Reformat Hard Drive Instructions

After you are sure you need to format a hard drive, and have backed up all of your important data, the first step is to right-click on the drive, in the "My Computer" window. Select "format..." and a window will open up with the particulars of the drive ( size, health, etc. ). Select a name for the drive, if one doesn't exist, under "Label". Choose which options for the format such as Enable compression or Quick Format. Usually, the default settings for the format are sufficient unless you know what you are doing. For example, using the quick format option, while much faster than the standard unconditional, doesn't really blank out the drives' surface, rather it mostly just wipes out the FAT. And, the FAT, or File Allocation Table, is very similiar to a table of contents in a book. So, the quick format, is akin to erasing a books' table of contents while allowing the pages of text to remain - only they will be written over with new words. After you have determined your settings for the format, press the Start button. Your done. Here are some more step-by-step instructions, or more detail, about formatting http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html.