Format Hard Drive Win 7

You need to format a hard drive to use it in Windows 7. To format a hard drive means to delete any information on the drive and to setup a file system so Windows 7 can read from it and write data to it.

Prefer screen shots? Try my Step by Step Guide to Formatting a Hard Drive in Windows 7 for an easy walk-through!

As complicated as formatting might sound, it's not at all difficult to format a hard drive in Windows 7. The ability to format a hard drive is a very basic function that all operating systems have and Windows 7 makes it really easy.

Important: You must partition a hard drive before formatting it. If you've installed a new hard drive but have not yet partitioned it, please see How To Partition a Hard Drive in Windows 7 and then return here to format the drive.

Follow these steps to format a hard drive in Windows 7:

Note: Not using Windows 7? See the tip at the bottom of the page for help.

Time Required: The time it takes to format a hard drive in Windows 7 depends almost entirely on the drive's size