| Format that drive |
I've been approached often about the issues of formatting a hard drive. While all the details, options, and technical issues of this topic are beyond the scope of this page, I will attempt to address a few issues.
What is formatting a hard drive? Simply put, when you format a hard drive, you wipe off any existing information and files from that drive in order to prepare it for either an operating system, or as a formatted drive for containing files. There are many different formats possible, but this page will deal primarily with the Microsoft formats. The Linux, UNIX, Sun Solaris, Silicon Graphics Workstations, and Macintosh Apple computers and drives are different from the drives that are found with the common "Windows" computers, and while some basics will be similar - you should consult documentation regarding that specific format if you are working with those systems.
Are there different types of formats? Yes. Among the Microsoft family there are basically 2 different types of formats you can do to a drive. They are FAT and NTFS. There are some variations to this. The FAT partitions can be either FAT 16 which was the old style of format that DOS used, and FAT 32 which is the type of format that Windows 95 and following versions of the Windows 9x family used. The NTFS is a type of format that is used with Windows NT, 2000, and now Windows XP (although you can run Windows 98 SE and ME on a NTFS drive). Also it should be noted that NTFS has a variation called NTFS 5 that primarily deals with server issues and won't be covered with home users.
If I format a drive is everything gone? The short answer is yes it is. There are tools available to allow professionals to recover information from a drive that has been formatted. There are methods available to ensure that information can not be recovered; however, items such as the DoD wipe information is beyond the scope of this document.
Can you change the type of format once you have done it? Yes, to some extent. If you have a drive that is a FAT 16 then you can 'upgrade' it to a FAT 32 with tools available to the Windows 98 systems. If you have a FAT 32 you can 'upgrade' it to a NTFS disk with the newer Windows 2000 and XP systems. Once you have upgraded a system, then you can NOT go back to the previous type of format. (this is not an absolute, but for all practical proposes you can not simply revert to the previous system.)
What is the difference between these different systems? The primary difference is that the NTFS file systems are more secure. The NTFS systems can not be broken into as easily as a FAT system, and you can set permissions to files and folders. A rudimentary answer would also state that the Windows 98, and XP systems can multi-task, are multi-user, multi-process, multi-threading systems vs. the DOS or Windows 3.1 systems. Meaning that the computer that is running Windows XP on a NTFS drive can run multiple users, and perform multiple functions at the same time, while FAT 16 systems can not. A brief history of the FAT and NTFS systems is available here.
Can one system read the others? Yes, to an extent. NTFS can read a FAT or FAT 32 (such as a floppy disk) but a FAT formatted drive can not read the NTFS information.
How do I format? PLEASE CONSULT YOUR COMPUTERS HELP FILES BEFORE CONTINUING! The basic syntax from a command line is: format a: (where a is the letter of the drive to be formatted.) From within Windows, you can open "My Computer", right-click on the drive you want, and the format option will be available. Format switches will be covered in the members help files.
Related Information:
If you are formatting the primary drive of your computer (c:) then I strongly suggest that you boot from either a system disk in a: or the CD installation disk. If you try to format your current drive from the Windows interface, you will no doubt encounter more errors than you want to deal with. Formatting a hard drive should be done by only those who have experience with a more advanced command of computers systems in general.
Another consideration you should also be aware of is the concept of disk partitions. If you are unfamiliar with these topics, then you should not attempt to format anything beyond a floppy disk or CD.
There may be more information on this topic in the members help section.
page posted: 02.16.2003
updated: 02.16.2003
Charles H. Davis: All rights reserved.