How to Format a New Hard Drive [Quick Start]

Updated on

Linda 

Written by

Tracy King 

Updated on April 22, 2024

Key points:

1. Choose Your Poison:

• Format the new drive with free and reliable partitioning software.
• Create and format a new partition with Windows Disk Management.

2. There was no cost to you.

Both fixes are available for free.

Page Content

Do I need to format a new hard drive?
How to format a new hard drive
Common issues with formatting a new hard drive in Windows 10

#1 Should I format my new hard drive?

When you get a new hard drive, you might be tempted to start saving files on it right away without formatting it first. However, there are several good reasons why you should format a new hard drive before storing any files on it.

Formatting your hard drive allows you to do some routine maintenance and delete any unnecessary files that may have come pre-installed on the hard drive.

Formatting a hard drive also protects it from computer viruses. Taking the time to format a new hard drive will help keep the files you store on it safe and secure.

This article will cover two ways to format a new hard drive. One is with a free disk formatting tool, and the other is with the old familiar Windows Disk Management.

Universal Guide: How to Format/Reformat a Hard Drive

Whether you're replacing, repairing, reinstalling on, or just starting out with a hard drive, formatting is always involved. This post will show how to format a hard drive using these tools on Windows or Mac.

How to Format a New Hard Drive

#1. How to Format a New Hard Disk Using a Partition Manager

When you get a new hard drive, you have to take the time to format it before you can write or save files to it.

A free disk formatter, like tools Partition Master Free, enables you to format internal or external hard drives on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. A reliable partition manager helps create, resize, shrink, merge, and clone partitions.

Step 1: Right-click on the hard drive partition and select the "Format" option.

<Step 2> In the new window, set the "Volume Label," "File System," and "Cluster Size" for the partition, then click "OK."

Step 3: A warning will appear. Click "Yes" to continue.

Click the “Execute 1 Task” button, and then click “Apply” to begin formatting the hard drive partition.

Other format options for USB/SD Card/PS4:

#2. Create and Format a New Hard Disk with Disk Management

There are several ways to format a hard drive in Windows 10, but Disk Management is probably your best bet.

• HDD/SSD has never been partitioned – initialize and format the disk.
• There are existing partitions on the drive – format.

Video Tutorial: How to Initialize and Format a New Hard Drive in Windows 10

This video will show you how to initialize and format a new disk in Windows 10, but the process is the same in Windows 8 and 7.

Create new partition: 2:04

（Please note that this is an HTML code for embedding a YouTube video, which displays a 700px wide and 410px tall video player on a webpage with features such as fullscreen, clipboard writing, encrypted media, gyroscope, and picture-in-picture. In a Chinese context, this code does not need translation and can be used directly.)

How to format a new hard drive with unallocated space on Windows 10:

Step 1. Click on the search icon, type Create and format hard disk partitions, and open Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click the target hard drive and choose Initialize Disk from the menu.

Initialize the disk

Step 3. In the Initialize Disk window, select disk X to initialize and choose either MBR or GPT format. Click OK.

Step 4: Right-click on the unallocated space, and select "New Simple Volume." Click "Next"

Step 5: Accept the default size for the new simple volume, and click Next.

Step 6: Assign a drive letter, then click Next.

Step 7. Check the box next to “Format the volume using the following settings.” Choose NTFS as the file system. For “Allocation unit size,” select “Default.” Type in a name for your partition in the “Volume label” field.

Step 8: Check the box next to Quick format, and click Next.

Step 9: Click Next, and then click Finish.

Format a new hard drive with an existing partition scheme:

Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click the new drive and select Format from the menu.

Step 3. In the Format window, type a descriptive name in the Volume label field, select the NTFS file system from the File system option, and keep the default value for the Allocation unit size.

Step 4: Select Quick format, then click OK.

【Frequently Asked Questions on Formatting a New Hard Drive in Windows 10】

1. How should I format my new hard drive?

How you format a new hard drive depends on what you plan to use it for. If you're just using it for file storage, you can format it to any file system your operating system supports, like NTFS or FAT32. If you're going to install an operating system on it, though, you'll need to format it to a specific file system that the OS can recognize, like EXT4.

2. How to format a new hard drive and install Windows 10?

If you're installing Windows 10 from scratch, you'll need to format your hard drive and install the operating system. You can do this using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, which you can download from Microsoft's website. After downloading it, follow the prompts to format your hard drive and install Windows 10.

How do I format a hard drive in Windows 10?

The steps to format a hard drive in Windows 10 are as follows: 1. Connect your hard drive to the computer. 2. Click the "Start" button in the bottom left corner of the screen or press the Windows key on your keyboard to open the Start menu. 3. In the search bar, type "Disk Management," then select "Create and format hard disk partitions" or the "Disk Management" app from the results. 4. In the "Disk Management" window, you'll see a list of all hard drives connected to your computer. Identify the one you want to format. 5. Right-click on the chosen hard drive, then select "Format" from the drop-down menu. 6. A dialog box will appear warning you that formatting will delete all data. If you're sure you want to proceed, click "OK." 7. In the formatting options, choose a file system (such as NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT), allocation unit size, and whether to check "Quick Format." NTFS is generally recommended for most purposes. 8. Verify your settings are correct, then click the "Start" button to initiate the formatting process. 9. Wait for the formatting to complete. This can take a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size and speed of the hard drive. 10. Once formatting is finished, the hard drive will show as "Unallocated" or "New Volume." Right-click it and choose "New Simple Volume" to assign a drive letter and format the new volume. Please note that formatting a hard drive will permanently erase all data, so make sure to back up important files beforehand.

1. Open the Start menu, and search for "Disk Management." 2. In the Disk Management window, right-click on the hard drive you want to format, and select "Format." 3. Choose the file system you desire, then click "OK" to begin the formatting process.

This will erase everything on the hard drive, so back up any important files before proceeding.

How do I format a new hard drive for my Mac?

One way to do this is with the Disk Utility app on a Mac.

Open Disk Utility, select the drive you want to format, and click the “Erase” button. In the “Erase” window, choose the format you want to use (usually Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is best), name your drive, then click “Erase” again to confirm.

The second way is to use the Terminal application.

Type the following command into Terminal: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ NewDrive /dev/disk0 This will format your hard drive with the journaling HFS+ file system.