How to Reformat a Hard Drive Without Recovery Disks

Formatting your computer should be a regular part of your system maintenance. Formatting is useful if your computer is infested with viruses or with spyware. It is also a useful tool for basic maintenance, as your hard drive will perform more efficiently if it is formatted regularly. Although most manufacturers recommend using recovery disks when formatting, they are not required. By following these simple instructions, you will be able to reformat your computer without recovery disks.

Instructions

1. Enter your Windows OS installation CD into your CD-ROM drive, then reboot your computer.

2. You will now see a Window's "Welcome" screen, press "Enter" to continue. At the next screen, press "F8" to accept the Window's licensing agreement.

3. You will now see a screen listing all of your hardware partitions, tab down to the hard drive you would like to format, and press "D" to delete it.

4. You should now see a hard drive labeled "unpartitioned space." Press "Enter" to continue on to installing Windows.

5. There will now be several options for Windows installation. Select the option labeled: "Format the partition using the NTFS file system." NTFS is the type of file system used by Windows. It is highly recommended to not select the "quick" options, as they are more prone to errors.

6. You will now see a Window's installation screen. Follow the instructions and enter your product key. Windows will now begin automatic installation; wait until the process completes and your computer restarts. You have now successfully formatted and reinstalled Windows on your hard drive.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to back up any needed drivers or files to CD before reformatting.

References

• Helpdesk: Formatting Tips