Formatting the disk via the command line during installation. Diskpart program

As you know, the “format c:” command, originally related to MS-DOS tools, is used quite often for computer systems with Windows on board. Let many not be confused by the fact that support for MS-DOS by Microsoft was completed a very long time ago, since the system’s built-in tool in the form of a command console works exactly according to its principles, and some actions without the command line are impossible to perform at all, as well as to gain access To hidden possibilities Windows. Next, we will consider the main aspects related to formatting and its practical application, without going too much into the technical components of additionally used attributes.

What is the "format c:" command?

As is already clear, the command itself is intended specifically for formatting hard drive, but in this particular case we are talking purely about the system partition in which the operating system is installed (according to Windows default is installed exactly on the “C” drive, unless another location is specified, for example, when installing a second OS on a virtual partition).

I would immediately like to draw the attention of all users to the fact that this toolkit can only be used on the command line. For the “format c:” command itself, it is possible to use some additional attributes that allow you to activate certain options, depending on what action needs to be performed when formatting a system or logical partition.

Areas of application of the command

First, let's determine when this command may be needed, and then move on to its practical use.

For the most part, disk formatting is required during installation. operating system or its re-installation after critical failures or virus exposure, when restoration of functionality using Windows or removal of virus threats turns out to be impossible.

The command can also be used when partitioning a hard disk into additional sections using diskpart tools (however, in this case, it is not the “C” drive that is formatted, but the created logical partition). Actions with the system partition are performed only in the situations described above. Sometimes such measures even help restore the performance of the hard drive.

Some nuances associated with starting formatting

Somewhat distracting from the description of the “format c:” command, I would like to cheer up the readers. There is such a good joke when the support service receives a phone call:

Word doesn't work for me, what should I do?

Do you have Word on your C drive?

Write: “format c:” and press Enter.

Will it help?

And how! The most effective remedy!

But this is, of course, a joke. The fact is that in a loaded (working) system, no matter how hard you try, disk formatting ( system partition) cannot be started. Windows simply won’t allow you to do this (well, the system won’t give permission to self-destruct?).

Thus, the question of how to do “format c:” comes down to initially booting from removable media, then calling the console and using the command in its environment. Sometimes, however, you can encounter non-standard situations.

For example, a user has two Windows systems of different modifications installed. One is located on the “C” drive, the second is installed on the “D” drive. Formatting the “C” partition can be done by booting into the environment of the second system and calling the command console in it.

The same can be observed in the case when some kind of virtual machine with the tested “operating system”, which is a complete resemblance of a real computer, but in a virtual form.

View all command line attributes

But let's return to the main command "format c:". The Command Prompt allows you to perform many operations using this feature. In order not to describe absolutely all the attributes used, any user can be advised to review them themselves.

Just call command line and enter the command “format /?” in it. After completing it, the screen will appear full list additional attributes with detailed description each of them.

Practical formatting

Now about the practical use of the “format c:” command. Windows systems will not allow you to do this, so we assume that the boot is done from removable media (installation or recovery disk or flash drive).

Entering the command in its standard form will execute full formatting the specified section. If you set the additional attribute “/Q”, this will lead to Quick format. The average user is unlikely to perform setting cluster sizes or other specific actions, so for now we can limit ourselves to this simple example.

Formatting when creating new partitions

It looks much more interesting to create new sections and bootable media. True, the “format c:” command is not used in this case, as such, but familiarity with the general use of the format command may be useful to many users:

When using the "diskpart" toolkit, it is sometimes necessary to create a primary partition and then activate boot partition. At one stage you need to do formatting (you can even manually specify your preferred file system), for which an additional operator “FS” is introduced, after which the type is indicated, for example NTFS systems. If such a pointer is not used, formatting will be performed while maintaining the current system.

The use of such tools sometimes allows you to quickly change the disk format from unreadable (RAW) to regular. This is much faster than trying to change it using the same operating system tools.

When using the general command, if the /U attribute was not initially specified, it is possible to undo the formatting by issuing the UNFORMAT command, since the old file distribution table along with the root directory is preserved. However, such actions mostly relate to processes associated with removable media and logical partitions.

In conclusion

That's all briefly about the formatting command. The description of each applied attribute was not specifically considered here, since most users in practical use find them unnecessary, but are mainly required system administrators or repair specialists computer equipment(particularly hard drives).

But even the general knowledge presented above will help any user understand why the described command is needed, how and where it is used. However, situations are different, so you should not neglect the use of formatting via the command line, especially since the general command is used even when manually creating bootable media using the operating system, which eliminates the use of third-party software.-

Formatting a hard drive is a software process of applying marks to elements of the magnetic platter memory area and creating a new file structure of the media. Without labels and file system structure hard drive is useless device, recording information on which will not work due to the physical and software features of the processes of recording, storing and reading information.

Physically, nothing happens to it when formatting a hard drive, but at the software level, its logical structure is organized on the media - a certain order necessary for recording, storing, editing and deleting data. Otherwise, the logical structure of the disk is called a file system. Depending on the selected file system, the speed of access to information, the maximum length of a file name, the number of files in one directory, the efficiency of the drive, search methods, recording information, etc. will differ.

Formatting a hard drive is divided into two types. These are low-level and high-level formatting.

Low-level formatting is a process by which special electronic marks called servo marks are applied to the magnetic surface of the polished platters of your HDD. They contain service information about the positioning of the reading heads and the position of sectors and tracks of the disk, which determine the physical format of the drive. This procedure is performed on special factory equipment, since before this the media does not contain any information about the sectors and tracks of the plate(s), due to the absence of which, working with the media is impossible. Due to the coefficient of volumetric expansion of the materials (as many know from school physics lessons) from which HDD platters were made in the past and the stepper motors that control the positioning of the heads, sectors and tracks were displaced relative to the read heads. Thus, when, according to the controller, the head was in the desired sector, it could physically be on the adjacent track. Because of this, the hard drive malfunctioned and bad (inoperative) sectors appeared (if the controller thinks that the head is in the first sector, but in reality it is positioned, for example, above the 5th, then the first four sectors are inaccessible to it). Such hard drives required repeated low-level formatting throughout their entire service life, which required the complete and repeated destruction of all data on the hard drive platter(s).

In new HDDs, this problem was solved by using a voice coil in the read head mechanism, due to which the influence of thermal expansion was compensated by recalibrating the operating parameters of the disk heads (to put it simply, everything was solved at the software level by simple redirection).

Low-level formatting is necessary to solve several problems and is performed in such cases:

• at the manufacturing facility to create the physical structure of the manufactured hard drive before testing and delivery to the end user;
• on old ones hard drives to reset the file system (due to the coefficient of linear expansion of materials when heated during long-term operation of the HDD, the head moves slightly in relation to the formed grid of tracks and sectors);
• complete, reliable and irrevocable erasure of all information stored on the hard drive, for example, before sale own computer or the hard drive itself.

High-level HDD formatting - the process of creating a file hard structure disk, which consists of creating a master boot record, a file table, a file system structure and, depending on the formatting option, checking the surface of the hard drive platters for bad sectors followed by their replacement or deactivation. High-level formatting prepares the hard drive for use by the operating system to store data on it.

High-level formatting is divided into two types: quick and full. During the quick process, the file table is updated, which stores file names and paths to them, attributes, etc. After this, its new structure is formed, and the main one is created boot record disk or its logical partition. Once the process is complete, the operating system will detect the hard or logical drive as clean, although physically all the information on it will remain intact, with the exception of the file table - all data in it will be marked as non-existent and will be overwritten with new bits of information during operation.

Full formatting is a procedure for clearing the file table, as during quick formatting, but with subsequent rewriting of each sector with zero bits of information. Also, during full formatting, all sectors of the hard drive will be checked for functionality. If a bad sector is detected, it will be replaced with a functional one that is in reserve, or simply excluded, as a result of which the usable volume of the HDD will slightly decrease.

High-level formatting of hard drives and their partitions must be performed in the following cases:

• during reinstallation of the operating system to reset all data located on them and form a new disk structure;
• when dividing the drive into logical drives;
• for high-quality testing of magnetic plates for the presence of damaged sectors;
• immediately after low-level formatting to form the file structure of the disk by the manufacturer or user (mandatory procedure);
• deleting all information on the hard drive.

2. Formatting a non-system hard drive

Any operating system Windows family located on a disk or partition thereof, which is designated as system. It contains the master boot record and system Windows files, thanks to which the interaction of the software with the hardware is carried out. There may be several such partitions, but, as a rule, the user has one operating system installed, which implies the presence of a single system partition. All other partitions and hard drives connected to the computer are not system drives. The second and subsequent hard drives are non-system, so the procedure for formatting them is no different from formatting removable USB drives.

Let's consider methods for forming the file structure of non-system hard drives using tools built into the operating system and with the help of third-party software products, designed to work with hard drives.

2.1. Formatting using BIOS

One way to format a hard drive is to use bootable flash drive or a CD with the installation distribution of the operating system Windows systems, the so-called LiveCD or bootable media with one of the programs for formatting storage media. There are versions of programs, such as AcronisDiskDirector, that can boot directly from a flash drive, which means they work without an operating system. The latest versions of Acronis have a bootable media creation wizard. Such a flash drive will allow the AcronisDiskDirector program to boot from the BIOS and format the hard drive.

In addition to third-party programs, formatting a hard drive with BIOS can be done by booting from the installation disk with the Windows distribution using the command line or the operating system installer. All these options will be discussed in more detail below.

2.2. Formatting using Windows

The Windows operating system contains everything necessary for hard formatting disk tools. In this section, we will consider all the methods to format a hard drive using the tools provided by the Windows operating system.

2.2.1. Through properties

The simplest way to prepare a hard drive for work is to clear it of unnecessary information and form new system, is formatting via the context menu.

2.2.2. Through “Creating and formatting hard disk partitions”

The second method to format a hard drive using the Windows operating system tools is the Disk Management snap-in, located in the Computer Management system console.

"Disk Management" - system Windows service, designed to manage flash drives, hard drives and their partitions. This program allows you to format hard drives connected to your computer in one of three file systems and create new partitions on them. Almost all actions are performed without rebooting the operating system, which will not distract the user from his main work.

You can start Disk Management using one of the following methods.

Via the Start menu

Via "My Computer"

Via "Control Panel"

We have launched the Computer Management service. Next, you need to go to its subsection called “Disk Management”, which, in turn, is located in the “Storage Devices” section.

During formatting, you will not see any windows with the progress of the operation, except for the inscription “Formatting” in the “Status” line (see screenshot).

Our hard drive is formatted in the selected file system and is ready for further use. You will be notified about this dialog box and system signal.

2.2.3. Command line

In addition to formatting hard drives through graphical interfaces, the operating system, since the days of console MS-DOS, allows the formation of a new file system of the hard drive with the deletion of all files and, with full formatting, checking its surface for integrity, using system commands entered into the command line console, also called the Windows command interpreter.

The command line allows the user to interact with the computer directly, without any intermediaries in the form of third-party software. It is a window for entering text commands understandable to the operating system with many parameters for direct control of the operating system or computer hardware. Naturally, using the command line, you can quickly format the hard drive. To do this, launch the system console using any of the listed methods or a more convenient method for you.

Through the Run window

Via the Start menu

Using Windows Explorer

The command line is launched by calling the file “cmd.exe” located in the “System32” folder of the system directory of the Windows operating system. To launch the command line, you can go to c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe or use the shortcut to launch the command interpreter.

Having launched the command line, we will see a black window on the screen where you can enter text commands, understandable for the Windows operating system, starting from its first versions.

If you did not enter a label, the operating system will ask you to enter it before formatting or leave the hard drive without a name by pressing “Enter” (see screenshot).

The process of formatting a hard drive, depending on given parameters and storage capacity, can last from several seconds to several tens of minutes. Formatting is accompanied by the inscription: “Creating file system structures.”

At the end of the process, the console window will display the message: “Format completed” and the results of the operation will appear.

Now our hard drive is formatted using the system console and is ready for further use.

2.3 Formatting a disk using the HDD Low Level Format Tool

The HDD Low Level Format Tool utility, or HDDLLFT for short, is designed for low-level formatting of hard drives and digital storage media based on memory chips. It copes with the task perfectly even in cases where the magnetic surface of the plate is severely damaged.

Carrying out the procedure for formatting a hard drive through the utility does not require any special user knowledge.

Please keep in mind that in free version HDD Low Level Format Tool formatting speed is limited to 50 Mb/s, which with significant volumes of modern hard drives during a full format with checking the drive for bad sectors may result in several hours of work. The second drawback of the program is the inability to specify the cluster size.

3. Formatting the system hard drive

A system hard drive is, as a rule, a high-speed (with a platter rotation speed of 10,000 rpm, although it can be with a standard 7200 rpm) hard drive on which the operating system is installed. Based on this, it will not be possible to format it using Windows. Formatting a system hard drive is carried out using a different method, the essence of which is no different from forming a new file system for a regular hard drive. The only difference is that the utility to create a new file system will have to be launched from installation disk or flash drives.

3.1. Formatting using a bootable USB flash drive or disk

3.1.1. Through the Windows operating system installer

One of the most common methods to format a hard drive used as a system drive is to use removable media or a CD and a Windows OS installation distribution.

We will not consider how to create bootable media; many articles have been written on this subject on the Russian-language segment of the Internet. Let's get straight to the point.

1. We insert the bootable flash drive into the USB socket of your computer or laptop (or the CD into its drive).
2. Reboot or turn on the computer.

Immediately after loading the basic I/O system and initializing it and testing the equipment, we begin to click on the quick selection key for boot media.

This key can be "F9" or "F11" (see manual instructions before your motherboard or laptop), this data is also displayed during BIOS boot.

3. We select our media as the device to which control of the system will be transferred (in our case, it is a 4 GB USB flash drive for booting from UEFI).
   

When a similar black screen with an inscription appears, press any button on the keyboard.




Information will be read from the bootloader program to which the BIOS has transferred control.

4. Depending on Windows builds, select the operating system installation option (with a different bootloader interface, using third-party assemblies, the essence of the process will remain the same).
5. Select the installation language. Naturally, it will be Russian, as will the keyboard layout, time format, etc.

In the next window, simply click “Install ->”.




We accept the terms of use of the operating system, preferably after reading them.




We stop at the second option so that we can get into the hard drive settings menu.

6. Click “Full installation...”.
   

Using the keyboard and mouse, select the required hard drive, if there are several of them connected to the computer, and click “Disk Setup”.




The toolbar will change slightly.

Click on the “Format” button.




A standard window will appear warning that all files and programs on the disk will be destroyed.

7. Click “Ok” to confirm your intentions.
   

After clearing the table of contents, the hard drive will be formatted and ready to install the operating system.

This method is reasonable to use in cases where the Windows operating system cannot format the hard drive, for example, because it is used by some application or is a system partition.

3.1.2. Formatting the system hard drive via the command line by booting from the installation disk/flash drive

Another simple option to format the disk on which the operating system is located is to use the command line, booting from a disk or flash drive with installation files Windows operating system.

3.2. Acronis Disk Director

1. To start the creation wizard boot drives go to the tab " Backup and recovery" on the program control panel, which is made in the style of a ribbon, like Microsoft Office, starting with the 2007 edition.
2. Click on the “Create bootable media” item.
   
3. Depending on the version of the program, a window may appear asking you to select the type of boot media. It is recommended to select the bootloader option on Windows based P.E. Click “Next”.
   

We select the necessary components on the basis of which the wizard will create a bootable USB flash drive.

To format a hard drive, the AcronisDiskDirector program is sufficient. If you want to have a tool for creating backup copies of partitions, also select AcronisTrueImage.




4. Select the type of Acronis bootable media to be created.

   
   
5. Then we confirm our intentions to write the program files to the flash drive, having first destroyed all the files on it, and wait for the end of the writing process.

6. We boot from the created drive.

   To do this, restart the computer and select our flash drive as boot media. This is done by changing the priority in the list of boot devices (“Boot” menu item) in your BIOS or hotkey selecting boot devices.

   
   

   In most cases, during the initialization procedure, which occurs before loading the operating system, you must press the F11, F9 or other key to bring up the boot menu. In it, select the USB drive and click “Enter”.

   
   

7. We are waiting for the program to load.

   Typically, this procedure takes little longer than loading Acronis Disk Director in Windows.

8. We select our hard drive and call the formatting procedure using any method:
   
9. In the dialog box that appears, select the hard drive formatting options:
   • file system – it is recommended to use NTFS, due to support for files larger than 4 GB, which is not available for FAT and FAT32;
   • Leave the cluster size at “Auto” if you have no idea what this value is. However, to store a huge number of small files, it is recommended to select a cluster size of less than 4 KB;
   • volume label – enter the name of the hard drive or leave the field blank.

Having set all the parameters, we turn our attention to the toolbar located at the top of the screen. Click on the button called “Apply pending operations (1)”.




After a short loading of the list of operations, a small window will appear with their detailed description and parameters.



10. If you are confident in the actions you are performing, check the correctness of the specified parameters and click on the “Continue” button.

After a few seconds of fixing the operation, the hard drive formatting procedure will start.

Be careful, the program will not display a warning window asking you to confirm the operation and will not notify you that all data on the hard drive has been destroyed.

Formatting will occur within a few seconds, since the utility uses a quick formatting algorithm. At the end of the procedure, the window will close automatically, and the hard drive with a cleared file table and a new file system will be ready for further use.

3.3. Paragon Partition Manager

Paragon Partition Manager is the most powerful free software product for working with hard drives. Naturally, you can use it to format any hard drive or partition. In addition, the utility can work with backup copies, change and create logical partitions, install multiple operating systems on a disk, etc.

1. Load the LiveCD or installation distribution of the Windows operating system, which includes the Paragon Partition Manager program.
2. We write the image to removable media and boot from it, specifying the highest boot priority from a flash drive in the BIOS or selecting the drive with the Paragon Partition Manager distribution as the boot device.
3. We select our program using the mouse cursor or cursor keys and the “Enter” button, depending on the graphical menu and the bootloader used to create the LiveCD.
4. The main menu of the utility will appear, where we select “Partition Manager” in the list on the left, and then in its right frame.
   

5. In the next window, in the list of your hard drives, select the one you want to format.

   This can be done both in the “Disk Panel” tab and in the lower frame called “Partition List”.

   
   
6. Call up the context menu of the magnetic drive and select the “Format” command in it, which is located in one of the first places.
   
7. Specify the file system and the new hard drive label.
   
8. Click “Advanced options” if you want to change the number of sectors in one cluster. Also here you can specify whether to perform formatting using the built-in Windows commands“format”, which we became familiar with when formatting a disk from the command console, or use the developers’ own algorithm.
   

9. Click “Format”.

   The program will not ask for confirmation of the operation, but will not start executing the command specified to it.

   To do this, click on the “Apply intended changes” button, which is located in the toolbar under the main menu.

   
   

   To view planned changes, use the magnifying glass button.

10. In the dialogue, we agree to make changes by clicking “Yes”.
    
11. We are waiting for a notification that the program has completed its operation.
    

The same is done through the main menu of the program.

4. Possible errors and ways to solve them

One of the many problems that users face when formatting a hard drive is the use of outdated software. This happens because the user has not updated the disk management program that he trusts for several years. Also, using queries like “download hacked acronis” often leads to the most popular sites, which have been at the top of search engines for many months and contain outdated versions of the software.

Keep your hard drive software versions up to date, especially if you use one of the latest versions Windows.

The second problem is an error when trying to format the disk being used, especially for system partitions. Also, some application can use the hard drive or its partition, even in read mode, while the user is trying to format it. The way out of this situation is to use bootable LiveCDs or media with a Windows distribution.

An error in the process of formatting a hard drive due to a huge number of damaged sectors occurs when trying to fully format a hard drive, the surface of which is replete with damaged memory cells. Run a HDD scan, for example, with the Victoria utility, with reassignment of damaged areas or their exclusion from the area used for storing information.

Question from a user

Hello.

I want to completely delete all content on the disk, and then reinstall the system. I have two drives ("C:" and "D:") - I was able to format one, but there is a problem with the "C:" drive. Can you tell me how I can format the system hard drive (on which Windows 8 is installed)?

Good day everyone!

In general, on today’s modern system, formatting a disk is not a difficult operation, I would even say simple (not like it was 20 years ago).

Perhaps, questions arise only in cases where Windows does not see the disk, errors appear during formatting, or when trying to format system disk(as in your case).

In the article below I will discuss several formatting methods - depending on your tasks and the specific problem, choose the one you need.

👉 Important!

After formatting the drive, all information on it will be deleted! Make a copy in advance necessary files from disk to third-party media.

From under Windows

Via My Computer

Probably the classic and easiest way to format a disk is to go to " " (or "This PC", depending on your OS version), find in it required section disk. Then select this section, click right click mice on it and in context menu select the required one (i.e. formatting, see screenshot below).

Note: if the icon "My computer" is not on the desktop and you don’t know how to open it - press the button combination WIN+E- Explorer will open: in the menu on the left, select the link to “My Computer/This Computer”.

Format disk // This PC // Windows 10

1. file system: FAT 32, NTFS, exFAT, etc. In most cases, the most best option for a hard drive - use NTFS;
2. allocation unit size: 4096 bytes (optimal);
3. volume label: disk name, you can enter any (I recommend using the Latin alphabet, as some programs do not read Russian font correctly).

In general, the default settings are usually suitable for most users - you can immediately press the button "Begin". In a few minutes you will receive a “clean” disk...

Via Disk Management

In cases where you go to " ", but your connected disk is simply not visible (this often happens with new disks that have not been formatted) - then you need to use either special utilities, or use the tool " " , built into Windows.

To open Disk Management you need to:

1. press a combination of buttons WIN+R to open the window "Run" ;
2. enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. The application should open "Disk Management" .

Next you will see not only all connected disks, flash drives, memory cards, etc., but also what partitions were created on them - i.e. the entire structure. Select the desired section and right-click on it - in the context menu, click on the item "Format..." (see red arrows in the screenshot below).

Via command line

In cases where Explorer freezes (for example), also in the event of various types of errors, you can try formatting the disk using 👉.

First you need to open it as an administrator. To do this:

format G: /FS:NTFS /q

G: - letter of the drive to be formatted (specify carefully!);

/FS:NTFS - select a file system;

/q - quick formatting.

Basically, the disk must be formatted.

In Windows 10, by the way, a small “error” may appear - the system will ask you to specify the volume label for the disk, and then write that "The specified drive label is invalid" (although you seem to have indicated everything correctly, example below).

In this case, do the following...

First, open the drive you want to format in a command prompt, for example, drive G: (see screenshot below).

Team VOL- look at the volume label

Next, enter the formatting command again, and in the disk label field - the label that we found out in the previous step (in my case - Windows 8). Next, you will be warned that all data will be destroyed during formatting (you agree by entering y and pressing Enter ).

In the next step you will be prompted to enter a volume label - now you can enter any name (32 characters). You can simply leave the field empty by pressing Enter. Actually, that’s it - the disk will be formatted (screenshot below).

With the help of special utilities

There are now hundreds of different programs and utilities for working with hard drives. Operations such as formatting, partitioning, defragmentation, etc. can be done in more convenient programs than those built into Windows. The link to the article with the best of them is given above.

In my opinion, one of those that deserves attention is AOMEI Partition Assistant.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

It allows you to quickly, safely, and easily carry out the most necessary operations with disk drives:

1. change their partition size (including without formatting);
2. move partitions;
3. merge sections;
4. format drives;
5. change labels and much more!

What’s also captivating is that the program has many different step-by-step wizards - they will help solve the problem even for those users who have only recently become acquainted with a PC. Well, for example, you can convert a file FAT system 32 to NTFS without data loss, transfer Windows from a hard drive to a newfangled SSD, etc.

Via BIOS

(for formatting system partitions, for example, on which Windows is installed)

If you want to format the partition on which Windows is installed, you won’t be able to do it just like that. The point is that you need to boot from another medium - for example, from another hard drive (on which Windows is installed) or from 👉, and then format your disk.

Naturally, you need to prepare such media in advance (for example, an installation flash drive with Windows) - since after formatting the system partition of the drive, Windows will no longer boot from it (until you install it again. I explained it chaotically, but in general terms, I think it’s clear 👌) .

Using a Windows installation flash drive

The easiest way to format the system partition of a disk is to use a Windows installation flash drive. You can learn how to create and prepare it (if you don’t have one) from my previous articles (links are provided below).

The easiest way to boot from a flash drive is to use a special boot menu - BOOT MENU, which can be called immediately after turning on the computer/laptop (or by changing the boot priority in the BIOS). In order not to repeat myself here, I will provide a couple of links to detailed articles about this.

Next After booting from the installation flash drive, you need to go to selecting a partition for installing Windows. In this step, you can format the entire disk (delete all partitions and create them again), as well as its individual partitions.

👉 Help!

If there are difficulties and you do not know how to get to this step when Windows installation -

With the help of special programs

Take the same AOMEI Partition Assistant that I recommended using when working under Windows, just above in the article. She has an excellent tool in her arsenal for creating a special emergency flash drive from which you can boot when your system crashes (or it is not installed on the disk at all).

👉 Help!

I talk about programs for working with hard drives (including AOMEI Partition Assistant).

To create such a flash drive, you need to run the program on your working PC "Master/Make Bootable CD Master".

To boot from such a flash drive, use also Boot Menu , links to instructions were given above in the article, in the previous step.

When you boot from the emergency flash drive, the menu and operation of the program will be similar to that running under Windows. Also click on the desired disk and perform the necessary operation (screenshot below).

AOMEI Partition Assistant - formatting a partition

One of the most common actions with hard drives of any type is formatting them. There can be quite a lot of situations when a logical partition or hard drive requires formatting. But in some cases, in particular regarding the system partition, standard procedure cannot be done using Windows. In this case, the command line is used (we take Windows 10 as an example), which can be launched by booting from removable media. Next, we will consider several options for carrying out the formatting process both in the operating system environment and when booting from optical disk or a regular flash drive.

Formatting a hard drive via the command line: why is it needed?

First of all, it is worth saying that absolutely all experts note the fact that formatting is best done from the command console, despite the fact that the system itself has its own tool.

Firstly, additional attributes can be applied to the basic formatting commands, which, in addition to carrying out the process itself, allow you to perform some additional actions. Secondly, the console becomes absolutely indispensable when reinstalling the operating system, troubleshooting problems, or when the hard drive does not open, for example due to damage, and loading the OS becomes impossible. If critical failures occur on your hard drive, whether you like it or not, you cannot do without a full format. Some users try to use quick formatting, however, as practice shows, it can only clear the table of contents and, in the end, when you need to bring the hard drive to life, it turns out to be far from the best tool, as opposed to full formatting.

How do you open the Windows 10 Command Prompt?

First, let's look at calling the console itself. Any Windows system has several simple methods.

The most used and most common method specifically for Windows 10 is to use special menu“Run”, in which it is entered. In systems of a lower rank, this option can also be used, but previously the link to the console was displayed directly in the main menu, called through the “Start” button, but in the tenth modification this is not the case.

No less in a simple way is to enter a query into the search field, which can be called up from the right-click menu on the Start button. Here you can simply launch the console, or you can start it via RMB as an administrator (working with the command line very often requires administrative rights, especially to carry out any critical actions in relation to the hard drive and the operating system itself as a whole).

Finally, you can open the System32 directory in the standard Explorer, located in the main system directory, and launch the cmd.exe file using the methods that were shown just above (opening the file as administrator).

When booting from removable media (installation, recovery disks or USB drives), in most cases the combination Shift + F10 is used.

Some nuances of disk access

I would immediately like to draw the attention of all users to the fact that even when using the cmd.exe applet, formatting the system partition will not work. This is understandable. Well, the system cannot format the disk on which it is located.

Therefore, formatting a hard drive via the Windows command line within the operating system itself applies exclusively to logical partitions, removable media (including USB HDD), as well as to other hard drives installed on the computer (RIAD arrays). By the way, even if the operating system is installed not on drive C, but, for example, on partition D, formatting the first partition will still be unavailable, since when loading the primary BIOS system It accesses exactly this partition, and in any case it contains the files necessary to run the OS.

Standard logical partition formatting

Now directly about the process itself. For now we will not touch the system partition, but will focus on the logical and additionally installed disks any type.

After calling the console in the simple case Formatting a hard drive via the command line is done using the universal format command, after which the drive or partition letter is entered, separated by a space, with a colon. For example, the disk in the system is designated by the letter H. The command in this case will look like “format h:”.

This is a complete formatting of the hard drive via the command line, although you can use another method, which will be described in more detail below.

Additional format command attributes

As already mentioned, the good thing about this command is that you can add additional attributes to it, as a result of which some other actions can be performed.

View full description everyone possible options You can execute the command in the console itself by entering the line format /? (this command opens the full list of additions). There are quite a lot of attributes, but among all, it is especially worth noting quick formatting by entering /q after the main command, formatting with installation of a specific file system, for example fs:ntfs, as well as the use of the V:NAME combination to set the volume label, where NAME is an arbitrary disk name or section.

Booting from removable media and calling the command line

In situations where there are problems accessing the system partition, in particular the hard drive cannot be opened, you can format it (if other troubleshooting methods do not help) only from the command console launched when booting from removable media. One of the most popular tools is starting from a LiveCD.

Formatting a hard drive through the command line, accessed by pressing Shift + F10 (from the recovery console or without it), can be done using the same format command, specifying the system partition letter and specifying additional parameters formatting.

Using the diskpart tool

However, as most experts admit, it is not always appropriate to use a standard command. Another method is considered more effective, however, in most cases it is usually used for removable USB devices, including USB hard drives, from which you need to make a boot device.

IN in this case Formatting a hard drive via the command line (diskpart) begins by entering the command of the same name, after which the list disk combination is entered to view all drives installed in the system.

All disks are marked not with letters, but with numbers. Therefore, some users are faced with the problem of identifying their device. The easiest way to recognize it is by the indicated size (you obviously can’t confuse the same flash drive with a hard drive).

Next, to select a disk, use the select disk X command, where X is the number the desired disk from the list provided. After this, the clean line clears the contents of the media, and then creates a primary partition (the create partition primary command). After this, the current partition is selected again (select partition 1) and activated (active). This command is not always used. If you do not plan to make it bootable, you can skip it.

Only at this stage does the actual formatting of the active primary partition begin, indicating the preferred file system, for which the format fs=ntfs (or fat32) command is used. If you need to do quick formatting, quick is added to the line separated by a space. But to achieve optimal results, you should not use it.

At the end of the process, the partition (device) needs to be assigned a volume label. This is done with the assign command (the letter will be assigned to the device automatically). After this, all that remains is to transfer the installation distribution files to the created drive.

Third party utilities

If someone does not like such methods, any free one like Disk Director from Acronis, HDD Low Level Format Tool, Partition Magic, Paragon Hard Disk Manager, etc. can be used to simplify the work.

True, they are all equipped graphical interface, and we are not talking about using the command console, although many users will find it much easier to work with such utilities. But, since in this case it is the use of the command line that is being considered, there is no point in dwelling on such utilities and their capabilities.

Conclusion

As a result, it remains to be said that using the console, in which commands specially provided for in Windows systems are entered, which, by the way, migrated to these operating systems from DOS, is not particularly difficult. In addition, it is the command line that allows you to eliminate a great many more problems that can be corrected using tools and system Windows tools It doesn't always work out. And the formatting process itself is much higher than if it were run in the operating system environment. It’s no secret that quite often you can see a message appear that Windows, for some reason, cannot complete the formatting. And if you work with a console, such problems almost never arise. And that is why, in most cases, it is recommended to carry out all processes related to cleaning, formatting disks and partitions, preparing bootable media, etc. exclusively using standard console commands, and not other built-in system tools.

The other day I tried to connect my old WD external hard drive (which had been lying around for a long time) to a Windows 8.1 computer and found that they couldn't access it. As soon as I connected it and opened the “This PC” folder, I saw a green bar slowly filling the address bar of the window, and when I right-clicked on the icon for this drive, the system briefly froze. Then I realized that there was something wrong with the disk, and in order to try to “revive” it, I needed to check it for errors and format it if necessary.

External hard drive not available

If you encounter a situation where your external hard drive has become inaccessible, this guide will help you check for errors/format it using the Command Prompt (CMD).

How to check disk using CMD

Using the WinX menu in Windows 8 (8.1), open a Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

Where "D" is the letter external hard disk - or any other disk for that matter - which needs to be scanned for errors and then corrected if any are found. In short, you just need to replace "D" with your drive letter and then click Enter key on the keyboard.

This will start the process of checking the disk and correcting any errors that are found.

Advice: The command line can also be launched using the Run dialog. To do this, click on Win keyboard+ R, enter the command “cmd” (without quotes, of course) and press Enter.

In my case, it was the check that helped - as soon as the process was completed, I discovered that I again had access to the disk.

How to format a drive using CMD

There is nothing complicated here either. To format a drive using the command line, type the following command and press Enter:

Again, replace “D” with the letter of the drive you want to format.

I hope this information will help you someday. Good luck!

Have a great day!