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Format a hard drive using DOS

Bouda -  
Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Membre -
Hello, hello, I know this is no longer common practice, but I would like to format a hard drive under DOS (like in the Windows 95 days). Is it still possible, and if so, how? (Keep in mind that the disk I want to format already contains information; I need to put it on my machine that doesn't support two hard drives.)

Thanks in advance.

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Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Membre 758
 
Hello Bouda :)

+1 @the druid :) I'm jumping into the conversation to add my two cents :) Here are the steps to erase and format a HDD using DISKPART. Caveat: the following procedure will destroy the data stored on the affected drive.

@Bouda, if your machine does not support 2 hard drives, I would suggest:

1/ putting the HDD externally (via a case or via a SATA/USB adapter) to connect it to the computer
2/ recovering the data you want to save before starting the formatting
3/ launching the command prompt: click on Start > Run > type CMD > Enter

3.1/ type the command diskpart > Enter
3.2/ type list disk > Enter
3.3/ type: select disk # (where # is the disk number as displayed in Disk Management (Disk 3, for example)). Caveat: make sure to select the correct number before executing the next command > Enter
3.4/ type: clean > Enter: the complete reset of the HDD will be initiated
3.5/ create partition primary > Enter
3.6/ format fs=NTFS (if you want to convert the HDD to NTFS or respectively FAT32) > Enter. The procedure may take some time.
3.7/assign letter=# (where # should be replaced with the letter you want to assign to the drive).

I'm following the topic, @Bouda :) Let us know what happens next, please :)

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