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    Windows Formatting Guide: Getting Started

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    0ne_more_tester
    This document provides a 7-step guide to formatting drives in Windows Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10 using Disk Management. The steps are: 1) Initialize the disk if needed, 2) Find the unallocated drive in Disk Management, 3) Set up a new simple volume and size, 4) Assign a drive letter, 5) Set the file system to NTFS and volume label, 6) Finish the format, 7) View the new formatted drive. Optional steps allow changing the file system to ExFAT to make the drive readable by Mac and PC, or resizing the volume.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Windows Formatting Guide: Getting Started

    Uploaded by

    0ne_more_tester
    29 views7 pages
    This document provides a 7-step guide to formatting drives in Windows Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10 using Disk Management. The steps are: 1) Initialize the disk if needed, 2) Find the unallocated drive in Disk Management, 3) Set up a new simple volume and size, 4) Assign a drive letter, 5) Set the file system to NTFS and volume label, 6) Finish the format, 7) View the new formatted drive. Optional steps allow changing the file system to ExFAT to make the drive readable by Mac and PC, or resizing the volume.

    Original Description:

    How to format HDD on Windows 7 to 10

    Original Title

    Windows Formatting W7-10

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

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    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

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    This document provides a 7-step guide to formatting drives in Windows Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10 using Disk Management. The steps are: 1) Initialize the disk if needed, 2) Find the unallocated drive in Disk Management, 3) Set up a new simple volume and size, 4) Assign a drive letter, 5) Set the file system to NTFS and volume label, 6) Finish the format, 7) View the new formatted drive. Optional steps allow changing the file system to ExFAT to make the drive readable by Mac and PC, or resizing the volume.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    29 views7 pages

    Windows Formatting Guide: Getting Started

    Uploaded by

    0ne_more_tester
    This document provides a 7-step guide to formatting drives in Windows Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10 using Disk Management. The steps are: 1) Initialize the disk if needed, 2) Find the unallocated drive in Disk Management, 3) Set up a new simple volume and size, 4) Assign a drive letter, 5) Set the file system to NTFS and volume label, 6) Finish the format, 7) View the new formatted drive. Optional steps allow changing the file system to ExFAT to make the drive readable by Mac and PC, or resizing the volume.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 7

    Windows Formatting Guide

    Using Disk Management with:


    Windows: Vista, 7, 8.x, and 10

    Getting Started:
    Finding & Launching Disk Management

    Depending on the version of Windows you


    are using, the method of accessing the Disk
    Management window will be different. Note
    that the window styles in this document may
    differ from yours due to theme choice.

    Windows Vista, Windows 7

    Click the Start Menu and type diskmgmt.msc


    into the search bar. This should return a result
    above the search bar (Windows 7 shown).
    Press Enter to launch Disk Management.

    When ready, please skip to page 3 if youre


    using Windows Vista or Windows 7.

    1
    Windows Formatting Guide

    Windows 8, Windows 10

    Right-click the Start Menu and choose Disk


    Management from the context contextual
    menu that appears. Windows 8 is below,
    Windows 10 below-right.

    2
    Windows Formatting Guide

    STEP 1:
    When the Disk Management window opens,
    you may see a pop-up window that states:
    You must initialize a disk before the Logical
    Disk Manager can access it. This is most
    common with drives that have never been
    used and still have their factory configurations
    intact. If you see this message, choose the
    Master Boot Record (MBR) option for drives
    2TB or smaller. Choose the GUID Partition
    Table (GPT) option for drives larger than 2TB.

    Once youve chosen a partition scheme, click


    OK. If you do not see this message box move
    to Step 2.

    STEP 2:

    Find the drive you want to format; it will


    be listed in the bottom half of the Disk
    Management window. The drive should be
    displayed as Unallocated if it has never been
    used before.

    Select the disk by clicking within the region


    displayed as Unallocated, then right-click
    and choose New Simple Volume.

    3
    Windows Formatting Guide

    STEP 3:

    The New Simple Volume Wizard will appear.


    Click Next to move to the first setting. The
    Specify Volume Size field should be set to use
    the full amount of space available by default.
    If you wish to set up a smaller disk size, you
    can change the setting here.

    Click Next once the Simple volume size is set.

    STEP 4:

    The New Simple Volume Wizard will ask you


    to assign a drive letter. Based on the drives
    present in your PC and the letters they use,
    the next available letter will be chosen by
    default. You can use this letter or choose a
    different one from the pop-up menu.

    Once the drive letter is set, click Next.

    4
    Windows Formatting Guide

    STEP 5:

    Before you name the drive for easy


    recognition, make sure the File system
    option is set to NTFS this is the standard
    format for Windows drives. You can leave the
    Allocation unit size option set to Default for
    general purpose use.

    Next, enter the drive name in the Volume


    label field. It is a good practice to use only
    letters, spaces, underscores, dashes, and
    numbers. For general purpose use, leave
    the default Perform quick format option
    checked, and leave the Enable file and folder
    compression option unchecked.

    Once these options are set, click Next.

    STEP 6:

    If the format was successful you should see


    a message to that effect on the next wizard
    screen, along with a listing of the settings you
    used.

    Click Finish when youre done reviewing


    them.

    5
    Windows Formatting Guide

    STEP 7:

    The final step is to view your new drive in


    the Disk Management window. You should
    no longer see an unallocated space, and the
    old disk name should be replaced by the new
    label you chose in Step 5.

    Congratulations, you are now ready to use


    your newly formatted windows drive!

    (Optional) Step 8a - Format Changes:



    Once a drive has been formatted, if you need
    it to be readable by both Mac and PC, you
    can change the File System to ExFAT. This type
    works with both Windows Vista and later and
    OS X 10.7.5 and later.

    To do this, just re-open the Disk Management


    window, select your drive, then right-click in
    the allocated space. Choose Format...

    6
    Windows Formatting Guide

    (Optional) Step 8b - Format Changes:



    Once the Format window opens, simply
    change the File system option from NTFS to
    ExFAT, then click OK.

    You will see a warning that Formatting this


    volume will erase all data on it. If youre OK
    with this, click OK. Otherwise click Cancel,
    exit Disk Management and back up the files
    you need to back up, before returning to Disk
    Management to reformat the drive to ExFat.

    (Optional) Step 9 - Volume Size Changes: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733060.aspx

    If the drive is formatted with the NTFS file


    system, you can shrink, extend, or delete the
    volume by right clicking on the allocated
    space in Disk Management and choosing
    the desired option and using the Volume size
    controls. When you shrink a volume it will
    create more unallocated space so that you can
    create additional volumes if needed. Please
    see the URL at right for more information.

    R2 10/06/15 AFDM OWCWINFORGUIDE


    7

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