Formating in Win7 (Full Format)

[Marty]

Hey, I have recently installed Win7 Ultimate on my pc. When I installed I was only given the option to do a quick format. I'm am not concerned about the pro's/con's of either method, I would just like to know how to do a full format in Win7.

Thanks,

Marty.

 

[Marty]

I've searched everywhere for a solution to this, but can not find a thing. It seems that quite a few people are having this same problem, with seemingly no real resolutions at hand.

 

[chuckr]

Hey, I have recently installed Win7 Ultimate on my pc. When I installed I was only given the option to do a quick format. I'm am not concerned about the pro's/con's of either method, I would just like to know how to do a full format in Win7.

Thanks,

Marty.

What do you mean by "full format" ?

How to format a physical hard drive, or only a single partition ?

Zero everything first, then do an HDD format ?

""pro's/con's"" of what ?

 

[Marty]

What do you mean by "full format" ?

By 'full format', I mean a normal format, as opposed to a 'quick format'.

How to format a physical hard drive, or only a single partition ?

I will be formatting a whole drive, with two partitions.

Zero everything first, then do an HDD format ?

??

"pro's/con's"" of what ?

Not really interested in the pros and cons of normal vs quick format types.

 

[chuckr]

How to format a physical hard drive, or only a single partition ?

I will be formatting a whole drive, with two partitions.

Zero everything first, then do an HDD format ?

??

I see...

To format the entire physical disk drive,
you might want to look into the w7 included utility "diskpart".
He does some formatting stuff.

To create the 2 partitions afterwards, you can also do that using the w7 utility "diskpart".
He does 'partition-creation' stuff.

To get there, you have to get into a 'Command Prompt' from w7.

Then type : diskpart

When you see the prompt:
_______DISKPART>

type in: help format
(for the "formatting stuff") or,

type in: help create
(for the partition-creation' stuff)...

When finished gathering info from the 'diskpart' utility,

Type: exit

Then type: exit __________ again, to exit CmdPrompt, and get back to Windows

That should be enough to get you started....

Be careful though, you really have to know what you're doing, when working with the 'diskpart' utility...

 

[Marty]

So do I access the cmd prompt during the win7 setup, so OS, or anything else for that matter, is not running from the hdd at the time?

 

[logicearth]

When you booted up to Windows 7 setup screen, Hit SHIFT+F10 to bring up a Command Prompt. From there you can use diskpart.

 

[Marty]

Cool cool. Also, excuse my ignorance in this matter but, do I format the entire drive then partition, or partition and then format each partition individually? Blaah, that's a mouthful.

Thanks very much for you help also, it's much appreciated.

 

[Dave76]

What do you mean by "full format" ?

By 'full format', I mean a normal format, as opposed to a 'quick format'.

How to format a physical hard drive, or only a single partition ?

I will be formatting a whole drive, with two partitions.

Zero everything first, then do an HDD format ?

??

"pro's/con's"" of what ?

Not really interested in the pros and cons of normal vs quick format types.

Got to Disk Management right click the partition you want to Full Format, un-check 'perform quick format' then follow instruction from there.

You do know this will wipe out everything that is on the partition?
If it's your OS partition, it will be completely gone.

Follow logicearth's advice to format during installation using diskpart.

Make sure you understand chuckr's suggestion:

Be careful though, you really have to know what you're doing, when working with the 'diskpart' utility...

This is not the time to try and learn diskpart.

 

[chuckr]

So do I access the cmd prompt during the win7 setup, so OS, or anything else for that matter, is not running from the hdd at the time?

Since you have w7 already installed, and you just want to "know how" to do a 'full format',

those 2 'diskpart' HELP commands will tell you how to do a 'full format'.

Beyond that, anything else is beyond the scope of helping you to "know how".

(You're now getting into: "know when", and "how to", etc.)

You might want to start a new thread, stating exactly what it is you're looking for, or want to do...
Hope this helped...

 

[theog]

Hi Marty

This tutorial may be of help:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html?ltr=C

 

[Marty]

You do know this will wipe out everything that is on the partition?
If it's your OS partition, it will be completely gone.

Since you have w7 already installed, and you just want to "know how"...

(You're now getting into: "know when", and "how to", etc.)

Hope this helped...

This is precisely what I want to do... tonight as a matter of fact. And yes, you have all been very helpful. But: do I format the entire drive then partition, or partition and then format each partition individually?

 

[Dave76]

Hi Marty

This tutorial may be of help:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html?ltr=C

You do know this will wipe out everything that is on the partition?
If it's your OS partition, it will be completely gone.

Since you have w7 already installed, and you just want to "know how"...

(You're now getting into: "know when", and "how to", etc.)

Hope this helped...

This is precisely what I want to do... tonight as a matter of fact. And yes, you have all been very helpful. But: do I format the entire drive then partition, or partition and then format each partition individually?

We are trying to help you from getting into a situation where you might not be able to get your computer to do anything.

The best way for you to proceed from here is to follow theog's suggestion and read, then follow the tutorial: How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

 

[Marty]

Sorry, I know I'm a pest but, in addition to this question ^^^, should I remove the existing partitions first?

 

[Marty]

We are trying to help you from getting into a situation where you might not be able to get your computer to do anything.

I really do appreciate your concern, but I am aware of risks, and would appreciate some info.

Should I remove the existing partitions first? Then, do I format the entire drive then partition, or partition and then format each partition individually?

Cheers,

Marty.

 

[logicearth]

Remove the partitions, create news ones, then format those partitions.
* BTW doing a a non quick format can take a long time, sometimes hours.

 

[Marty]

Yeah i know man, just trying to work out the labyrinth of diskpart now. Lucky i got a laptop as well that I'm surfing on for help, lol. Thanks man.

 

[Dave76]

Yeah i know man, just trying to work out the labyrinth of diskpart now. Lucky i got a laptop as well that I'm surfing on for help, lol. Thanks man.

Try the free partition manager:
Partition Wizard Home Edition Free!

I haven't formatted an entire HDD with it, but it should do it.

Main Features
Create , Delete and Format partitions with simple steps.

It may require a startup disk to do this.

Set your BIOS to boot from your install media, DVD or USB stick, which ever you are using to first on the list and your normal OS HDD second. Before you format.
As a second option you can press F12 (depends on your BIOS) when the computer first starts to get the boot option screen, so you can choose which device to boot from.

When finished formatting, put in DVD or USB stick, re-start computer.

 

[swarfega]

If you dont select quick format then your doing the full format. That simple really

 

[Marty]

If you dont select quick format then your doing the full format. That simple really

There's no way to actually deselect quick format, hence the purpose of this thread.