This wikiHow teaches you how to format a computer's internal hard drive. You can't format the entire hard disk (because the operating system will be erased), but you can format a part of the hard disk after creating a partition. You can format your hard drive on Mac and Windows computers. Keep in mind that this process is not the same as formatting an additional or external hard drive.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Using a Windows Computer
Step 1. Go to Start
Click the Windows logo in the lower left corner. The Start window will open on the left side of the screen.
Step 2. Type partitions into Start
The computer will look for the Partitions section of the Computer Management program.
Step 3. Click Create and format hard disk paritions
It's at the top of the Start window.
If you don't see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into Start
Step 4. Select the desired hard disk
Click the hard disk name in the window at the bottom of the screen.
Step 5. Click the Action tab located at the top left of the window
A drop-down menu will be displayed.
Step 6. Select All Tasks at the bottom of the drop-down menu
A pop-out menu will appear to the right of the drop-down menu.
Step 7. Click the Shrink Volume… option located in the middle of the pop-out menu
A new window will be opened after Windows calculates the amount of available space.
You may have to wait a few minutes while the computer determines the available space
Step 8. Set the partition size
Type the number of megabytes you want to set as a partition into the "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB" text field to the right of the page. This number indicates the size of the drive that you want to format later.
- The maximum number of megabytes you can set will be listed just above the column you're typing in.
- There are 1000 megabytes (MB) in one gigabyte (GB). If you want to create a partition of 5 GB, you must type 5000 in the text field.
Step 9. Click Shrink located at the bottom of the page
This will remove some of the space on your computer's hard disk and create a new "hard disk" with that space.
The process to complete may take a few minutes
Step 10. Select the new partition
Click the " Unallocated " box to the right of the hard disk box.
Step 11. Click Action, then select All Tasks.
A pop-out menu will be displayed again.
Step 12. Click New Simple Volume… at the top of the pop-out menu
A new window will be opened.
Step 13. Click Next located at the bottom right of the window
Step 14. Click Next
By clicking on it, the partition size you set will be accepted. The next page will open.
Step 15. Select a drive letter, then click Next
You can change the partition's drive letter (such as "E") by clicking the drop-down box, then clicking the new letter.
If you don't mind which font is used, skip this step by clicking Next.
Step 16. Format the computer drive
Check the " Format this volume with the following settings " box, then click the " File system " box, and select one of the following options:
- NTFS - Only used for Windows drives.
- FAT32 - Can be used for Mac and Windows. The maximum storage limit is 32 GB with a maximum file size that can be stored at 4 GB per file.
- exFAT - Can be used for various devices (Windows, Mac, consoles, etc.). This option has no storage limit.
Step 17. Click Next
A confirmation page will be displayed.
Step 18. Click Finish at the bottom of the page
After you do this, the computer drive will begin to be partitioned. Once the partition has been created, you can open it like any other hard drive through the This PC program.
If you want to change the partition format, you can format it like a flash drive from within Disk Utility (on Mac) or File Explorer (for Windows)
Method 2 of 2: Using a Mac Computer
Step 1. Click Go in the Mac menu bar at the top of the screen
If the button Go is not there, click the desktop or Finder to bring it up.
Step 2. Click Utilities
It's at the bottom of the drop-down menu Go.
Step 3. Double-click Disk Utility
The icon is a hard disk with a stethoscope on it. The Disk Utility program will open.
Step 4. Select the desired hard disk
Click your Mac's hard drive in the upper-left side of the Disk Utility window. It's under the "Internal" heading.
Step 5. Click the Partition tab located at the top of the window
Step 6. Click the + located below the hard disk circle
Several options for partitioning the hard disk will be displayed.
Step 7. Set the hard disk partition size
Click and drag the button at the bottom of the hard disk circle counterclockwise to increase the size of the partition, or clockwise to decrease its size.
To set the partition size, you can also enter a number in gigabytes (GB) in the " Size: " field
Step 8. Format the hard disk partition
Click the drop-down box File format, then choose one of the formats below:
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - This is the basic format of Mac computers, which can only be used on Macs.
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) - This is an encrypted version of the basic Mac computer format.
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) - This is a basic Mac computer format that treats files differently based on case differences (eg "file.txt" and "file.txt").
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted) - This is a combination of the three formatting options above for Mac computer formats.
- MS-DOS (FAT) - Can be used for Mac and Windows computers. Storage size is limited to a maximum of 4 GB.
- ExFAT - Can be used on Mac and Windows computers. No storage limit.
Step 9. Click Apply located in the lower right corner
The Mac computer will start creating partitions.
Be patient, the process can take quite a while
Step 10. Click Done when prompted
Now you have successfully created a partition on your Mac computer. This partition will appear as a hard disk in the Finder.
