How to format a new hard drive on Windows 10
It’s essential to format a new hard drive to prepare it for use, and in this guide, we’ll show you how to complete this task on Windows 10.
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On Windows 10, when connecting a newinternalorexternalhard drive, it’s important to spend the time to format it before storing files. You want to do this to ensure the drive is empty, working as expected, and free of malware that might otherwise harm the current setup and files. It’s also important to format the storage to ensure it uses the proper settings to avoid compatibility problems.
At any time you format a hard drive, the data will be deleted since part of the process includes purging the file system table that tracks the locations of the files written on disk. The process will redefine where files will be stored, and a compatible file system (such as NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT) will be applied to organize the new content. The system will continue to detect the previous data, but it’ll identify that information as available space to store new data.
Windows 10includes different methods to format a hard drive, but Disk Management is perhaps one of the best options for most users.
Thisguidewill walk you through the steps to properly format a traditional hard drive or Solid-State Drive (SSD), whether it already has a partition or was never initialized.
How to format existing partition from Disk Management
When dealing with a drive with a partition, you can format the existing partition to delete its files and start clean.
To format a partition using Disk Management on Windows 10, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the tool will format the selected partition on the drive, and you can begin storing files.
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How to create and format partition from Disk Management
If you have a hard drive that was never partitioned and formatted, it will not appear in File Explorer, and you’ll have to initialize, create a new partition, and then format it before you can use it.
Usually, you can tell a hard drive doesn’t have a partition because it will not appear in File Explorer, and it’ll show up as unallocated space on Disk Management.
To set up a new hard drive with raw space on Windows 10, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the new hard drive will be initialized, partitioned, and properly formatted.
If the drive is exhibiting problems using the Disk Management tool due to data corruption or another issue, you can use theDiskPart command-line tool to resolve the problem.
More resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:
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Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.
