Best Disk Format For Windows
(Alternatively, on Windows 10, press Windows+X and then 'K' to get to Disk Management.) It might also be called 'Create and format hard disk partitions.' You'll need administrator access to run it. Format a disk for Windows computers. Repair a storage device. Store data on disk images. Create a disk image. Convert a disk image to another format. Resize a disk image. Restore a disk image to a disk. Set up and manage RAID disk sets. Overview of creating disk sets. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is one of the best free USB flash drive formatter software for Windows. It comes with two types of file format systems, namely, FAT32 and NTFS. In addition, Quick Format and Enable Compression options are also available to perform formatting on USB flash drive. The best disk format tool in 2021 comes out. They are third-party EaseUS format tool, HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, HDD Low Level Format Tool and the built-in HDD formatter like File Explorer, Disk Management and CMD in Windows 10/8/7. Choose one of the six to format a disk, HDD, SSD, USB flash, pen drive, and SD card with ease. Disk Format free download - Format Factory, USB Disk Storage Format Tool, Disk Drill, and many more programs.
- Disk Format Utility Windows 10
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- Format Hard Drive For Windows 10
The best disk format tool in 2021 comes out. They are third-party EaseUS format tool, HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, HDD Low Level Format Tool and the built-in HDD formatter like File Explorer, Disk Management and CMD in Windows 10/8/7. Choose one of the six to format a disk, HDD, SSD, USB flash, pen drive, and SD card with ease.
Best Hard Drive Format Tool in 2021
- 1. EaseUS Partition Master Format Tool
- 2. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
- 3. HDD Low Level Format Tool
- 4. Windows File Explorer
- 5. Windows Disk Management
- 6. Windows Command Prompt (CMD)
Each hard disk format tool in the list can be used to format any drive in Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista and Windows Server operating system. Some of them are free to use, while some are for commercial use. Next, you'll learn the details of the product description, advantages and disadvantages.
*Back up Data Before Formatting a Disk*
In general terms, we format a disk using the quick format, which erases data completely but the data is recoverable by some third-party data recovery software. The other disk formatting manner is called low-level format, which erases the whole disk surface and makes data restoration impossible!
No matter which way you'll need to format a disk, to protect important data from completely erasing, always create a backup in advance.
- Method 1. Open the target hard drive and manually copy useful files and documents to another device.
- Method 2. Use Windows backup software to automatically back up the whole disk/partition or target files and folders to another device at one time.
#1. EaseUS Partition Master - Best Hard Disk Formatting software, free download for PC
- Supported file system: NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4
- User interface: simple, graphical, clean and user-friendly to beginners
EaseUS Partition Master Free is an all-around disk & partition management tool that includes but not limited to a disk formatting feature. It's placed on the top position of the best hard drive format tool due to the facts of the following:
Pros:
- Free to download and format a disk
- Support all Windows operating systems and servers
- Format a drive that is RAW, not showing up or not recognized by Windows
- Format a disk even when the Windows was unable to complete the format
- Allow you to create a bootable hard drive format tool
- Format 64/128/256GB USB hard drive to the FAT32 file system
- Convert FAT32 to NTFS without formatting or losing data
- Build with other powerful features: resize, move, create, merge, delete, wipe, or recover lost partition
Cons:
- Some advanced features are not free, such as migrate OS to SSD
Guide - How to format a disk with EaseUS format tool:
Step 1: Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose 'Format'.
Step 2: In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: Then you will see a warning window, click 'OK' in it to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting the partition on your hard drive.
#2. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - Windows XP Disk Formatter
- Supported file system: FAT, FAT32, and NTFS
- User interface: kind of outdated but relatively easy-to-use
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a Windows-based disk format utility to format any drive. It should work on all the older and newer Windows OS versions, but viewing from the formatting speed and performance, it stands out on usually the Windows XP operating system. With HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, you can format any USB Flash drive, hard drive, or memory card in FAT, FAT32, and NTFS file systems. Moreover, create DOS startup disks that can help boot a PC after it dies.
Pros:
- It is best used on USB drives and it strips and re-formats your drives
- The GUI is very familiar because it looks just like the Windows XP formatting tool
Cons:
- It may cause crashes on modern computers with newer operating systems
- It needs you to run it under Administrator
Guide - How to format a hard drive with HP Disk Storage Format Tool
Step 1. Connect the USB drive to your Windows XP computer, click Devices and select the USB drive you want to format.
Step 2. From the File System menu, select a file system and enter a name for the reformatted disk in the Volume Label input box.
Step 3. Click the Quick Format option to enable a quick format. If you leave this option unchecked, a slower, low-level format will be performed.
Step 4. Click Start to begin the USB formatting.
#3. HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool - Best Low-level Hard Disk Drive Formatting Software
- Supported operating system: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008R2
- User interface: kind of outdated and complex to use
HDD Low Level Format Tool is a utility exclusively designed for low-level hard disk drive formatting. After running this low level format tool, the whole disk surface will be erased. As a result, data restoration is impossible after using this utility! This HDD Low Level Format utility is free for personal/home use, but the speed is restricted at 80GB per hour, which is 50 MB/s.
Pros:
The only disk format tool for a low level format
Cons:
Almost paid software. Personal license without speed limit is $3.30 while the commercial license is $27.00 per seat (PC)
Guide - How to format a disk with HDD Low Level Format Tool:
Step 1. Download and run HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool on your computer.
Step 2. Plug your HDD or USB drive into the computer and launch the low-level format tool.
Step 3. Select the desired drive and click Continue. Confirm the option by clicking Yes.
Step 4. Select Low-Level Format in the tab to start the low-level formatting process.
#4. Windows File Explorer - The Simplest Drive Formatting Option in Windows 10/8/7
- Supported operating system: NTFS, exFAT and FAT32
- User interface: Simple design and operation throughout the formatting procedure
It's the first native Windows disk formatting choice we'll introduce. Press Windows + E keys so we can easily evoke the File Explorer. The local disk drives and the externally connected drives will appear there. As long as the drive you tend to format is visible, you can use the Format option to start a quick format with a few simple steps.
Pros:
- Free
- Works on all Windows computers
- Applies to Windows beginners
- 3-step formatting
Cons:
- Doesn't work when the hard drive is not showing up
- FAT32 is not available for a storage drive over 32GB
Guide - How to Format a Hard Drive in File Explorer
Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on the target hard drive which you need to format, select 'Format'.
Step 2. Rename the hard drive, reset its file system to NTFS or other formats.
Step 3. Click 'Start' to begin the formatting.
#5. Windows Disk Management - Free Built-in Disk Formatter for Advanced Use
- Supported operating system: NTFS, exFAT and FAT32
- User interface: Designed with a couple of useful disk management features in the clean organization
Windows Disk Management is a free Windows built-in tool, which means you can easily open it on your computer without downloading. It comes to use when you're trying to format a drive that is not showing up in the File Explorer. It's good at formatting some storage devices that have something wrong, like file system corruption, not formatted error, not accessible, etc.
Pros:
- Free
- Available to all Windows operating system
- Be able to format a RAW drive
Cons
Disk Format Utility Windows 10
- Doesn't support to format a Linux drive
- FAT32 is not available for a storage drive over 32GB
Guide - How to Format a Hard Drive Partition in Disk Management
Step 1. Right-click 'This PC' and choose 'Manage'.
Step 2. Go to 'Disk Management'.
Step 3. Right-click the target hard drive partition and choose 'Format'.
Step 4. Set the volume label, file system and click 'OK' to start formatting the drive.
#6. Windows Command Prompt - The Most Capable Built-in Formatting Tool for Professionals
- Supported file system: NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4
- User interface: Very unfamiliar to beginners
Windows Command Prompt, for average computer users, is a hidden but powerful computer troubleshooting program that is able to solve most of the computer and hard drive problems. You can apply a variety of command lines to examine, check or repair computer issues. For example, to format a disk drive, you'll use the diskpart command lines.
Pros:
- Free
- Format any drive to every file system that is available to use on Windows, macOS or Linux
Cons:
- Applies to experienced users only
- Any false operation will cause serious computer problems
Guide - How to Format a Hard Drive with DiskPart command
Step 1. Open Command Prompt by right-clicking on Windows icon, select 'Search' and type: command prompt.
Format Disc In Windows 10
Right-click on Command Prompt and select 'Run as administrator'.
Step 2. Type diskpart in Command Prompt and hit Enter.
Step 3. Hit Enter each time when you type below command lines in DiskPart to quick format hard drive:
- list disk
- select disk 2(Replace 2 with your disk number)
- list volume
- select volume 10(Replace 10 with the volume number of the partition that you want to format)
- format fs=ntfs quick (If you need to format a hard drive partition to FAT32 or other file systems, replace ntfs with fat32, exfat, etc.)
- Warning
- If you accidentally input format without fs=ntfs quick or fs=fat32 quick in DiskPart command prompt, it will execute a full format on your selected hard drive partition.
- This command will erase all saved data sector by sector. In other words, you'll permanently lose all erased data on the drive with no recovery chance.
Step 4. Type exit and hit Enter to close the program when DiskPart reports it has successfully formatted the volume.
Conclusion: What To Do with Hard Drive After Formatting
Some of you may have the same question about what to do after formatting the hard drive. Here is a list that you can follow to make full use of your formatted hard drive:
# 1. Re-partition hard drive to make full use of space on your hard drive.
To do so, you may need a reliable partition management tool like EaseUS Partition Master Free to partition hard drive on your computer for free. You may also use this tool to merge partitions or extend hard drive partition based on your needs.
# 2. Save files to the formatted hard drive.
# 3. Recover lost files due to formatting.
If you didn't back up data before formatting and lost valuable files, you may apply professional data recovery software to recover data after formatting.
Are you looking for a formatting tool for your hard drive, USB drive, SD card for whatever reason? Maybe to remove viruses, sensitive data, and bad sectors or partitions? Worry less! Below are 5 best-tested tools for formatting disk on Windows. Before that, I would recommend you back up necessary data to avoid losing them totally, click here to learn to back up files.
- AOMEI Partition Assistant
- EaseUS Partition Master Format Tool
- Rufus
- IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free
- HDD Low-Level Format Tool
1. AOMEI Partition Assistant
AOMEI Partition Assistant is a free and very powerful tool, which can format hard drive to Fat32 even if it is larger than 32GB. This tool is able to format both internal and external hard disks to exFAT file without a struggle. It is obviously recognized as one of the best due to its ability to format read-only disks or storage. Here are the three steps to use the AOMEI Partition assistant to format disk partition; regardless if the disk is write-protected.
- Download AOMEI Partition Assistant, install and run the software. On the homepage, right-click on the desired partition on the disk you would like to format and select “Format Partition”
- In the pop-up window, input the partition label, file system and cluster size you want for the freshly formatted partition. Then click “OK”.
- Then click “Apply” at the top-left corner of the application..
2. EaseUS Partition Master Format Tool
EaseUS is a free multipurpose disk and partition management tool. The EaseUS Partition tool supports all Windows operating system and can format drive or disks that are not even recognized by Windows. The tool also allows users to format volumes above 32GB to FAT32 file system and convert FAT32 to NTFS with data loss. Here is a quick guide to use EaseUS Partition Master Format tool.
- Download EaseUS Partition Master, install and run the software. On the homepage, right-click on the hard disk partition you want to format and select “Format”.
- In the pop-up window, input the partition label, file system and cluster size you want for the freshly formatted partition. Then click “OK”.
- Then click “OK” to confirm your actions. Click “Execute Operation” at the top-left corner to check planned changes, then click “Apply” to start formatting .
3. Rufus
Rufus is most likely the smallest of all the tools in terms of its interface but it is very powerful. This tiny tool is an easy to use freeware that can format media disks which cannot be formatted normally. Here is a quick guide to use Rufus to format your drive.
- Download Rufus and run the software. On the homepage, select which drive to format.
- Set format options, such as label, file system and cluster size.
- Click “START” to format.
4. IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free
IM-Magic is a powerful partition manager that allows you to format hard drive or partitions into FAT32/NTFS for free. The tool also helps to create, wipe, resize, and hide or manage partitions effectively. Here shows how to use the IM-Magic Partition Resizer.
- Download IM-Magic Partition Resizer, install and run the software. On the homepage, right-click on the hard disk partition you want to format and select “Format Partition”.
- In the pop-up window, input the partition label, file system and cluster size you want for the freshly formatted partition. Then click “OK”.
- Then click “OK” to confirm your actions. Click “Apply Changes” at the bottom left corner to approve formatting.
5. HDD Low Level Format Tool
Best Disk Format For Windows And Linux
HDD Low Level Format is another exceptional tool for formatting disks; completely free, it allows you to effortlessly format external and internal hard disk. With the low-level format option, it has the capacity to format hard disks completely with no original drive data left behind. It also supports external disks like SD cards, USB and so on. Here is a quick guide to use the HDD Low Level Format Tool.
Format Dvd Disk Windows 10
- Download HDD Low Level Format Tool and run the software. On the homepage, select which drive to format.
- Select “LOW-LEVEL FORMAT”,.
- Click “FORMAT THIS DEVICE” to format.
Format Hard Drive For Windows 10
With these five formatting tools, it does not matter what yopu are trying to get rid off. What matters now is if you have a particular data you wounldnt want to lose; because after using these tools, all is gone.
Do well to drop comments if you are having difficulties using any of these tools, and I’ll be here to help you.