how can i completely format my hard disk?

Question

guys plz help my laptop has 37 GB of free space and now only 1 gb is free. i now want to completely format my hard disk. when i right click on the c drive and click format it says some components are used by windows.

Answer 1

if u have a windows xp bootable disk, then insert it and it will give u an option to format it. cuz if u format the c drive, which i think contains ur windows, u may need the windows disk to reinstall windows on it.

Answer 2

After it is formatted the old data is still recoverable by experts in this field. Most other people can't access the data. The department of defense used to overright the complete disk 10 times with new information to de classify one. The only thing reformatting does is test the drive, set up a new file catalog and mark any bad sectors that don't work good anymore. If you write over the information enough times you can probably make it inexcessable to everyone. This is difficult to do or requires special software. The best method is to open up the drive and completely destroy the platters inside the drive like someone else suggested.

Answer 3

Formatting and Installing from the Windows XP CD

Instructions



* STEP 1: This section explains how to reformat a drive from the Windows XP installation CD. This can be used when installing a fresh copy of Windows onto a computer. Here it is especially important to backup all of your important information because upon formatting you will lose EVERYTHING that used to be on the drive. This includes all applications and device drivers, so you must backup everything you can.

* STEP 2: Insert your Windows XP installation disc into your CD drive (Home or Pro it does not matter).

* STEP 3: Restart your computer. On the first screen that comes up as your computer starts it should say at the bottom a key that you can press to change the Boot Sequence (may also be called Boot Device or Boot Order), press whatever key is specified. If your computer does not give you the option to change the boot sequence directly from the startup screen you will need to enter your BIOS Setup by pressing whichever key your computer specifies for Setup, and then from the BIOS setup you need to change your boot order so that the CD drive is before Hard Disks. If all you see right when your computer starts up is a splash screen with the computer manufactuer's name press the 'Esc' key to display which keys to press for boot sequence or BIOS setup.

* STEP 4: Now as you computer boots a little more it will say “Press any key to boot from CD..” press a key to do so.

* STEP 5: The CD will load up a blue screen and then spend a while loading files it needs. When it is finished it will list a few options mainly “Press ENTER to set up Windows XP,” press Enter or Return.

* STEP 6: Now you will be at a screen to select where to install Windows to, this is where you can delete old partitions and format drives. The box in the bottom half of the screen shows all your drives and the partitions that exist on them. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight your “C:” partition and press the 'D' key (if all that shows up is “Unpartitioned space” and you have no C: or D: partitions skip this step). On the next screen press the 'L' key to finalize deleting the partition.

* STEP 7: Now you are back on the screen to choose where to install Windows. The box on the lower half of the screen should no longer show a partition but simply have an entry “Unpartitioned space xxxxxMB.” Select this with the arrow keys and press the 'C' key to create a partition on the drive. The next screen tells you the minimum and maximum sizes the partition can be and lets you pick the size. The default size is the maximum, but double check that the number entered is the maximum and hit enter.

* STEP 8: Now you will again be back at the choose where to install Windows screen only this time you will have a partition that looks something like this “C: Partition1 [New (Raw)] xxxxxxMB.” Highlight this entry and press enter.

* STEP 9: The next screen lets you choose which filesystem to format the drive with. If your computer will be sharing files over a network with a Windows ME, 98, or 95 computer select “FAT32” otherwise choose NTFS as it is faster and more secure. If the drive is brand new and has never been used before then use one of the options that ends in “(Quick)” otherwise choose one of the lower down options. Use the arrow keys to select the proper one and press Enter or Return.

* STEP 10: From here you are all set and the installation of Windows will proceed starting with a format of your drive. This will take a while (over half an hour) so you can go take a little break.

Answer 4

You do not want to format your laptop harddrive. If you do, you will loose the operating system and ALL your files. If you don't care about losing what you have and you have the factory "restore" cd's, you can do that to make it like new. Otherwise, you need to identify what files you don't need and can get rid of. Also, be sure to clear your internet explorer chach (start internet explorer, tools, internet options, general tab, and click delete files, clear history) that will give you more space. Also, if your laptop has a burner and you want to keep files, consider buring a cd rom of the files, then delete off the laptop.

Answer 5

Requirments r like bootable CD and a pc



load the boot cd in a pc and restart and on acheiving the first screen press delete and go to BIOS and select 2nd opt thn select the 2nd opt again press f10 say ' Y 'and reboot the sys and thn whn the sys ask s for " boot frm cd " press enter.and thn follow the instruction.

Answer 6

format only if you have the OS installation CD. and backup your important data like video, music, files ,installations, etc

boot your computer in dos mode with a MS-DOS startup disk(can be created >right click on the 'floppy drive' logo in 'my computer' and select 'format', then select 'create ms dos startup disk)

type 'fdisk' and follow the instructions.

you will have to create a primary(must) and a logical(optional) partition after running fdisk and you will also have to allocate the space to each partition.

Answer 7

Remove ur hard disk OR attach it with other PC or laptop then format it OR if u doesn't know how to open hard disk then u need a bootable disk..

Answer 8

http://yanswers.blogspot.com/2006/10/windows-reinstallation.html

Answer 9

Go to bootdisk.com and download a win98se bootdisk

boot with it and format c:

Answer 10

HI

Take a XP cd &restart u r computer and press 'del'button &u will enter to BIO's setup & set as first boot device as





FormatFormats the disk in the specified volume to accept Windows files.



Syntax

format volume [/fs:file-system] [/v:label] [/q] [/a:UnitSize] [/c] [/x]



format volume [/v:label] [/q] [/f:size]



format volume [/v:label] [/q] [/t:tracks /n:sectors]



format volume [/v:label] [/q]



format volume [/q]



Parameters

volume

Specifies the mount point, volume name, or drive letter of the drive you want to format. If you do not specify any of the following command-line options, format uses the volume type to determine the default format for the disk.

/fs:file-system

Specifies the file system to use FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. Floppy disks can use only the FAT file system.

/v:label

Specifies the volume label. If you omit the /v command-line option or use it without specifying a volume label, format prompts you for the volume label after the formatting is completed. Use the syntax /v: to prevent the prompt for a volume label. If you format more than one disk by using one format command, all of the disks will be given the same volume label. For more information about disk volume labels, click Dir, Label, and Vol in the Related Topics list.

/a:UnitSize

Specifies the allocation unit size to use on FAT, FAT32, or NTFS volumes. If you do not specify UnitSize, it is chosen based on volume size. The following table lists valid values for UnitSize. Value Description

512 Creates 512 bytes per cluster.

1024 Creates 1024 bytes per cluster.

2048 Creates 2048 bytes per cluster.

4096 Creates 4096 bytes per cluster.

8192 Creates 8192 bytes per cluster.

16K Creates 16 kilobytes per cluster.

32K Creates 32 kilobytes per cluster.

64K Creates 64 kilobytes per cluster.



/q

Performs a quick format. Deletes the file table and the root directory of a previously formatted volume but does not perform a sector by sector scan for bad areas. You should use the /q command-line option to format only previously formatted volumes that you know are in good condition.

/f:size

Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format. When possible, use this command-line option instead of the /t and /n command-line options. Windows accepts the following value for size:

1440 or 1440k or 1440kb or 1.44 or 1.44m or 1.44mb

1.44-MB, double-sided, quadruple-density, 3.5-inch disk



/t:tracks

Specifies the number of tracks on the disk. When possible, use the /f command-line option instead of this command-line option. If you use the /t command-line option, you must also use the /n command-line option. These two command-line options provide an alternative method of specifying the size of the disk being formatted. You cannot use the /f command-line option with the /t command-line option.

/n:sectors

Specifies the number of sectors per track. When possible, use the /f command-line option instead of this command-line option. If you use the /n command-line option, you must also use the /t command-line option. These two command-line options provide an alternative method of specifying the size of the disk being formatted. You cannot use the /f command-line option with the /n command-line option.

/c

NTFS only. Files created on the new volume will be compressed by default.

/x

Causes the volume to dismount, if necessary, before it is formatted. Any open handles to the volume will no longer be valid.

/?

Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

Using format at the Recovery Console

The format command, with different parameters, is available from the Recovery Console.



Administrative privileges

You must be a member of the Administrators group to format a hard drive.



Using format

The format command creates a new root directory and file system for the disk. It can also check for bad areas on the disk, and it can delete all data on the disk. To be able to use a new disk, you must first use this command to format the disk.



Typing a volume label

After formatting a floppy disk, format displays the following message:



Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?



The volume label can be a maximum of 11 characters (including spaces). If you do not want your disk to have a volume label, just press ENTER. For information about volume labels, click label in the Related Topics list.



Formatting a hard disk

When you use the format command to format a hard disk, format displays a message of the following form before attempting to format the hard disk:



WARNING, ALL DATA ON nonremovable DISK

DRIVE x: WILL BE LOST!

Proceed with Format (Y/N)?_



To format the hard disk, press Y; if you do not want to format the disk, press N. You must have Administrator rights to format a hard disk.



Unit size

FAT file systems restrict the number of clusters to no more than 65526. FAT32 file systems restrict the number of clusters to between 65527 and 4177917.



NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes above 4096.



Format messages

When formatting is complete, format displays messages showing the total disk space, any space marked as defective, and the space available for your files.



Quick formatting

You can speed up the formatting process by using the /q command-line option. Use this command-line option only if there are no bad sectors on your hard disk.



Using format with a reassigned drive or a network drive

You should not use the format command on a drive prepared by using the subst command. You cannot format disks over a network.



Format exit codes

The following table lists each exit code and a brief description of its meaning.



Exit code Description

0 The format operation was successful.

1 Incorrect parameters were supplied.

4 A fatal error occurred (any error other than 0, 1, or 5).

5 The user pressed N in response to the prompt "Proceed with Format (Y/N)?" to stop the process.



You can check these exit codes by using the errorlevel condition with the if batch command.



Examples

To format a new floppy disk in drive A using the default size, type:



format a:



To perform a quick format operation on a previously formatted disk in drive A, type:



format a: /q



To format a floppy disk in drive A and assign it the volume label "DATA," type:



format a: /v:DATA



Formatting legend

Format Meaning

Italic Information that the user must supply

Bold Elements that the user must type exactly as shown

Ellipsis (...) Parameter that can be repeated several times in a command line

Between brackets ([]) Optional items

Between braces ({}); choices separated by pipe (|). Example: {even|odd} Set of choices from which the user must choose only one

Courier font Code or program output