Situation: you turn on the computer, and there is a “blue screen of death”. You urgently need to format your hard drive, but there is no specialist. In this article we will look at a way to format a hard drive yourself, without outside help.

We reboot the computer and immediately after turning it on, press the Del key to enter the BIOS. It happens that instead of the Del button you need to press Insert, F2, F5, F12. The exact data can be found when the computer boots; at the bottom of the screen a message appears like “to enter the BIOS, press DEL/Insert, etc.” Immediately after these steps, the BIOS window will appear, where you can navigate through bookmarks only through the keyboard, not with the mouse. Go to the “Boot” tab.

Now you need to configure it so that when you turn on the computer, it boots not from the hard drive, but from the CD-Rjm boot sector. To do this, go to the “Boot Device Priority” item. Using the F5, F4 keys we set the CDROM value to the first position.

Exit the BIOS and save the changes by pressing the F10 key. Next, the computer will reboot and the command line will appear (a black screen for direct communication with the “brain” of the computer through commands). The easiest way to format a hard drive is to insert the Windows installation disc. After the reboot, the OS installation will begin immediately and you will be asked if any partition needs to be formatted. Select drive C and the button format in the NTFS file system (Windows 7, Figure 1) or when installing Windows XP, Figure 2.
After formatting is completed, the installation process of the Windows operating system will begin immediately.

This is perhaps the fastest and most useful way to format a hard drive. If your Windows has crashed or some virus has permanently blocked your entire system or, even worse, damaged it, then you cannot do without formatting your hard drive. Delete all data on hard drive through one BIOS impossible

. This is all done at the initial stage of installing a new Windows operating system.

1. Let's consider all the stages of reinstalling Windows, and at the same time formatting the hard drive:
2. Burning a boot disk or USB drive with an operating system for installation;
3. We see the Windows 7 (8, 10) installer greeting. Then you need to format the hard drive, select the partition where the OS will be installed;
4. Complete installation.

Stage 1

To create a bootable USB flash drive or boot disk, you will need a disk or flash drive. The minimum amount of memory must be 4 GB. Next, we need a program to work with disk images. For example, UltraISO or Daemon Tools. Before recording, you need to format the disk, it is advisable to do this in the same UltraISO.

Record at medium or low speed. Maximum increases the risk of an installation error. Then you will have to change the disk if it is not rewritable.

Stage 2

Start or restart your computer, and then press the F8 key. Before this, you should insert a boot device (disk or flash drive). Next, all boot devices should “highlight”, one of which you must select (hard drive - HDD, installation disk - CD-ROM, and where USB is easy to understand, most often it is called the same).

If F8 does not work for you, then you will have to go there manually. We also restart the computer, then press the F12 key (or DEL, F2). Go to the Boot tab, and then expand the Boot Device branch (everyone has a different name, but the differences are minor).

If you have selected the desired device, the following should appear on the monitor:

Press any key and the OS installer will start loading.

Stage 3

The Windows Installer Wizard appears on the screen, prompting you to select the desired languages. Click Next, then select “Full installation”. The installer will ask you to select a partition for installation, but don’t rush. First you need to format the problematic hard drive. Select the desired partition and start formatting the disk by clicking the Format button.

Stage 4

We wait for the installation to complete, give a name to the new user and computer, create a new connection to the Internet and install new drivers. Ready!

Good afternoon, dear readers of my blog! Has your laptop started to behave in a completely incomprehensible way; you can’t find the files you need on it? Is your computer glitching at startup and it has become completely impossible to work? Antivirus diagnostics not helping? All that is visible at startup is a dead blue desert? Then the last radical method remains. Let's try to figure out how to format a hard drive on a laptop via BIOS.

The design of the hard drive is extremely simple. The main disk of a computer is a round plate with a magnetic coating applied to it. Its surface is absolutely smooth and polished to a mirror shine. There are no sector markings on it, and where this or that type of information will be stored is determined by the formatting operation. During this process, the plate is physically marked and any broken or damaged areas are inspected. Such places are excluded as unreliable and information is not recorded on them. Primary disk formatting is performed at the manufacturing plant. All subsequent cases occur every time you reinstall Windows. Each of them checks the disk surface to avoid a conflict between the system and newly recorded programs.

Attention! Formatting will lead to complete loss of data previously saved on the laptop. For example, only an experienced programmer can restore your favorite photos using special utilities. For money, of course.

How to properly format a hard drive via BIOS

To reformat, bring a boot disk or a copy on hard drive with Windows. You can download a Windows OS file of any version on the Internet or use a licensed copy of the Windows distribution. To achieve the final result, it makes absolutely no difference where the new Windows comes from. To revise an HDD disk without access to the main OS, you need to do all the operations at the boot stage. Pre-integrate the media with the new operating system.

What to do in this case:

• We reboot the laptop and during the initial startup period, activate the Del key to enter the basic system. In some models, as an alternative to Del, Insert or function keys F2, F5, F12 are used. Pay close attention to the message at the bottom of the screen when loading. Accurate information is always provided there. If you have saved documents for the device, you can find detailed instructions there.
• Wait for the BIOS text window to appear on the screen. It is impossible to navigate through the mouse, but only by activating the block of buttons on the keyboard: up, down, right, left. Let's go straight to the “Boot” tab.
• We prioritize booting the system from the boot sector we need on a CD or USB drive, and not from the HDD. How does this happen? Use the arrows on the keyboard to get to the “Boot Device Priority” item. Using the F5, F4 functionality, select the value CD-ROM or flash drive to the most important first position.
• Now you need to leave the base system, but save the consequences of the intervention by activating the F10 function key. We are waiting for the laptop to reboot on its own.
• To configure Windows 8, select language - diagnostics - advanced options - command line. To configure Windows 7 OS, activate the “Command Line” item.
• If you come across unfamiliar information while working, use a text editor line

wmic logicaldisk get deviceid — volumename-size-description

• To select the name of the required disc, activate

format /FS:NTFS X: /q - partitioning process in the NTFS system;

format /FS:FAT32 X: /q - accelerated partitioning process in FAT32,

the value “X” is the symbol of the desired disk.

Issue the format confirmation command and reboot.

On the latest versions of Windows 10, you can simultaneously choose to convert MBR to GPT and apply the new partition scheme.

BIOS does not recognize drives of any type

Sometimes when setting up a basic system, all or one available disk is not visible in the Boot section. What should you do in this case? First of all, if the laptop is very old, most likely it simply does not support the format of flash drives. If the input/output system does not see the hard drive, and problems are observed in the operation of the laptop (and they are observed if there is a question about formatting the disk), then the most likely cause of the problem is mechanical damage to the hard drive or the cell where it is installed.

Problems with BIOS

Your favorite Asus, Acer, HP or Lenovo does not turn on at all, but you haven’t dropped it? Most likely, there is a failure of the input/output system itself. Only changing the motherboard can help here, but it is not cheap. However, it has its advantages. You can upgrade your laptop to the maximum permissible parameters.

The second option is that the battery powering the system has failed. You need to unscrew the cover on the back of the laptop and find a small round-shaped coin cell battery. Carefully replace it and try to reboot the device.

Bottom line

Be extremely careful and you will see that the hard drive partitioning process is not that complicated. The most primitive way to do formatting is directly in the operating system by activating the “Format” command.

In addition, periodically the procedure of reinstalling the operating system will benefit any laptop if it begins to freeze and irritate its owner. By the way, information on how to reset the BIOS to factory settings.

Did you like the material? Did you gain new information and were able to “cure” your laptop computer? Or perhaps you see some inaccuracies in the article? Write in the comments and I will be happy to answer any question.

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Thank you for your attention! See you again on my blog. Sincerely, Rostislav Kuzmin.

In Windows this is a fairly easy task, while performing this process through the BIOS when booting from a CD/DVD requires some experience from the user.

How to format a hard drive in the Windows shell?

Select the media you need (PC hard drives - C, D or E) and display its contents. Make a backup by moving any data you need to another drive, then close the window. Remember that formatting deletes all contents of the disk. In the My Computer folder, look for an icon that displays the drive that needs to be formatted. Select it with the right mouse button. Find the “Format” item in the drop-down list and click on it. The screen will prompt you to select a format type depending on the disk type and operating system (OS) version. Select "fast" if possible. Setting a volume label is optional. Please note that it is not possible to format the bootable area of ​​the disk (usually "C:") this way.

How to format a hard drive through BIOS?

Perform a full hard drive backup. Save important data while the operating system is running. Remember that formatting will completely erase all content. Recovering an incorrectly formatted drive is difficult and expensive and does not guarantee that all data will be retrieved. Create a boot disk (CD or DVD) with the OS or take a ready-made one. Restart the computer and run BIOS Setup (the buttons required to press will be indicated in the documentation that came with the computer or on the Internet resources of PC manufacturers). As a rule, loading begins after sequential pressing of certain keys or their combination - ALT and S, F12, etc. Set to boot from the optical drive. To do this, go to the BIOS settings to change the boot sequence relative to the hard drive. It is necessary to boot from your installation CD/DVD first. In other words, whatever order is chosen, the normal boot hard drive (C:) should be installed after yours. Save the settings and exit the menu, continue to follow the instructions on how to format your hard drive via BIOS. The computer will now restart and will now boot from your CD/DVD. The PC screen will have a completely different look - a menu will be displayed with questions about installing the appropriate version of Windows. Select the items required for the initial installation of the OS. One of the first questions the system will ask will be formatting suggestions. As you continue to follow the instructions, simply select the appropriate item and confirm your choice. If you have several names displayed on one physical medium, you are looking at partitions of one hard drive (C, D, E).

Section selection

To create a blank installation disk, you must select the partition containing your old Windows installations (drive C:). If the menu offers a choice of file system, when deciding how to format the hard drive through the BIOS, select NTFS (not FAT16) and confirm quick formatting. The command will be executed without user intervention.

Ending the process

After this, the operating system will boot normally, and all disks for the computer will save the changes you selected. Most installation programs are quite simple and do not require active user participation.

During the operation of a personal computer, a situation may arise when it is necessary to format hard drive partitions without loading the operating system. For example, the presence of critical errors and other malfunctions in the operation of the OS. The only possible option in this case is to format the hard drive through the BIOS. You need to understand that BIOS here acts only as an auxiliary tool and a link in a logical chain of actions. It is not yet possible to format the HDD in the firmware itself.

To complete this task, we will need a DVD or USB drive with the Windows distribution, which any wise PC user has in stock. Let's also try to create emergency bootable media ourselves.

Method 1: Using third-party software

To format a hard drive via BIOS, you can use one of many disk managers from various developers. For example, the freely available AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition.

Method 2: Using the Command Line

Let's remember the good old MS-DOS and long-known commands that many users undeservedly ignore. But in vain, because it is very simple and convenient. The command line provides extensive functionality for managing your PC. Let's figure out how to apply it in this case.

Method 3: Using Windows Installer

Any Windows installer has a built-in ability to format the desired hard drive partition before installing the operating system. The interface here is simply understandable for the user. There shouldn't be any difficulties.

We looked at several ways to format a hard drive through BIOS. And we will look forward to when developers of firmware for motherboards create a built-in tool for this process.