How do I format a hard drive? A computer hard drive stores your files, allowing you to access them at any time. The majority of the time, you want these files to remain stored properly and safely.

Formatting your hard drive is an important step in setting up your computer. It clears all the data off the disk so that you can start fresh. DiskPart is a powerful command-line tool that allows you ...

Partitioning your hard drive sounds like a technically involved task that most people don’t need to bother with—but it’s actually relatively simple to do, doesn’t have to cost you any money, and can ...

Unlike internal hard drives, most external hard drives come already partitioned and formatted. However, if you need multiple partitions for your business data, you may need to remove or shrink the ...

Formatting your hard drive is very useful. It’s good for clearing everything off a secondary drive or when installing a new copy of Windows. Formatting is also good for cleaning up storage issues, ...

Launching the DiskPart is not a big task. You are just required to open the Windows command terminals, either the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell with the administrative rights. In this ...

Ubuntu can format hard drive partitions with the FAT16 file system, used by older operating systems such as Microsoft DOS and Windows 95. Some older devices may also require a hard drive partition ...

Most PCs come from the factory with a single partition on their hard drive, meaning that it shows up as one drive in the Computer window (as C:, typically). But keeping your data, applications, and ...

Editor’s note (1/12/10): For more-current advice, see “How (and Why) to Partition Your Hard Drive.” No matter the capacity of your PC’s hard drive, chances are that it’s set up to function as one ...