How to Reformat an External Hard Drive in Vista

Windows Vista contains a utility useful for reformatting an external hard drive.

Reformatting an external hard drive is a computer task performed to erase access to all data on a hard drive. This process is often performed after virus infections, or when installing the hard drive onto a new system. Reformatting a hard drive deletes and remakes the hard drive's logical partition table. Reformatting a hard drive is such a common task, that it is a built-in function within the Windows Vista operating system, making it easily accessible by novice computer users.

Instructions

1. Plug the external drive into the Windows Vista computer, and start the computer.

2. Double click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop.

3. Right click the external drive to be re-formatted from the list of currently installed drives.

4. Select the "Format..." heading from the context menu that appears. This launches the format dialog box.

5. Leave all settings at the default values set by the operating system. Enter a label name for the drive in the text box beside the "Volume Label" heading, if desired.

6. Click the "Start" button in the lower right corner of the Format dialog box to begin the reformatting procedure. This process may take several minutes to a few hours depending on the capacity and speed of the hard drive being reformatted.

Tips & Warnings

• Back up all important documents before reformatting.

References

• Windows: Formatting Disks and Drives
• Windows: Create and Format a Hard Disk Partition
• Seagate: How to Reformat Your Drive