format

A large rubber eraser held above a large computer hard disk. The eraser is positioned as if it's about to erase data from the disk. The hard disk is placed on a desk with visible details of the disk platter and components, while the eraser is clean and slightly worn from use.

Will Formatting a Disk Erase All Data?

If your format happened quickly, it’s unlikely your data was actually erased. I’ll show you the difference.

A Corgi using a large eraser to "erase" the platter of a hard disk.

How to Reformat a Disk

I’ll walk you through four easy ways to erase and prepare a disk in Windows using File Explorer or the command line, plus tips on choosing the right file system and format type.