Common factors when formatting a hard drive with any Windows operating system

• When formatting a hard drive with any version of Windows you must insert the operating system CD and boot from it. This means that you will see a message on the screen saying “press any key to boot from CD or DVD..”. If you do not see this message when you start your computer with the Windows operating system CD in the CD drive, then you must enter your computer BIOS and change the boot settings. Here is a brief tutorial on how to change settings in your BIOS.
• It is always recommended that you delete the previous partition that Windows was installed on an create a new partition for the new installation.
• In all versions of Windows you will have the chance to divide or partition your hard drive into any size you require.
• All of the recent versions of Windows use the NTFS file system. It is not recommended that you use the old FAT32 file system.
• When formatting a hard drive in any version of Windows you will see an option to choose a quick format or a slow format. A slow format is always better when you have had major errors on your computer. This can also be known as a low level format.