How do I format drive C?.

As a rule, drive C refers to the drive partition on which the operating system is installed. Usually this letter is actually assigned to it, but this is by no means a rule. Formatting logical disks (partitions), flash drives, memory cards using Windows tools is not difficult, unless we are talking about how to format the C drive - the system drive. Let's put the motives for such barbarism out of brackets: it must be so.

What do we do when we want to format a USB flash drive? Using the disk utility or the standard Windows tool, we indicate which disk we will erase everything from, agree with the warning about the loss of all data and get a clean drive as a result. If you try to do the same with the system partition, then the operating system will actually twirl a finger at its temple: it vitally needs those files that will be destroyed, it simply will not be able to work. The self-destruction program is not included in any OS, and there is always foolproof protection. If, nevertheless, the task of destroying everything is set, then there is only one method of solving it: boot from another medium and see the partition not as an active system one, but as one of the file ones. In this case, he can be treated unceremoniously.

You can format drive C when installing a new operating system. After you have booted from the installation disk or flash drive, the installer will prompt you to select a hard disk partition, which will be the system partition. It needs to be cleaned from the files of the old OS. When installing Windows 7 or 8, there will be a "Format" button under the list of drives; in Windows XP, you will need to delete the selected partition (button D), create a new partition in the unallocated area that appears (button C), install OC to a new partition (Enter). In the next step, you will be prompted to format the partition in a specific file system. After completing the formatting procedure, the installation procedure will continue.

If you do not plan to acquire a new operating system in the old place, then you can perform a complete cleaning of the system disk by booting from an external media with the OS - Live-USB or Live-CD. In this case, you will get an independently working OS that sees all connected hard drives and defines them as file storage, and nothing more. Formatting can be done by standard means (from the context menu, by clicking on the C drive in the "My Computer" window) or using the utilities included in the assembly: most developers include programs for working with disks there.

When, for some reason, the first two methods do not suit you (sometimes there is simply nowhere to take a bootable disk), a backup will come to the rescue. If there is a second computer somewhere nearby, then you will have to move the physical hard disk into its bowels, connect and format it from under the host system as a guest. Just keep in mind that the volumes of the connected drive may have different letter-labels and drive C can become drive J or K.

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