# Pretty simple computer question - How do I format a hard drive??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 2, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325 "2002-04-02T06:42:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325/1 "2002-04-02T06:42:05Z")

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Suppose you are running Windows. If you want to format drive C:, you need to make a boot diskette with the appropiate utilities.

Otherwise, you can just click on the “Properties” tab of a drive and format it.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325/2 "2002-04-02T08:28:43Z")

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Are you asking the question or answering it?

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**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325/3 "2002-04-02T09:18:34Z")

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Be careful when formatting. Make sure it completes properly.

To format using Windows 95/98, you can format either in the OS or DOS. Using ME/NT/2000/XP, it’s mostly done through local disk manager or something of the sort.

Unless, of course, you’re formatting the OS drive, in which case it’s a little more complicated.

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**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325/4 "2002-04-02T11:19:20Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \*  
> \*\*Are you asking the question or answering it? \*\*

Urban Ranger wasn’t the OP. Poysyn was.

Hmm, another topic started without a first post. How do they do that? Some sort of bug?

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pretty-simple-computer-question-how-do-i-format-a-hard-drive/101325/5 "2002-04-02T15:40:27Z")

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You don’t format a primary HD from Windows only from DOS…I secondary HD can be formatted under Windoz from the primary HD.