What Computer Formatting Means

To format a drive (hard disk, floppy disk, flash drive, etc.) means to prepare the chosen partition on the drive to be used by an operating system by deleting all the data and setting up a file system.

The most popular file system to support Windows is NTFS, but FAT32 is also sometimes used.

In Windows, formatting a partition is usually done from the Disk Management tool. You can also format a drive using the format command in a command line interface like Command Prompt, or with a free disk partition software tool.

Resources on Formatting

Formatting can't usually be done by accident, so you shouldn't worry that you'll delete all your files by mistake. However, you should be cautious when formatting anything and be sure you know what you're doing.

Here are some common things you might do related to formatting:

• Format a Hard Drive in Windows
• Format a Hard Drive From the Command Prompt
• Format the C Drive
• Format the C Drive From a System Repair Disc
• Format an SD Card in Windows
• Partition a Hard Drive in Windows
• Completely Erase a Hard Drive
• Wipe a Hard Drive

Some devices like cameras will let you format the storage through the device itself. It's similar to how you can format a hard drive using a computer—the same thing is possible with some digital cameras and maybe even gaming consoles or other devices that might need their hard drive formatted.

More Information on Formatting

Formatting the C: drive, or whatever letter happens to identify the partition that Windows is installed on, must be done from outside of Windows because you can't erase locked files (the files you're currently using). Doing so from outside the OS means the files aren't actively running and can, therefore, be deleted.

Formatting a hard drive is part of the "clean install" method of installing Windows.

If you want to format a device to change the file system from, say, FAT32 to NTFS, one way you can do it while saving your data is to first copy the files off of the drive so that it's empty.

You might be able to recover files from a partition even after it's been formatted. Some file recovery tools should be able to help, and many are free; it's definitely worth a try if you've accidentally formatted a partition that held valuable data.

There are two types of formatting: high-level and low-level. High-level formatting involves writing the file system to the disk so that the data can be organized and understood by software reading from it and writing to it. Low-level formatting is when the tracks and sectors are outlined on the disk. This is done by the manufacturer before the drive is even sold.

When you perform a quick format in Windows, you're just deleting, not erasing, the files.

Other Definitions of Format

The word format is also used to describe the way other things are arranged or structured, not just a file system.

For example, format is associated with the visible properties of objects like text and images. Word processing programs like Microsoft Word can format text to make it centered on the page, appear as a different font type, and so on.

Format is also a term used to describe the way files are encoded and organized, and is usually identified by the file's extension. MP3 and JPG are common file extensions used by media file formats.