How to Format Hard Drive and Install Windows Operating System
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FORMAT HARDDISK/ HARDDRIVE
Depending on whether you are formatting your master hard drive or slave hard drive the ways of formatting will differ.
To format a Slave Hard drive (Not the hard drive with your current Operating System) you can simply format the drive in two ways, these methods are
1. Simply go into My computers then right click the specific Hard drive you wish to format then simply click Format. From here you can select the format type Fat 32 or NTFS ( NTFS the most common these days as its much faster than Fat 32)
Its also best to click the quick format option as this will dramatically reduce the time it will take to format the Drive. Remember when using this method you must close all applications and files that are being run the computer from that drive otherwise you will not be able to proceed with the format.
2. The next way is to format your hard drive via command prompt. To enter command prompt simply click start then run and enter “cmd” (without the “”) this will then bring up the command line. You can now format from here by simply typing format followed by the drive letter. E.g Format C:/
The next method is for formatting your primary or master drive and the best way to do this is to do it as a part of your windows installation. I will cover the formatting of the hard drive along with the installation of windows O/S below.
Format Hard disk and Install Windows Operating System
Steps
1.
The first step is to enter your computers BIOS. To do this when your computer is booting up it may ask you if you wish to enter setup or bios. The most common key to enter your setup/bios is DEL or F1. It may differ depending on what sort of motherboard you have just make sure you look out for the alert to find the appropriate key. If you cant seem to catch the key or if the screen flashes on too quick try pressing the Pause Break key and this will pause the boot up screen for you.
2.
The next step is to change the boot up options for your computer. Depending on your motherboard it will be in a different location but it should be quite easy to find with a little searching. When you find it simply change the boot up priority on your computer so that the number 1 priority is to boot from CD or DVD ROM Drive.
3.
Once you have setup your boot up priority and saved and exited your BIOS, its time to put your Windows CD into your CD/DVD rom drive and wait for it to do its thing and boot up. You may be presented with an option “If you wish to boot from the CD press any key” where you should press a key for the windows cd booting process begins.
4.
Once the windows CD has booted up select from the Menu install Windows. From this point you can choose where about you want to install your operating system files. When starting from scratch the easiest thing to do is to delete all the partitions and start from the beginning. Once you have created the partition sizes you would like (e.g. a 80GB hard drive into two 40GB partitions.) you can select on which partition to install windows. Its always recommended to install windows onto a partition incase one of the partitions fails the other one can be used to retrieve backup data.
5.
Now select the type of format FAT 32 or NTFS (NTFS recommended) and once you’ve pressed enter Windows will pretty much take over the rest. You will have to answer a few prompts along the way (admin name, passwords, network settings etc) but that’s about it. The installation of windows usually takes no longer than an 120 minutes , the time taken will depend on how much memory you have, hard drive space and cpu speed.
Goodluck I hope I helped. Let me know if I left something out :)
Remember to Backup your Files before Formatting
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Comments
No Problem :)
Interesting hub on installing Windows, but how to go about formatting your hard-drive a second time if needed.
Thanks for comment, not quite sure what you mean by second time but i am assuming you format it once then make paritions then decide to clear it and format again, u you can use all the proccesses above to do the format again, or simply format from command prompt format driveletter:/
A very nice tutorial.
good explanation with nice language..
I'm sure a few folks are gonna find this useful with all the nasty viruses floating around on the net these days...
Yea very true some virus's just dont go away until you do a fresh format and install
Very handy advice. I kept installing two or more versions of windows on my computer after a format. :-)
HINDI MASYADO DETAILED ANG INSTRUCTIONS!!!!
Nice Explanation with good comments. Thanks expectus.
thanks for the comment chandanakumarct :)
I've never really formatted my own hard drive to prevent creating problems for myself. Now that I've read this, I just want to know how to partition hard drive into two. Will bookmark this for future reference. Hope you don't mind. :)
ofcourse you can bookmark it :), the easiest way to do this is to run the windows xp setup disk, and follow the installation procedure until you get the part of selecting the partition and create a partition from your unallocated space (free space on current harddrive) , beware dont delete a partition unless you know what it is I dont want you deleting you precious files.
Another option is to use a partitioning software package while in windows, to make it easy and prevent making mistakes. I hear partition magic is popular but I dont think its freeware.
hi beatsme , sorry the above method actually wont work I realized , only work if your main drive has unalloacted space but I am assuming the entire drive is being used otherwise its kinda silly.
If you have vista there is an easy option to shrink down the size of drive , therefore leaving freespace left over unallocated which you can use for your 2nd partition unfortunately its not available in anything before vista. if you have vista do the following,
goto your control panel -> Administrative tools -> computer management - under storage Disk management then you can right click on a drive and click shrink. then create partition from space you just created.
Otherwise it looks like third party software is the best bet without sacrificing you data. The trial version of partition magic should be able to do everything you need :)
just search for partition magic on http://download.cnet.com/windows/ , good site for downloads:)
Hi Expectus, thanks. :) Will try to do your advice, probably in the future. Right now, I have lots of files that shouldn't be deleted. :)
I know what you mean my entire desktop is filled with random files:) goodluck
A very nice Article
i so so much believe in it
I format my harddrive every 6 months to completly cleanup and speed up my pc...
I then enjoy installing again, all the latest programs, drivers, ect...
Formatting a harddrive is easy when you know how, which you have detailed how very well!!
thanks for the comment compu-smart :)it definitely speeds up your comp after formatting you just got to make sure you install all the motherboard and chipset drivers afterwards :)
Easiest method I seen :)
Sir I wanted to know that what do you mean by FAT 32 or NTFS format.Basically what is this format and what is its affect in installation of windows and my other question was that if i only have a single drive that do i have to follow the same procedure and last question that will all these networking settings and other basic components such as different drivers that include sound drivers and extra so are they also installed when i install the operating system If not,then should i make partitions and transfer these files into another partition and then only format the drive containing the windows or what else?
Hi kahoot , Fat32 is just the older file format in regards to NTFS its a lot slower and has little security , no compression or encryption.
and yes you can use these steps if you have just a single drive, just make sure to install all the drivers that came with your motherboard , if you have an inbuilt soundcard the cd with your mobo will have the drivers on it. Otherwise you can just install windows and use windows update to find drivers for your hardware.
No need to create a partition to transfer files, But its usually best to have atleast two partitions that way you keep a backup on one incase one gets corupt you simply format 1 partition instead of the entire drive
Very well written hub .....
very much informative ......
Thank you very much for your great hub, for good advice, good wishes and support. Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us.
thanks for the very nice comment Sexy jonty :)
how do i partition my hard disk
you can follow the instructions above using your windows cd , or you can use a 3rd party software like partition magic
Thanks for the great info. I have done this many times and found it rather difficult on my old computer because it often froze during windows installation. Needless to say, this was very frustrating, but luckily I have a new computer now, and am thoroughly enjoying it. Awesome hub! =]
thanks CHoke Frantic:)
i've just reformat my pc & install new os (xp)..one thing i feel wierd is after installation done in My Computer> drive c:>Program files there's still program (Software) from my last os..i did reformat my hdd.pls help
i want fresh hdd with fresh os from my old pc
Hi fred, its normal to have folders inside C:/program Files , as you would have installed things from windows xp cd as well as motherboard drivers.
if it formatted correctly it should be obvious because your harddrive will have lots of freespace, and some folders in program files is normal. otherwise the format may not have been successful
Useful post. I've tried formatting in the past. Every one should know to do this.
thanks for the comment peterander, very true and it does wonders for a sluggish PC
thank you, its a useful information
In upper section you wrote that we can use "Format C:/" to format which I think cannot be true because C: cannot be formatted under Windows (you cant destroy your WIN installed drive).
Another little note is that you should select Quick Format only if you are 100% sure that the drive is error free.
Any way, thanks for writing.
well that's true but not everyone has there O/S installed on C:/ and in the old days your could run a recovery console or windows console and simply type C:/format to get it started and then run setup from your installation disk or bootup cd's.
and as far error free, do you mean no damaged segments? things like that because a quick format is still a format and problems with the harddisk will be obvious before deciding to do a format
Hey i have a 80gb hard disk which got corrupted(blue screen probs)
And i cant even format it with my windows 7 cd.
Help...
Please..
can you access it at all? if you set is as slave drive? otherwise if you cannot format i'm sorry to tell you it may be on its way out.
I agree with backing up to a second drive. I did a reformat and install a few months ago. Using the backup feature of XP was such a useful app. Don't forget to export your bookmarks from your browser to the second drive. That is something a lot of people forget to do. Spend at least 1 hour going through your files to make sure there is nothing you forgot to back up!
guidebaba says:
9 months ago
Excellent. Thanks for answering my request.