How to Format the Hard Drive in a Toshiba Laptop With Vista
Formatting your hard drive completely erases everything and should only be performed if you have properly backed up all your important information and files first. That said, a newly formatted drive returns the hard drive to a fresh, clean state. Reformatting can usually solve the worst of the virus problems or a particularly bogged-down system. Format your Toshiba's hard drive, but proceed with caution.
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Instructions
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Insert the Windows Vista disc that came with your computer into the computer's CD-Rom drive and restart your computer.
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As the computer boots up, a black screen will appear with a blinking cursor asking you to hit any key to boot from the disc. Hit "Enter" (or any key). The computer will now load the Vista disc. This may take a few minutes.
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Select your language from the Windows Vista window that pops up and select "Next." Select "Install Now." Accept the End User License Agreement and select "Next."
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Select the Custom (Advanced) option. Select your hard drive from the list, and select Drive Options to bring up a number of available options.
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With your drive selected, click "Format" and "Next." A message will ask you if you are sure and warn you about formatting. Formatting your drive will erase all of its contents, and you will have to reinstall Windows Vista and all applications and settings. Be sure to back up all your important data before formatting.
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Once the hard drive is formatted, restart your computer again with the Windows Vista disc in the computer to boot from and install a fresh copy of Windows Vista.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are formatting a drive other than your computer's main hard drive, you right-click the drive from Windows Explorer and select "Format." This eliminates the process of using the installation disc, but cannot be performed on the main partition.
All your data will be erased.
