How to Format a Secondary Partition

Many people are now using secondary partitions to store information on their computers. Having a second hard drive is useful for backing up files or for storing large files that may burden your primary hard drive. You may also install another copy of Windows on your secondary partition, or just use it as storage space. By following these simple instructions, you will be able to format your secondary partition with ease.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Windows operating system (OS) CD
• Second hard drive

Instructions

1. Insert your Windows OS installation CD into your CD-ROM drive and then reboot your computer.

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

3. You will now see a screen listing all of your hardware partitions. Tab down to your secondary partition and press "D" to delete it. Deleting it will effectively format the drive.

4. You will now see a hard drive labeled "unpartitioned space" where your secondary drive used to be.

5. You now have several options for Windows installation. Select the option reading "Format the partition using the NTFS file system." This will format your partition with a file system usable by Windows. Your secondary partition is now formatted.

References

• University of Iowa Help Desk