Windows 10: Format Disk or Drive in Windows 10

How to: Format Disk or Drive in Windows 10

How to Format a Disk or Drive in Windows 10


Information Format is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive for initial use to accept Windows files.

You can select to use a file system when formatting.

You can also select to do a quick or full format.

• Full format - Files are erased (not overwritten) from the volume that you are formatting and the drive is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is the reason why the Full format takes twice as long as the Quick format.
• Quick format - Files are erased (not overwritten) from the volume that you are formatting, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

This tutorial will show you different ways on how to format a disk or drive in Windows 10.


Warning When you format a disk or drive, it will erase all data on the disk or drive.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: Format Disk or Drive in This PC
• Option Two: Format Disk or Drive in Disk Management
• Option Three: Format Disk or Drive in Command Prompt
• Option Four: Format Disk or Drive in PowerShell

OPTION ONE [/i] Format Disk or Drive in This PC
1. Open This PC in File Explorer (Win+E), and do either step 2 or step 3 below.

2. Right click or press and hold on the drive (ex: "D") you want to format, click/tap on Format, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)



3. Select the drive (ex: "D") you want to format, click/tap on the "Drive Tools" Manage tab, click/tap on the Format button in the ribbon, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)



4. Select the supported ReFS) you want to use for this drive. (see screenshot below)



5. Select the supported Allocation unit size (aka: "cluster size") you want to use for this drive. Usually it is best to use the default allocation size. (see screenshot below)



6. Type a Volume label you want for the drive. (see screenshot below)



7. Check or uncheck the Quick Format box depending on if you want to do a Quick or Full format of this drive. (see screenshot below)



8. Click/tap on Start, when ready to format this drive. (see screenshot below)



9. Click/tap on OK to confirm. (see screenshot below)



10. When format is complete, click/tap on OK. You can now also close the Format dialog. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] Format Disk or Drive in Disk Management


Note You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1. Right click on the Start *Start button to open the Win+X menu, and click/tap on Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

2. Right click or press and hold on the disk or partition/volume (ex: "D") you want to format, and click/tap on Format. (see screenshot below)



3. Type a Volume label you want for the drive. (see screenshot below)



4. Select the supported ReFS) you want to use for this drive. (see screenshot below)



5. Select the supported Allocation unit size (aka: "cluster size") you want to use for this drive. Usually it is best to use the default allocation size. (see screenshot below)



6. Check or uncheck the Perform a quick format box depending on if you want to do a Quick or Full format of this drive. (see screenshot below)



7. Check or uncheck (default) the Enable file and folder compression box for what you want on this drive. (see screenshot below)



8. Click/tap on OK, when ready to format this disk or partition/volume. (see screenshot below)



9. Click/tap on OK to confirm. (see screenshot below)



10. When formatting is complete, you can Disk Management if you like. (see screenshot below)








OPTION THREE [/i] Format Disk or Drive in Command Prompt


Note You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1. Open an command prompt at boot.

2. Type the commands below one at a time into the command prompt, and press Enter after each command. Make note of the volume number (ex: "4") of the drive letter (ex: "D") you want to format. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow diskpart

*Arrow list volume




3. Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot above)
*Arrow select volume <number>



Note Substitute <number> in the command above with the actual volume number (ex: "4") you want to format from step 2 above.

For example: select volume 4

4. Type the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
(Quick format)
*Arrow format fs=<FileSystemType> label="<FriendlyNamel>" quick

OR

(Full format)
*Arrow format fs=<FileSystemType> label="<FriendlyName>"



Note Substitute <FileSystemType> in the command above with the supported file system you want to use for this drive.

Substitute <FriendlyName> in the command above with the actual volume label (ex: "Local Disk") you want for this drive.

For example: format fs=ntfs label="Local Disk" quick



5. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt.





OPTION FOUR [/i] Format Disk or Drive in PowerShell


Note You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

To see more usage options for the Format-Volume command, see: Format-Volume - Microsoft Docs

1. Open an elevated PowerShell.

2. Type the Get-Volume command into the elevated PowerShell, press Enter, and make note of the drive letter (ex: "D") of the volume you want to format. (see screenshot below)



3. Type the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)
(Quick format)
*Arrow Format-Volume -DriveLetter "<DriveLetter>" -FileSystem <FileSystemType> -NewFileSystemLabel "<FriendlyName>"

OR

(Full format)
*Arrow Format-Volume -DriveLetter "<DriveLetter>" -FileSystem <FileSystemType> -NewFileSystemLabel "<FriendlyName> -Full"



Note Substitute <DriveLetter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "D") you want to format from step 2 above.

Substitute <FileSystemType> in the command above with the supported file system you want to use for this drive.

Substitute <FriendlyName> in the command above with the actual volume label (ex: "Local Disk") you want for this drive.

For example: Format-Volume -DriveLetter "D" -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Local Disk"





4. When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Determine File System of Drive in Windows 10
• How to Erase a Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10
• How to Delete Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Extend Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Shrink a Volume or Partition in Windows 10
• How to Rename Drive Label in Windows 10
• How to Change a Drive Icon in Windows 10
• How to Change and Assign Drive Letter in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Automatic Mounting of New Disks and Drives in Windows

:)

 

How To Format A Write Protected Flash Memory ?

¿You already tried this one?...

Run CMD


1. diskpart
2. list disk

Then in the 3º step, put the correct number of disk in the list for the usb flash (if it's listed in disk 3, then you'll have to write select disk 3).

2. select disk #
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

with that commands you will format the flash drive in fat32, if you have a large drive you can select also "format fs=ntfs" in step 7.

good luck!

 

Format an external Drive.

Hello Roger,

Thank you for posting your concern in Microsoft Community and welcome to the Windows 10 Family.

I would suggest you to follow the below steps to format the drive you are referring to.

• Right Click on Start menu and select Open Computer Management.
  
• 
  In the left pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.
  
• 
  Right-click the volume that you want to format, and then click Format.
  
• 
  To format the volume with the default settings, in the Format dialog box, click
  OK, and then click OK again.
  

Note: You cannot format a disk or partition that is currently in use, including the partition that contains Windows.

Hope it helps.

Thank you.

 

Windows 10 formatting ?

Hello
Man I must be a moron
As you can see from the pic I am in disk management
But where or how do I assign a drive letter
I am looking threw
File action view and help
I am right clicking on it and do not see how to assign a drive letter.

So I guess this moron needs step by step :-(

 

Windows format disk message

Hello Marcos,

There may be several reasons why you are being prompted to have your pen drive formatted every time you plug it in to your PC. This prompt, however, may not be disabled. To isolate what's causing this issue, kindly answer the following questions:

• When did this issue start?
• Were there any hardware/software changes on your PC prior to this happening?
• Was your pen drive improperly pulled out from the USB port?
• Have you tried plugging your pen drive to a different USB port or a different computer?

In the meantime we suggest you to check if your pen drive appears under
Disk Management without any error. To check, follow the steps below:

• Click Windows + X.
• Select Disk Management.
• Check and see if your pen drive shows on the list.

We will be waiting for your response.

 

Formatting a dual boot system with windows 10 and ubuntu

Hi,

In Windows 10, you can easily format a hard drive or a partition by accessing Computer Management. For us to assist you, we suggest that you follow the steps listed below:

• Press the Start button.
• Type Computer Management.
• On the left side, click on Disk Management under Storage.
• Locate the drive that you want to format.
• Once located, right-click on the drive and choose Format.

If the hard drive has not been formatted with the steps that we have provided above, we recommend that you contact the manufacturer of your hard drive. Some hard drive requires a software that you'll need to use just to format it.

Let us know how it goes and if you need further assistance, feel free to post back.