Undoubtedly, modern computer users are much more advanced in terms of technology than they were a decade ago. Much has become familiar. People constantly install some programs, games and updates. With all this, a huge number of both useful software and garbage get into the system. Users eagerly download music and movies that take up all the space on local drives. Therefore, sooner or later, each user has a question about how to format a computer and free up space.
Warning
For inexperienced users, this action can be a very serious problem. Therefore, it will be further described what needs to be done. It is necessary to warn users in advance that the formatting process will destroy all information on the media. That is why it is necessary to carry out the operation consciously and extremely carefully.
Formatting a drive in the Windows operating system
Perhaps it’s worth starting with tools that are built into the OS. Some people complain that the system does not allow you to clear one of the partitions. How to format a computer if this happens? In fact, these people are trying to erase the system partition of the system from under the system itself. Of course, this is impossible to do. How can a system allow itself to be removed? It follows that the OS can help format only additional partitions on hard drives, as well as external drives and flash cards. There are three ways in total.
First: from the explorer of the operating system
How to format a computer in this way? To do this, right-click on the logical drive and select the "Format" item in the context menu that opens. The system should display the appropriate window. Here you can select the file system. The best option is NTFS, as this system is more reliable and has no file size restrictions. The cluster size can be left unchanged. If you need to clean the disk quickly, you need to check this. After clicking the “Start” button, the cleaning process will begin. In some cases, this takes a fairly long time, since the disk can contain a lot of data.
Second: using the system console
This console is called Disk Management. In it you can also see all the media installed in the computer, their division into logical parts. On the desired drive, right-click and select "Format." A window opens that differs from the previous one, but all the points here are the same. Therefore, difficulties should not arise.
Third: using the command line
How to format a computer using it? The command line with administrator rights is launched. Next, a command is written that includes formatting. It looks like this: format X. Instead of “X”, the label of the logical drive is written. An argument of the form / FS: {NTFS} is appended to the command to indicate the necessary file system. Then simply press the Enter key and confirm the action with the Y key.
System Disk Cleanup
How to completely format a computer? To do this, you need an installation disk with the operating system. If there is one, then in the BIOS you need to set the boot from this media. Some ask how to format a computer via a USB flash drive. If there is no installation disk, then the flash card can be made bootable and perform exactly the same actions.
So, there is media with the OS. What's next? There are two ways.
- Cleaning using the built-in installer. Everything is very simple here. You need to go through the steps of installing the OS and get to the choice of the system disk. Next, select the disk with the system and click the settings icon. A panel opens with the available actions. There is formatting here. When cleaning is complete, OS installation will continue.
- Cleaning with third-party applications. Many assemblies contain additional software for work. There are also utilities for working with hard drives. After loading one of these programs in the main menu, you need to select the system drive and format it. Typically, such utilities perform the operation much faster than the OS itself. Now you can restart your computer. All information will be deleted.
As you can see, all of the above operations should not cause special difficulties. How to format a computer? Very simple. First, all media except the system one are cleared from under the OS. Then, the system partition is also cleared during the reinstallation of the OS or using third-party convenient utilities. Now the computer is completely empty.
You need to carefully monitor what is being downloaded to discs. Indeed, most often these files are not used, but simply lie dead weight. It is better to properly manage free disk space than resort to formatting, which can destroy valuable user files. And it is not always possible to restore them.