Reformatting a drive windows 7

Step 7: Click the OK button to confirm that you are aware that formatting the USB flash drive will delete all of the data that is currently stored on it. Step 8: Click the OK button on the pop-up window after Windows informs you that the format is complete. Are you running out of space on your flash drive, and need to get rid of some files?

This article will teach you how to delete files on your flash drive. Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Method 1. Partitioning the Hard Drive. All rights reserved.

This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Backup all your files, drivers and settings so that you can restore them later. Find all your installation discs or product keys for the programs you want to keep so that you can restore them after the installation is complete. Partition your hard drive. This means dividing the hard drive into parts and making the parts available to the OS Operating System.

Find the drive you want to partition. You can choose the entire size of the hard drive or you could choose to create several partitions at this point, the total of which equals the size of the drive.

Assign a drive letter. You can choose any letters other than A or B. See the summary that pops up of your chosen partition options and check that they are correct. It can be done through different ways.

To execute it you must press F8 key before the Windows logo appears and the Advanced Boot Options menu will open, now you must choose the option "Safe Mode with Command Prompt. To confirm the restore, select "Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition" and finally click "Next".

Within the installation you can skip the step where you must type the product key. However, Windows will quickly detect that you do not have the product key and if you do not register it as soon as possible, some functions such as updates and downloads for the operating system will be disabled and this will generate compatibility and security problems on your computer.

It is common today that most computers do not have a reader unit. Fortunately, for this case, you can use a flash drive or even reserve a partition on your disk to run the Windows installer.

Generally rated 4. Formatting a drive is a necessary maintenance task you should know how to do to keep the PC fast and free from viruses. Download Mac Download Win. Theo Lucia. Part 1. Overview of Formatting Disk in Windows 7 Part 2. Part 4. Hard drive won't boot? Fix it What if a disk unallocated? You Might Also Like. How to Wipe Hard drive in Windows and Mac? Other popular Articles From Wondershare. Note: you should make sure you are going to format the correct disk; otherwise you will face data loss issue.

In Disk Management, you cannot format C drive or the partition where Windows is installed. To format a system disk or volume, move to Guide 2. Step 3. Set volume label, file system type, allocation unit size and click OK button. Step 4. Click OK to the warning message about formatting and the drive will be formatted right away.

Note: Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. Backup any data you want to keep before formatting. DiskGenius is free disk partition software and it can reformat hard drive easily and quickly. Apart from formatting hard drive, it is capable of permanently wiping a hard drive and other storage devices, so that files can never be recovered by any methods.

In this part, we are going to use DiskGenius to reformat a disk and here is the quick formatting guide. Install and launch DiskGenius from your computer. Select the disk to be formatted and click Format button from toolbar. Select file system type and click Format button. You can set a name on your own or leave it blank to let Windows name it.

Click OK on the pop-up message box and DiskGenius starts to format the drive. Method 3: Reformat hard drive via DiskPart Command. In this section, we explain how you can format a hard disk using Diskpart commands. If you are novice user and not familiar with these commands, you can try previous methods to complete formatting task.

In Windows PowerShell, type diskpart and hit Enter key. Type following command one by one and press Enter key after each command. Create partition primary This command will create a primary partition on the disk to be formatted. Assign assign a drive letter so that you can view the partition in File Explorer. Reformatting a bootable hard drive is a little more complicated than formatting a secondary disk, for Windows does not allow users to format system drive when it is running.

In this case, you need to format disk without booting to system. Once system disk gets formatted, you will have to reinstall Windows to make computer bootable.

In this section, we use DiskGenius to do the task.