how to format my hard drive in windows 10

Select Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions from the results box.

Step 1: Use the Windows search box to search for Disk Management. Although the below steps are specifically for Windows 10 systems, they are also applicable to 8.1, where the process is much the same. Although some third-party applications have slightly expanded feature sets, the standard Windows tool is perfectly capable of creating new partitions. The simplest way to partition your new or existing hard drive is with Windows’ built-in Disk Management tool. We dive deeper into the differences between SSDs and hard drives in this comparison. If you’d prefer someone else to handle the backup process for you, these are the best cloud providers.Īlso, keep in mind that we’ll be using the term “hard drive” throughout this piece, but the same steps and procedures will apply to a solid-state drive as well. If you’re looking to create new volumes for making a backup, we’d still recommend you use one of the best external hard drives instead. If you follow the steps below, we’ll help take you from a single-drive system to one with as many virtual drives as you want. Fortunately, learning how to partition your hard drive using Windows 10 is quick and easy. Whether you have a new drive or want to partition an existing one, the process is much the same. If you just bought a new drive and want to split it up, you must partition it before using it.

How to format my hard drive in windows 10