How to Format The Hard Drive in Windows 11

Work requirements or a specific use situation may require you to ‘clean’ all of the data on your Windows 11 PC’s hard drive.( Format The Hard Drive )

Then, rather than manually deleting folders, which is time-consuming and ineffective, you should consider formatting the hard drive right away. Not only will the data on the hard drive be completely erased, but it will also be kept in the best possible ready-to-use condition.

Related: Microsoft Roll Out New Media Player Application for Windows 11

Format the hard drive on Windows 11

Open File Explorer first. by going to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and clicking the folder icon. You can also select ‘File Explorer’ by right-clicking on the Start button.

Click the ‘This PC’ item in the File Explorer window that appears. A list of ‘Devices and Drives’ will appear right away, listing all of the system’s available hard drives and storage devices. Select ‘Format’ from the menu that appears when you right-click the hard drive you want to format.

The ‘Format’ window will appear, giving you options for formatting the hard drive. Below, we’ll go over each item in greater depth.

Capacity: This is the hard drive’s data capacity after it has been formatted. Because of the way the file system works, formatting takes up a small amount of raw hard drive space.
File System: A file system is a data structure that instructs the operating system on how to save and load files to and from a hard drive. FAT, FAT32, NTFS, or exFAT are the options depending on the size of the hard drive. If the hard drive will only be used with Windows, you should choose NTFS. Choose exFAT if you want your hard drive to be readable and writable on your Mac as well.
Allocation Unit Size: When you format a hard drive, the allocation unit size is the basic block size used by the file system. In most cases, you won’t need to change this setting, so select File System and use the default allocation unit size (usually 4096 bytes for NTFS).
Volume Label: In File Explorer, the volume label is the name of the hard drive.
Format Options (Quick Format): If the hard drive is in good working order, you can choose ‘Quick Format,’ which performs a quick and advanced format process. The data is still on the hard drive, but it will be overwritten because all references to it have been lost. To put it another way, Quick Format means erasing the old FAT and replacing it with a new one so that the storage drive can be reused. The old data, on the other hand, persists until it is recorded. If the drive hasn’t been written to, one of the data recovery tools can be used to find out what’s on it. If you don’t choose Quick Format, Windows will perform a low-level format on each sector of the drive, which will take longer but completely erase all traces of old data.

After you’ve made your choices, click ‘Start’ to begin the formatting process.

Windows will immediately display a warning that reads, “Formatting will erase ALL data on this disk.” If you’re ready to clean the hard drive, click ‘OK.’

A small window will appear while the format is being completed, showing the current process. When it’s finished, a new notification window will appear. Click the ‘OK’ button.

Carry out the same steps for the remaining hard drives you want to format.