next. Create Partition on New Hard Drive

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master. On the main window, right-click on the unallocated space on your hard drive or external storage device and select «Create».

Step 2. Adjust the partition size, file system, label, etc. for the new partition and click «OK» to continue.

Step 3. Click on the «Execute Operation» button and create a new partition by clicking «Apply».

Watch the following video tutotial and learn how to create a partition in NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.

Note that during the creating partition process, EaseUS Partition Master will automatically format the created partition, making it ready for usage immediately.

Method 2. Format New Hard Drive on Windows 10 using Disk Management

Best for:В Experienced Windows users

Advantages:В Free

To properly format a new hard drive, you need to be very careful while using Disk Management. To format a new hard drive using Disk Management, use these steps:

Step 1. Press «Windows + R» keys, type diskmgmt.mscВ and click «OK» to open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the hard drive or SSD marked as «Unknown» and «Not Initialized,» and select «Initialize Disk».

If the disk showsВ as Offline, first right-click it and select «Online».

Step 3. In the Initialize Disk dialog box, checkВ the disk to initialize. And then click «OK» to accept the default partition style, or you can change the partition style (GPT or MBR) as you want.В

• Master Boot Record (MBR) is for hard drives smaller than 2TB in size.
• GUID Partition Table (GPT) is for hard drives larger than 2TB in size.

Step 4. Find the initialized disk, right-click the unallocated space, and select the «New Simply Value»В option.В

Step 5.В Set up and format the created partition on the new hard drive.

Follow the on-screen instructions to set up volume size, drive letter, NTFS as the file system, and check the «Perform a quick format»В option.В

Step 6. Click the «Next» > «Finish» button.

Depending on the size of the drive, it can take some time to finish. When the process completes, your new hard drive will be initialized, partitioned, and properly formatted.В

How to Format an Internal/External (Used) Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to: Format a used internal or external hard drive in Windows 10/8/7/XP, etc.

Requested Tools:В в‘ . HDD/SSD or external HDD;В в‘Ў. Connection cable — SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable;В в‘ў. Format tool — EaseUS partition manager, Disk Management, File Explorer, DiskPart.

If you have a hard drive or an external hard drive already organized with partitions, you can format the existing partition to remove its content and start fresh with a clean drive. We cover the three most popular ways to format a partition, like displayed below.

Keep your hard drive or external HDD connected to your PC and choose one method that works best for you to start formatting the disk on your now:

Method 1. Format Hard Drive in Windows 10 with EaseUSВ Management Software

Best for:В All levels of Windows users, specially designed for Windows beginners

Advantages:В Easy & 4-Step Formatting

EaseUS Partition Master is a popular disk partition management tool that is available for all hard disk managing jobs, such as to format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem,В convert MBR to GPT without data lossВ and vice versa.

It even works when you failed to do the Windows 10 disk format job or can’t format hard drive with other Windows formatting tools.

Video Tutorial to Format HDD/SSD in Windows 10

Step-by-step Guide to Format Hard Drive/External HDD in Windows 10

Step 1.В Right-click the hard drive partition and choose the «Format» option.

Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system, and Cluster size for the partition, then click «OK».

Step 3. You can see a warning window, click «OK» to continue.

Step 4. Click the «Execute Operation» button in the top-left corner, then click «Apply» to start formatting the hard drive partition.

Repeat the whole process to format all existing partitions on your hard drive one by one.

Method 2. Format Windows 10 Hard Drive Partition using File Explorer

Best for:В Windows beginners

Advantages:В Free

Another easy way is to use Windows File Explorer to format a working hard drive or external hard drive on your Windows PC. Here are the steps:

Here, we’ll take formatting an external hard drive as an example to show you the formatting process.

Step 1. Press «Windows key + E» to bring up the Windows Explorer.

Or you can click and open up the «Computer» in Windows 7 or «This PC» in Windows 10.

Step 2. Right-click on the connected external hard drive or internal hard drive partition and select «Format».

Step 3. On the format window, select the desired file system -В NTFS for your device.

Step 4.В Check «Quick Format» and click «Start».

After this, click «OK» to confirm and finish the formatting. If you have several partitions created on your hard drive, repeat the whole process till you cleaned all the partitions.

Method 3. Format Hard Drive withВ Windows Disk Management

Best for:В Experienced Windows users

Advantages: Free

Windows 10 offers users a built-in disk management tool to create, delete, extend, shrink, and formatВ partitions. Here are the steps to format hard drive partition using Disk Management:

Step 1.В Right-click on Windows icon and selectВ «Disk Management».

Step 2.В Right-click on the target drive or partition and click on «Format».

Step 3.В Select the file system and set the cluster size.

Step 4. Click «OK» to format the drive.

Repeat the steps to format the rest partitions on your hard drive.

Method 4. Format Hard Drive with Diskpart in Command Prompt

Best for:В Experienced users & administratorsВ

Advantages:В Free

Unlike Disk Management and File Explorer, DiskPart Command Prompt does more than merely formatting disk. It also lets you do other more advanced operations on your computer.

Be careful with every step, as any false operation may cause serious results.В Here are the steps to format hard drive partition using DiskPart Command Prompt:

Step 1. Type cmdin the search box in Windows 10, right-click on Command Prompt, and choose «Run as administrator».

Step 2. In the command prompt, type diskpart and press «Enter».

Step 3. Type the following command lines and hit Enter each time:

• list disk
• select disk + disk numberВ ( for example, select disk 2)В
• list volume
• select volume+volumeВ number
• format fs=ntfsВ

Repeat the process till you have formatted all exiting volumes on your hard drive.В

Step 4.В TypeВ exitВ and hit Enter to close the command window.

All the ways above can help you format a used hard drive or external hard drive in Windows 10. If you want a comprehensive solution that can help you manage your disk easily, we highly recommend you try EaseUS Partition Master.В

How to Reformat or Wipe a Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to:В Clean up whole hard drive data by re-formatting or wipe hard drive at one time in Windows 10/8/7.

Requested Tools: в‘ . HDD/SSD or external HDD;В в‘Ў. Connection cable — SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable; в‘ў. Hard disk wipe tool — EaseUS partition manager

Sometimes, people may want to re-format or wipe a hard drive so as to clean up existing data on the device thoroughly. Reformatting a hard drive indeed works but you have to repeat the formatting again and again.

In this part, we’ve collected an efficient way to help you wipe hard drive data, clear all existing data on the device at one time.В

Wipe a Hard Drive using EaseUS Partition Master

Best for:В All levels of Windows users

Advantages:В One-click to wipe a hard drive several times

Let’s see how to wipe your hard drive easily at one time:

Step 1. В Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master.

Select the HDD or SSD which you want to wipe. And right-click to choose «Wipe Data».

Step 2. В Set the number of times to wipe data.

You can set to 10 at most. Then click «OK».

Step 4. В Click «Apply» to apply the changes.

Click «Execute the operation» and then click «Apply» to start wiping data.

After this, you can restart your PC and use the hard drive like a brand new disk by then.В

How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive

Data loss issue due to misformattingВ hard drive or formatting without backups occurs from time to time. Formatting doesn’t erase the data on the disk, only removing the address tables.

However, without a data recovery tool, you cannot recover data from a formatted hard drive.В EaseUS Data Recovery WizardВ is capable of recovering lost data even if you accidentally format a disk without a backup.

This top-notch file recovery software enables you to quickly and simply restore lost data because of hard drive formatting, emptying recycle bin, partition loss, OS crash, virus attack, and more. You can even use it to recover deleted files in Windows 10 in only a few clicks.

Now, download this robust data recovery program and recover data after formatting hard drive.В

Step 1. Choose the partition.

Launch EaseUS formatted data recovery software after the installation. Choose the hard drive partition which you’ve accidentally formatted. Click «Scan».

Step 2. Select wanted files.

After the scanning process, you can click «Filter» to filter a specific file type to quickly find wanted files.

Step 3. Recover files to a secure location.

Select the data files you wish to recover. Click «Recover». Choose a location to store the files and click «OK».

Conclusion and Format Hard Drive FAQs

On this page, we covered comprehensive solutions to help you resolve formatting hard drive issues on your own. With the presented methods, you can easily format a brand new hard drive, format an internal or external hard drive, and even thoroughly wipe a hard drive in Windows 10.В

As for Windows beginners, we suggest you back up important data first, then apply a practical formatting tool like EaseUS Partition Master for help.В

We collected some top concerned questions and list answers here.В If you have the same questions about hard drive formatting in Windows 10, check the following FAQs.

1. Can’t format hard drive in Windows 10, how to fix?

When you can’t format a hard drive in using Disk Management or file explorer, give EaseUS Partition Master a shot. It can directly resolve your issue with its Format feature.

You can also refer to Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format for further fixes.В

2. How do I format hard drive when the disk management format option greyed out?

When you are making hard drive maintenance with free disk management tools, you may encounter the issue — «Disk Management format greyed out».

You can’t format a partition because the «Format» option is greyed out in Windows 10/8/7. To solve the «Format volume greyed out» issue, we have offered these solutions:

• Restart PC
• Format Hard Drive using Disk Management alternative, like EaseUS Partition Master
• Run CMD to format hard drive

For a detailed guide, you may refer to «Format Option Greyed Out» for help.

3. How do I format HDD or external hard drive to FAT32?

According to some game players, sometimes, they need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive to FAT32 for specific usage. However, the normal formatting way can’t help.

When there is no FAT32 option in Windows 10 File Explorer or Disk Management, you can apply either the Windows CMD or the third-party partition manager — EaseUS Partition Master to format device to FAT32 in Windows 10/8/7.

Turn to professional FAT32 formatting tools for help and format disk to FAT32 now.В