How To Format Your Computer
There may come a time when the only option that you have to fix your computer is to just format it and start fresh. This may be due to a virus that has gotten out of control to the point where you just can’t get rid of it, an important file becomes corrupted or when something in the registry gets changed and you can’t fix it. There are many reasons as to why you may need to format your computer but those for the most part the most common, at least that I have heard.
It’s Easy! If you know what you are doing
A lot of people are in fact afraid to even try formatting their computer because they have no idea how to actually do it. When in fact it is a relatively simple process and while it can take a fair amount of time to actually format the steps to do it are quite easy.
Considering I want to keep this as simple as possible there are 2 ways that I am going to show you; using the command prompt and using Windows Explorer.
NOTE: Before you try this be fully aware of what the consequences are and what will happen. Should you decide to format your computer ALL of the data WILL BE ERASED on your hard drive. It is possible to recover data from your hard drive but those tools and methods are not guaranteed.
Using the command prompt to format your computer
Without going into a huge amount of detail the command prompt allows you to create, delete, edit, move, copy, rename and a whole lot of other functions on your computer. The only difference is that it is all text based and there are no graphics, meaning unless you know the right commands a new computer user will have no idea how to use it let alone even access it.
If you are using Windows XP, click on Start and then click on Run. Once the dialog box opens up, type in cmd and hit Enter. If you are using Windows Vista, click on the Windows icon, type in command and hit Enter.
You should see something similar to the above image pop open in a new window. This is the command prompt and one tool that you can use to format a computer. Once the command prompt is open it is time to actually issue the command.
If you are wanting to format your default drive on your computer it will most likely be the C: drive. Otherwise, figure out which drive you are wanting to format. Once you have selected the right drive, type in
format C:
and hit Enter. A new line will be created telling you the file system of the drive along with a warning message.
The warning is there for good reason too. Notice it says, WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST! Now, considering it is in all caps and ends with a ! it must mean you need to read it and realize what is going to happen.
Should you decide to proceed, type in Y and hit Enter. The computer will then go through the necessary steps to format your computer so that you can start with a clean slate.
Using Windows Explorer to format your computer
This way is a little bit easier for most people to follow as you will just be using the Windows interface which most are used to. There is no typing involved or weird commands or command prompt screens.
If you are using Windows XP open up My Computer and if you are using Windows Vista open up Computer. Both can be found in the Start Menus on the default installations of each operating system. Right click on the drive in which you would like to format.
Select Format… from the drop down menu and a new dialog box should pop up giving you further options.
This box will tell you the size of the drive, the file system type, allocation unit size, an input box for the volume label and a few other options.
Disregard the first 3 settings; capacity, file system and allocation unit size. You can also not bother with Volume label and just let Windows automatically name the new drive (you can always go back and change this later).
Quick format will erase all the files on your drive without checking it for bad sectors which could cause further issues in the future if you choose to skip this and your drive does in fact have bad sectors. Unless you know for a fact that your drive is fine I would recommend leaving this unchecked and letting it run its course.
Enable compression compresses the files and folders on the new drive when they are created giving you extra space to put even more on your drive.
Create an MS-DOS startup disk is an option available should you have a floppy disk drive connected to your computer. This will create a disk for you that lets you boot up your computer so that you can install the operating system. Not needed nowadays for newer computers and operating systems as they can be installed directly from the discs that they come on.
Once you have configured all the settings, click on Start and wait. Depending upon the size of your drive and the settings you chose, it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 12+ hours.
That’s it for this guide, hopefully you were able to understand it and learned something from it. If you did, why not leave me a comment and let me know how I am doing? I enjoy knowing that I have helped others.
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