The process of formatting a partition completely erases any data stored on it. The Format option, which prepares a hard disk to be used by an operating system for a fresh installation, at times, greys
out in the File Explorer and Windows Disk Management Tool.
Do Not Use the Drive
You cannot format a drive while it is in use as Windows will be accessing files in order to run that particular program currently in use. Make sure none of the programs installed on that particular drive are open as well as none of the contents of that drive are open in Windows Explorer.
Quitting System Tray Icons
System Tray is an area of the Taskbar that shows miniature icons for easy access. This specialized portion of the Taskbar, which is hidden unless you click the More icon (upward arrow), becomes cluttered over time. The applications minimized to the System Tray are very much running, processing and using your computer’s memory and the CPU, although they might appear to be inactive. Close all system tray icons to quit applications running on the drive you desire to format.
Viewing & Managing Background Processes with Task Manager
After exiting all System Tray icons, there are still other processes running in the background. To get the list of all such processes and take appropriate action, follow the steps given below.
- Press Windows Key + X.
- You’ll get several options on your screen. Select Task Manager.
- Click More details.
- Now click the Startup tab.
- Click the Status column head to rearrange items.
- Now you can see all enabled and disabled items grouped independently.
- Right-click an enabled item, choose Disable option. Do this for all the enabled items.
- Once you’re done, quit the Task Manager and restart the laptop.
Use a Third Party Drive Formatting Tool
A third party portable tool can format a drive in desired file format – FAT32, FAT or NTFS. Some tools even support formatting a USB flash drive, while others support formatting partitions of SATA, IDE or SCSI types of hard drives. The drive formatting tool, which supports both quick and full formats, erase partitions, Master Boot Record (MBR), and every bit of data stored on a partition.
Use Windows Setup
Alternatively, you can use the Quick Format option during Windows setup. Complete formatting a drive can take several hours, whereas the Quick Format finishes in a few minutes.
Use Free Ubuntu Setup
Though Linux-based operating system Ubuntu has it’s own file systems, it still supports NTFS and FAT32 file formats.
- Download a free Ubuntu ISO from its official site.
- There are two options:
- Burn the downloaded file to a blank DVD using a third party disk burning tool such as Nero and then boot your computer from the Ubuntu DVD.
- You can, alternatively, mount the ISO using Daemon Tools Lite to execute the setup without needing to burn it on disk.
- Follow the installer wizard, format your drives and then quit.
- The disk will be ejected automatically.