FORMAT?!

"Dude..could you format my HDD?"

I've heard of that many times.I'll ask back with one question before I take the HDD.The question is, "Why?"

Usually, there are some answers for that question and reason that make people want to format their lappy or pc or HDD. :p
I found that common reasons why people want to format are:

1. OS problem.Cant start, boot, hang, stuck.
2. want to remove partition.
3. just for fun(this is real)

Okay..I'll stop here and start with the format stuff...I'll start with some lite formatting before we go through some serious formatting technique.
note:(click on the image thumbnail for bigger view)

Formatting An external HDD(for Win XP)

1. Plug in your USB external HDD.Wait for the hardware installation.
2. Make sure it is recognized before proceeding to the next step.
3. Click start>control panel>performance and maintenance>administrative tools>computer management.
4. In computer management window, click on "disk management" on the left part of the window.In here, all connected disk drive will be listed in the right window .

Check for the disk number(in red circle).In the above image, Disk 1 indicates the unformatted external HDD. Right click at the right side of disk 1(we call it status area) and pick "create partition".

4. If there is a a no entry things like this right click on it and pick "initialize disk".Initialize it to "Basic" disk type and you can proceed with partitions.

5. If the disk type is Dynamic, you must change it to Basic.To do this, right click on disk 1 and pick "revert to basic disk" from the options.Wait and it will change in a few seconds.

6. Now we can create a new partition in the disk drive.Right click on the right area of Disk 1 and pick "Create Partition.."

7. The "Create Partition Wizard" will appear and click Next.

!8. Select "Primary Partition" and click Next.Specify the partition size that you want.Click Next.

9. Assign a drive letter for this partition, click Next and select "Format this partition with the following settings".Choose a file system(FAT,FAT32,NTFS).

10.Then, click Finish to start formatting and after the process is done, the result should be something like this and make sure the Partition Status is Healthy. The new external HDD can be used now. :)

(note: images used in this post are'nt created by me.credit goes to the creator and Im using it so this post will be more easily understandable :) )