A hard disk drive is the device used to store large amounts of digital information in computers and related equipment like iPods and game consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3.
A typical hard disk drive consists of a motor, spindle, platters, read/write heads, actuator and electronics.
PLATTERS
A hard disk has one or more platters - or disks - and each platter usually has a head on each of its sides. In modern drives the platters are made from glass or ceramic. The platters themselves are non-magnetic but have a magnetic coating which holds the magnetic impulses which represent the data. A typical hard drive will have three or four platters and modern varieties can hold 20GB per disk.
READ/WRITE HEAD
The read/write heads float on a cushion of air only nanometers above the surface of the platters. As the read/write heads pass over the spinning platters they magnetize the surface in a pattern which represents the data in digital form. The data is stored digitally as tiny magnetized regions, called bits, on the disk. A magnetic orientation in one direction on the disk could represent a "1", while an orientation in the opposite direction could represent a "0". Data is arranged in sectors along a number of concentric tracks. These tracks are arranged from the inner diameter of the disk to its outer edge. When reading data on a disk, a similar process occurs in reverse.
SPINDLE
The platters are mounted on the spindle which is turned by the drive motor. Most current hard disk drives spin at between 5,400 and 10,000 RPM. Modern hard drives can transfer 80 megabytes of data per second.
HEAD ARM
The triangular-shaped head arm holds the read/write heads and is able to move the heads from the hub to the edge of the drive. There is one hard arm per read/write head and all of them are lined up and mounted to the acuator as a single unit.
VOICE COIL ACTUATOR
The head arm is controlled by an actuator - which has to be incredibly accurate. 30,000 tracks can be stored within one inch of space on a platter. The hard disk's electronics control the movement of the actuator and the rotation of the disk, and perform reads and writes on demand from the disk controller via its interface to the computer.
AIR FILTER
Hard drives are typically air-sealed to enable the heads to float and to avoid contamination from dust. The air inside the the hard drive enclosure is in constant motion and passes through the filter to remove any leftover contaminants from the manufacturing process and any particles or chemicals that may have somehow entered the enclosure.
Now that you know what a hard drive is, let's head into the topic, which is on How To Format a Hard Drive in Windows Vista or Windows 7!
You must format a hard drive before you can use it for Windows Vista. To format a hard drive in Windows Vista means to delete any information on the drive and to setup a file system so that the operating system can read and write data to and from the drive. That might sound complicated to do but it's not at all difficult to format a hard drive in Windows Vista. Formatting a hard drive is a basic function of all operating systems and Windows Vista makes it incredibly easy to do.
Important: You must partition a hard drive before formatting it.
If you've just installed a new hard drive but have not yet partitioned it, please first check my article on How To Partition a Hard Drive in Windows Vista!
Follow these steps below to format a hard drive in Windows Vista or Windows 7!
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: The time it takes to format a hard drive in Windows Vista depends mostly on the size of the drive!
1. Open Windows Vista Disk Management from the Computer Management utility.
Note: You can also open Disk Management from the Command Prompt in Windows Vista but starting it via Computer Management it's more common.
2. With Disk Management open, locate the drive you want to format in the list at the top!
Note: If you didn't see the drive listed that you want to format or does an Initialize Disk window open?
If either situation above occurs, it probably means that the hard drive has not been partitioned, something you must do before you format the drive.
Note: Formatting the C drive, or whatever letter happens to identify the partition that Windows Vista is installed on, can not be done from Disk Management or from anywhere else in Windows Vista.
3. Once located, right-click on the drive and choose Format...... A "Format [drive letter]:" window should appear.
Warning: For obvious reasons it's extremely important to choose the correct drive to format in Windows Vista!
Note: If you're formatting a drive that has data on it, check that it's the correct drive by looking at the drive letter and then confirming in Windows Explorer that the data on that drive is the data you want to erase.
If you're formatting a new drive, the assigned drive letter should not be familiar, and the File System should be reported as RAW.
4. In the Volume label: textbox, assign a name to the drive or leave it as it is. If this is a newly partitioned drive, Windows Vista will assign the name New Volume.
It's Zyrnolink's recommendation that you give a descriptive name to the drive so it's easier to identify in the future. For example, if you're using this drive to store music, give the drive a volume label of Music.
When 'Ucheonye Nzubechi formatted his hard drive, he renamed a new volumed partition files because he uses it to store important files and documentaries!
5. For File system, choose NTFS unless you have a good reason to choose another file system.
NTFS is the best file system option to use in Windows Vista unless you have a specific need to choose another like FAT32. Other FAT file system options are only available on drives 2GB and smaller.
6. Leave the Allocation unit size: set to Default unless you have a specific reason to change it. It's not common to set a custom allocation unit size when formatting a hard drive in Windows Vista.
7. Windows Vista does not suggest that you perform a quick format and I agree. Keep this box unchecked so that a standard format is done. In a standard format, an error check is completed on each sector on the hard drive. A quick format skips this valuable bad sector search. A standard format is much slower than a quick format but it helps proves that the hard drive is working as it should and is a safe place for whatever you save there.
8. The Enable file and folder compression option is also unchecked by default and I recommend keeping it that way. File and folder compression isn't usually necessary in today's world of very large hard drives but if you think you might use the feature then feel free to enable it.
9. Click OK at the bottom of the window.
10. Click OK to the "Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. Back up any data you want to to keep before formatting".
11. The hard drive format will now start. You can keep track of the drive format by watching the Formatting: (xx%) progress in the Status field on the top half of Disk Management.
Note: Formatting a hard drive in Windows Vista could take a very long time if the drive is large and/or slow. A small hard drive might only take several seconds to format while a very large drive could take hours - it all depends on the size of the drive, the speed of the hard disk drive and the speed of the computer as a whole.
12. The format is complete when the Status changes to Healthy, which will happen just after the format counter reaches 100%. Windows Vista doesn't specifically alert you that the drive format is complete but the newly formatted drive will probably open up automatically in Windows Explorer.
13. That's it! You've just formatted a hard drive in Windows Vista and you can now use the new drive to store any kind of file, backup data, install programs and anything you want.
Note: If you created more than one partition on this physical hard drive, you can now return to Step 3 and repeat these steps, as to format the additional drive(s).
Thanks!
=>> How to partition a hard drive in Windows Vista™ or Windows 7.
=>> How to wipe a hard drive in Windows Vista™ or Windows 7.
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As edited, formatted and published by 'Ucheonye Nzubechi for Windows Vista™ & Windows 7 users!
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