How to Reformat Windows 7

Partitioning the Hard Drive

1. 1
   Backup all your files, drivers and settings so that you can restore them later.
2. 2
   Find all your installation discs or product keys for the programs you want to keep so that you can restore them after the installation is complete.
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3. 3
   Partition your hard drive. This means dividing the hard drive into parts and making the parts available to the OS (Operating System). ^[1]
4. 4
   Click on “Start” and then Control Panel.
5. 5
   Click on “Administrative Tools” in the System and Security window.
6. 6
   Double-click on “Computer management. ”
7. 7
   Click on “Disk Management. ”
8. 8
   Find the drive you want to partition. It may be labeled Disk 1 or say “unallocated.” ^[2]
9. 9
   Right click on the “unallocated” space and check “New Simple Volume. ”
10. 10
    Click “Next” and “Next” again to confirm the size of the partition. You can choose the entire size of the hard drive or you could choose to create several partitions at this point, the total of which equals the size of the drive.
11. 11
    Assign a drive letter. You can choose any letters other than A or B. ^[3]
12. 12
    Click “Do not format this volume” and then “Next. ”
13. 13
    See the summary that pops up of your chosen partition options and check that they are correct.
14. 14
    Click “Finish. ”
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Formatting the Hard Drive

1. 1
   Find the drive you want to format from Disk management.
2. 2
   Right click on the correct drive and click “Format. ”
3. 3
   Name the drive. For example, name it “Music.”
4. 4
   Choose “NTFS” for the file system.
5. 5
   Choose an “allocation unit size. ” You can pick “Default” here.
6. 6
   Uncheck “Perform a quick format,” so that you can choose a standard format and that all sectors are checked for errors.
7. 7
   Uncheck “Enable file and folder compression. ”
8. 8
   Click “OK. ”
9. 9
   Click “OK” when you see “Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. ”
10. 10
    Watch the formatting take place. You will see the progress.
11. 11
    See that the status has changed to “Healthy. ”
12. 12
    Repeat these steps if you want to format other drives.
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