Hard Format Flash Disk

1. Types Of Hard Disk
2. Hard Format Flash Disk Drives
3. Hard Format Flash Disk Imager
4. Format Disk Drive
5. Disk Format Software Free

Smart disk Fat32 Format software is a great Disk format tool.It allows user to format HDD,External hard disk,Memory card and USB flash drive.Smart Disk Fat32 format tool can convert file system type to Fat32 with one click.Smartdisk Fat32 format utility can format large hard disk in short time to Fat32. Connect the flash drive that you want to format. Go to Applications and Utilities and launch Disk Utility. The application will appear on the screen, and you will see the main window, with a list of available storage devices on the left and various disk management options on the right. To format a computer hard drive, SSD (solid-state drive), or USB flash drive and erase all its information and prepare it to hold data follow the steps below. Tip You can use the instructions on this page to format a memory card in a memory card reader. Simply put, you need to go to Disk Management and re-format the drive. Here's how to do it: Insert your flash drive into a PC. Move the cursor to the bottom left corner. Right-click on the Windows icon. Select Disk Management. Highlight the disk your flash drive represents, right click and choose New Simple Volume.

Nov 23, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

Hard drive formatting is always crucial, and if not done appropriately, it can even make it non-functional. But performing it with DiskPart or command prompt can save your hard drive from this risk. A formatted drive is almost the same as the new drive because formatting clears all the stored media. This article will guide you through the DiskPart commands and ways of formatting hard drive with DiskPart and Command Prompt.

Part 1. How to Clean Hard Drive Using DiskPart

Before learning the steps for cleaning the drive, let's first understand what does DiskPart clean do? When you use the 'clean' command in Diskpart, the utility software will clean the selected disks and information from the hidden sectors. All the stored data gets deleted, and you can't undo it. It is recommended to take a backup first if there is some important data in the drive.

The time taken by the complete process depends on the disk size. To clean the drives follow the following steps:

Step 1- Open Command Prompt

Search command prompt, right-click, and run it as an administrator.

Step 2- Type diskpart

Type the command as mentioned above and press 'Enter' to launch DiskPart.

Step 3- Type list disk

The command will list all the drives that are available with the computer. After typing the command, press 'Enter'.'

Step 4- Select the Drive by typing select disk *

The * mentioned in the command needs to be replaced with the drive number that requires cleaning. Make sure you put the right number else you will end up cleaning the wrong drive.

Step 5- Type clean

The 'clean' command will wipe out your required hard drive. Press 'Enter' after typing it. It will clean up all the files and folders of the drive permanently.

Step 6- Close the Command Prompt after Successful Completion of Disk Cleaning Once the cleaning process completes, the command prompt will show the message that DiskPart cleaning is successful. Close the window from the button located up in the right corner.

Now you can reinitialize, partition and even format the cleaned drive.

Part 2. How to Format Hard Drive Using Command Prompts

While formatting a hard drive, you can clean both storage media- internal as well as external. But before beginning the formatting, you need to complete the cleaning of the drive first. The steps are the same as explained above. Once the disk cleaning is successful; you can continue with the formatting of the drive.

To understand how to format using DiskPart look for detailed steps below:

Step 1- Open the command prompt and run as administrator.

Step 2- Type diskpart and press 'Enter'.' It will launch the DiskPart.

Step 3- Type list disk to let the Diskpart list all the drives of the computer.

Step 4- Select the required drive by typing select disk *, here * is the number of the drive that will undergo formatting.

Step 5- Clean the files and folders on the selected drive using the clean command.

Step 6- Type list disk and press 'Enter' to confirm the drive that needs to be formatted is still selected.

Here the output that comes out has an asterisk (*) before the selected drive.

Step 7- Create a new partition by typing create partition primary and press 'Enter'.'

Step 8- Select the created partition and press 'Enter' after typing the command select partition 1.

Step 9- Type active so that the selected partition comes in an active state. Press 'Enter' after that.

Step 10- Format the drive with the command format fs=ntfs. Press 'Enter' to begin the process.

Step 11- Assign a letter to the drive, to make it available in the File Explorer and then exit. Piano midi creator.

Press 'Enter' after typing assign letter=*, type your preferred letter in place of * that you want to assign to the partition.

Then to exit the DiskPart, type exit and 'Enter.'

Types Of Hard Disk

After completing all these steps, the drive is available at File Explorer. You can now start storing files on the drive.

Part 3. How to Delete Hard Drive Partition Using DiskPart

Sometimes for better management, you need to create more free space by deleting partitions. You also want to delete them because you don't require them anymore or it has become damaged or corrupted. Follow the listed steps to delete the partition with DiskPart.

Step 1- Launch DiskPart in the command prompt by typing diskpart. Press 'Enter.'

Step 2- Type list disk and then press 'Enter' to list down all the available partitions.

Step 3- Select the disk to delete your required partition. Type select disk *, (*) is the disk number. After typing the command press 'Enter.'

Step 4- Type list partition and then 'Enter' to view all the partitions.

Step 5- Now select the partition to be deleted by typing select partition *, again * here is the number of the partition. 'Enter' after typing the command to execute it.

Step 6- Now delete the partition by typing delete partition and begin the deletion by pressing 'Enter.'

If the dynamic disk is in use, use the delete volume command for the deletion process.

Part 4. What are the DiskPart commands?

DiskPart is a command-line tool that does disk management with a simple Command Prompt. You can do disk listing, partitioning, and even deletion of partitions with this tool. Several DiskPart commands are used to execute these functions.

The tool first came in Windows XP, and now it is available on almost all operating systems of Microsoft- Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10. Before initiating with Diskpart commands on Command Prompt, it is necessary to make a list and then focus by selecting an object. In this way, DiskPart commands will act on the focused object.

As Diskpart gets loaded on the Command Prompt, let's understand a little about it. Command Prompt, also known as cmd, is referred to as a command-line interpreter. It is available in all operating systems. The program allows you to 'Enter' and execute commands. As the mouse operates the buttons and menu of the graphical user interface; in the same manner, cmd uses the command 'Enter' from the keyboard in the form of text. The 'Enter' commands are then converted into operating system understandable functions. Windows Command Processor is the official name of the Command Prompt. It is also known as command shell, cmd prompt, and is also popular as cmd.exe that is with its file name. At times it is even referred incorrectly as DOS prompt or even MS-DOS. Though the Windows program – Command Prompt has many MS-DOS abilities but calling it, MS-DOS would be incorrect.

You will be using the platforms like DiskPart and Command Prompt for disk formatting. It is the process of configuring storage mediums like a flash drive and a hard disk drive. During the formatting process, any of the documents or files that are already saved on the drive gets deleted. Usually, it is done before the installation of the operating system, and many times, it is also required for creating an additional storage space too.

Note: Your stored data gets erased when you format the drive using cmd. Though it can be retrieved by using the recovery software, taking a backup is still advised. It allows you to save a copy of your data at a secure place for uncertain situations like drive corruption, formatting, accidental deletion, etc.

Part 5. DiskPart Format Command Options

DiskPart format command that runs on command prompt is used for formatting internal and external storage mediums of hard drives. The command is available in all Windows operating systems like Windows 10, 8 7, Vista, XP, and other older versions too. You can use it to deal with unlocked files means the files that are not currently in use. However, the syntax for the command differs from one operating system to another.

The format command syntax is as following:

format drive: /* /fs:file-system /r:revision /d /v:label /p:count /?

Here * refers to q, c, x, and l

Now understand the syntax in detail:

• drive:

You will write here the letter that represents the drive or the partition for which you require formatting.

• /q

It represents drive will undergo DiskPart quick format without searching a bad sector.

• /c

It will enable compression of folder and file. The option is available only when the drive is being formatted to NTFS (New Technology File System). It is a primary file system that is used in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, and NT operating systems.

• /x

• drive:

You will write here the letter that represents the drive or the partition for which you require formatting.

• /q

It represents drive will undergo DiskPart quick format without searching a bad sector.

• /c

It will enable compression of folder and file. The option is available only when the drive is being formatted to NTFS (New Technology File System). It is a primary file system that is used in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, and NT operating systems.

• /x

Hard Format Flash Disk Drives

If there is the requirement to dismount the drive before formatting, then this command is used in the format.

• /l

While formatting with NTFS, the command is used on dedupe-enabled drives that consist of files with size more than 100GB.

• /fs:file-system

You will add the file system to which you want the format the drive. The file systems can be FAT, exFAT, FAT32, UDF, or NTFS

• /r: revision

It is used to focus the formatting on a specific UDF version. The options include 1.02, 1.50, 2.00, 2.01, and 2.50. If you don't specify any revision, by default it will take the 2.01 version. When you are using /fs:udf only then you can use /r: command.

• /d

When formatting is done with UDF v2.50 only then this command can be used to duplicate metadata.

• /v:label

It is used to specify the volume label. If you have not mentioned it before formatting, the systems will enquire about it after the completion of the process.

• /p:count

It will write zero once to all sectors of the drive. If you specify the count, it will write some random number on the drive, as many times as you mention. The random number writing will start once the zero writing completes.

/p cannot be used with /q.

• /?

It is used to show help for the several options of commands.

Closing Words

If your hard drive is causing any trouble, you can now quickly fix it by using DiskPart. Follow the steps explained above to clean and format the disk using DiskPart, and also to delete the hard drive partition. Before performing any of these actions, it is necessary to take a backup of the data. Somehow if you forgot taking backup and lost any of your important files during DiskPart commands execution, don't panic. Use Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software to retrieve your lost data.

What's Wrong with Drive

Recover Your Drive

Fix Your Drive

Format/Wipe Drive

Know Your Drive

Summary :

What is quick format and what is full format? Does either quick/full format erase all data? Many computer users may not have clear concept about these. This article will explain the differences between quick format and full format and provide advice on how to choose between them.

Quick Format VS Full Format

Brief Introduction to Formatting

As we mentioned in What Is Disk Formatting, the whole disk formatting process consists of three parts: low-level formatting, partitioning, and high-level formatting. The formatting operated by computer users is high-level formatting. And this formatting is operated on partitions.

However, the high-level formatting is specifically divided into two modes in the actual operations: quick format and full format (it is also called general format).

The differences between quick format vs. format often make computer users confused. A good knowledge about them will help computer users make best use of disk.

How to Perform Quick/Full Format in Windows

First, let's take formatting in Windows Explorer and Disk Management as examples. When computer users format a partition, quick format is checked by default. If they uncheck quick format, full format mode is selected automatically.

Windows Explorer

Open File Explorer and right click a local disk under This PC. Then click Format.

Disk Management

Press 'Windows + R' keys and then type 'diskmgmt.msc' to open Disk Management. Then, right click a partition and select Format.

In addition, computer users can also use diskpart command to perform quick/full format. Press 'Windows + R' keys and type 'cmd' to open the cmd window. Then, type 'diskpart' to open diskpart window. Type 'list disk', 'select disk *', 'list partition', 'select partition *' to locate the partition to be formatted.

Type 'format fs=ntfs quick' to carry out quick format. Type 'format fs=ntfs' to perform full format.

Differences between Quick Format and Full Format

What is the difference between quick format and full format? Does quick/full format erase all data? Many people are concerned about these questions. To figure out these problems, computer users must know what happens when they format partition with quick format vs. full format.

Quick format will 'delete' files from the partition and rebuild the file system, volume label, and cluster size. It is faster than full format. However, it's not the real sense of formatting.

Pay attention that I used the word 'delete', not 'erase'. That means that quick format doesn't really erase all the data.

It just marks the partition as 'formatted' and destroys the journal that keeps tracks of the files and their locations on hard drive. So, the data is still on the hard drive and it can be easily recovered by a data recovery software before it is overwritten.

Full format will clear files completely from the partition, rebuild the file system, volume label, and cluster size, and scan partition for logical bad sectors (that's why full format is slower than quick format). It is the real sense of formatting and that's why some people are afraid of it.

In Windows with the versions Windows XP and earlier, full format just had the additional bad sector scanning function compared to quick format. That means that data can be easily recovered in these Windows operating system even if full format is performed.

But full format is changed in Windows Vista and later Windows versions, it will erase original data, write zeros to the whole partition, and finally erase zeroes again to avoid the possibility of data recovery. So, full format does erase all data.

Generally speaking, data that is fully formatted (in Windows Vista and later Windows versions) will not be able to be recovered by data recovery software. However, some people still think that data can be recovered with more advanced technology through the residual magnetism on disk.

Then, how to make data unrecoverable to guarantee users' data recovery? Many people may wonder about that.

How to Recover Data from quick Formatted Disk

If a computer user has fully formatted a disk, it's difficult for him to recover data with civilian data recovery software. But he can recover data easily if the disk is performed with just quick format.

MiniTool Partition Wizard can also help to recover data. Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Buy MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to get its main interface. And then click Data Recovery on the toolbar.

Step 2: Double click the formatted partition G or select it and click Scan to start scanning.

Only check the file type of files that I want to retrieve.

Step 3: The scanning result is shown as the following picture. Then, I need to find the picture.

Live usb ubuntu. Attention:

• Use Path, Type, and Show Lost Files features to find the picture. But it's a huge work if there are lots of files.
• Use Find feature to type the filename 'my photo' to find it.
• Use Filter feature to limit the filename/extension, file size, creation/modification data and so on to find out the picture.
• Use Preview feature to check whether this file is what you need before saving the file.

Step 4: Select the file and click Save.

Retrieve File When Computer Can't Boot

Sometimes, computer users may accidentally format a partition and cause the computer to not boot anymore. Or, computer users may mistakenly install Windows (which sometimes will format the target disk) and also cause the computer to stop booting.

If these situations happen, how to recover data from quick formatted disk when computer can't boot? Fortunately, MiniTool Partition Wizard can also solve this problem.

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Buy MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch. And then click Bootable Media on the toolbar.

Step 2: Click WinPE-based media with MiniTool plug-in, and choose the media destination.

Step 3: Set the firmware to make the computer boot from the USB or CD/DVD.

Step 4: Use Data Recovery feature as shown above to retrieve data.

Make Data Unrecoverable

How to make data unrecoverable? Many people who want data privacy will want to know the answer to this problem. They don't want any of their data to be abused in case the data gets retrieved by other people; this could cause bad consequences in all aspects of their life.

Some people would like to sell or donate the disk if they don't need it anymore. So, the worst method is to damage disk physically, which will make the disk unusable.

The common method is to fully format a disk or to wipe it. As mentioned above, computer users can use Windows Explorer and Disk Management to full format a disk. However, it still has risk of having data being recovered by others.

Hard Format Flash Disk Imager

To avoid such a problem, I recommend the Wipe Partition feature (free) of MiniTool Partition Wizard to wipe data completely.

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to get to its main interface. Right click the partition you want to wipe and select Wipe Partition.

Step 2: Select wiping method.

Attention:

1. Fill sectors with Zero and Fill sectors with One: They are similar to full format in Windows. They just write the same code to the partition.

2. Fill sectors with Zero &One: It will randomly write zeros and ones to partition, which has more advanced data privacy than full format.

3. DoD 5220.22-M (3 passes): It is a data erasure standard of the US Department of Defense (DoD). The data erasure standard states that data on a hard drive should be overwritten multiple times for proper data sanitization. This wiping method has three passes.

• Pass one: writes a zero and followed by verification.
• Pass two: writes a one and followed by verification.
• Pass three: writes a random character and followed by verification.

4. DoD 5220.28-STD (7 passess): It is also a DoD data erasure standard. It provides the highest security level for data and has more passes than the above DoD 5220.22-M (3 passes).

• Pass one: overwrites the partition with 01010101and followed by verification.
• Pass two: overwrites the partition with 10101010and followed by verification.
• Then, it repeats the above two passes for twice and followed by verification.
• Pass seven: overwrites the partition with random characters and followed by verification.

Step 3: Click Apply button to execute the wiping operation.

The above wiping operation with MiniTool Partition Wizard can guarantee enough data privacy and usable disk at the same time.

When to Choose Quick Format or Full Format?

Suitable Cases for Quick Format

Generally speaking, if computer users don't need to scan disk for bad sectors or they don't want to wait for a long time, they can choose quick format in case that they need to recover data someday.

Format Disk Drive

Quick format can be performed in the following specific situations: clear partition with unnecessary files to free up space, install Windows, the file system is damaged and the notification 'You need to format the disk before you can use it. Do you want to format it now?' occurs, and so on.

Suitable Cases for Full Format

Full format is performed usually because computer users don't need the data anymore and don't want it to be recovered by others. Or, when computer users want to check the disk for bad sectors, they will consider full format.

Full format is performed in the following specific situations: get a brand-new unformatted disk, the disk is old and has many bad sectors, decide to sell or donate the device, computer get virus, and so on.

But if computer users decide to sell or donate the device, they usually don't want the data to be recovered by others. Then, they could use DoD 5220.22-M (3 passes) or DoD 5220.28-STD (7 passess) mode in MiniTool Partition Wizard to guarantee the data privacy better.

Conclusion

Can you benefit from this article? Or does this article explain quick format vs. full format well? You can leave a comment below for sharing or to discuss with us. If you have problem in data recovery or wiping partition, please email us at [email protected] for help.

Quick Format vs Full Format FAQ

Disk Format Software Free