How to Format New Hard Drive [QuickStart]


Key Takeaways:

1. Two methods you get:

2. No cost you paid.

Both two fixes are free for use.

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Do I Need to Format A New Hard Drive?
How to Format New Hard Drive
Format New Hard Drive Windows 10 FAQs

Do I Need to Format A New Hard Drive?

When you get a new hard drive, you may be tempted to start storing files without taking the time to format them first. However, several good reasons you should format your new hard drive before storing any files on it.

Formatting your hard drive gives you a chance to do some routine maintenance and delete any unwanted files that may have come pre-loaded on the drive.

In addition, formatting your hard drive helps to protect it from computer viruses. By taking the time to format your new hard drive, you can help keep your stored files safe and secure.

This article covers two solutions to format new hard drive. One you can apply to is a free disk formatter. Another is our old friend, Windows Disk Management.

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One for All Guideline: How to Format/Reformat A Hard Drive

Replacing a disk, repairing a disk, reinstalling a disk, and using a new disk cannot be accomplished without formatting. This blog holds everything to format a hard drive on Windows or Mac computer with these format utilities.

format disk with Disk Management

How to Format New Hard Drive

#1. How to Format A New Hard Drive with Partition Manager

When you've got a new hard drive, you must spend time formatting it before writing or saving files.

A free disk formatter - Qiling Disk Master Free enables you to format an internal or external hard drive on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. A reliable partition manager helps create, resize, shrink, merge, and clone partitions.

In actual use, Qiling Disk Master Free Edition proved equal or superior to other freeware disk management utilities and quite a few premium ones, too. - cnet.com

Step 1. Right-click the hard drive partition and choose the "Format" option.

Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system, and Cluster size for the partition.

Step 3. Click the "Proceed" button to start formatting the hard drive partition.

Step 4. You can see a warning window, click "Yes" to continue.

Other format options on USB/SD card/PS4:

How to Format Write Protected USB Format SD Card FAT32

#2. Use Disk Management to Create and Format New Hard Drive

Windows 10 includes several ways to format a hard disk, but Disk Management could be the best option.

Video Tutorial: How to Initialize and Format a New Hard Drive in Windows 10

This video records how to initialize and format a new drive on Windows 10, but you can also apply it to Windows 8 and Windows 7.

To format new hard drive with unallocated space on Windows 10:

Step 1. Click the Search icon and type Create and format a hard disk. Click to open Windows Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the targeted hard drive and select the Initialize Disk from the menu.

initialize disk

Step 3. On the Initialize Disk window, check the disk X you want to initialize and select the MBR or GPT style. Click OK.

initialize new disk to MBR or GPT

Step 4. Right-click the unallocated space and select the New Simple Volume. Click Next.

Step 5. You can keep the default size on the New Simple Volume window and click Next.

Step 6. Assign the drive letter and click Next.

Step 7. Check Format this volume with the following settings. Select NTFS as your file system. In the Allocation unit size field, select Default. In the Volume label field, type the name you like.

Step 8. Check the Perform a quick format and click Next.

Step 9. Click Next and then click Finish.

create new simple volume

To format a new hard drive with the existing partition:

Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the new hard drive and choose Format from the list.

disk management format partition

Step 3. On the Format window, type the description name in the Value label field, select NTFS file system in the File system option, and set Allocation unit size as default.

Step 4. Check the Perform a quick format and click OK.

format a new hard drive

Format New Hard Drive Windows 10 FAQs

1. How should I format my new hard drive?

How you format your new hard drive depends on what you plan to use it for. If you are using it to store files, you can format it in any file system that your operating system supports, such as NTFS or FAT32. If you are using it to install an operating system, you'll need to format it in a specific file system that the operating system can understand, such as EXT4.

2. How do I format a new hard drive and install Windows 10?

If you're installing Windows 10 from scratch, you'll need to format your hard drive and install the operating system. One way to do this is to use the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, which you can download from Microsoft's website. Once you've downloaded the tool, follow the prompts to format your hard drive and install Windows 10.

Install Windows on GPT Partition

3. How do you format a hard drive in Windows 10?

To format a hard drive in Windows 10:

This process will erase all data on the drive, so back up any important files before proceeding.

4. How do I format a new hard drive for Mac?

The first way is to use the Disk Utility application with your Mac.

The second way - use the Terminal application.

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