How to Format a Computer Hard drive
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
Formatting is used for brand new hard drive to allow users to utilize it. It place the magnetic markers found on the drive surface to classify the sectors where the important pieces of data in the computer are stored. Moreover, formatting a computer’s hard drive resets the drive to its original settings. One of the reasons why we reformat the computer’s hard drive is to prepare the computer before installing a new Operating System that we intend to use. There are several ways in formatting a hard drive: (1) by the use of Installer CD of the Operating System (2) by the use of the Computer Management Program in Windows Operating System and (3) by the use of a bootable floppy MSDOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) disk.
Materials Needed:- Hard drive
- Computer
- Operating System (OS)
- CD-ROM / DVD-ROM
Step 1
When formatting your PC’s hard drive, remember to back up all your files because once the computer’s hard drive is reformatted, all data will be erased.
Step 2
Go to your system’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and set to boot up the system with the CD-Rom Drive. To do this, restart the PC and press the 'delete', 'F2' or 'F8' key. In the BIOS menu, go to the advance BIOS feature then make the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM boot first and the second boot is the hard drive. Press the 'F10' key to save the configuration that has been configured and press 'Y' to exit.
Step 3
Insert the Operating System’s CD into the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive before starting the system. You will see a series on instructions to follow to boot from the CD. Follow the instructions on Windows installation program.
Step 4
Format the hard drive thru Computer Management Program. Click the 'start' key, go to 'settings' and click the 'control panel' icon that you will see on the screen. From the 'control panel' menu, look for 'Computer Program Management'. Click on 'Disk Management'' and select what hard drive needs reformatting. Make a right click on the selected hard drive and choose 'Format'.
Step 5
Format the hard drive thru floppy disk. The floppy disk that will be used should be bootable and be able to boot in MSDOS mode. After the boot up process, the computer will be in DOS mode. Type the syntax 'format c:' or depending on what letter that hard drive is located and needs reformatting.