2006-12-23 01:17:33 · 8 answers · asked by terbotertle 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
The others are right....it erases everything on your hard drive -- including your operating system (Linux, Windows, or?). Anyway, if you reformat, you WILL have to reinstall Windows, Linux, etc. You will also lose everything you've stored on your hard drive, all programs, etc., so be sure to make backups of whatever you don't want to lose on CD's, and write down any email and web addresses you want just to be sure you can find them again.
When done, reinstall your operating system, then you'll have to reinstall all your programs.
If you have a "system restore" disk that came with a computer, it does all this for you and restores the computer back to the state it was in when you bought it. The drawback with restore disks (as compared to doing it manually) is that they will often install a bunch of stuff you don't need or use, and those can run in the background, eating up memory and hard drive space. However, if you don't know how to manually reformat and reinstall everything, it's the way to go if a system needs to be re-done.
2006-12-23 01:31:35 · answer #1 · answered by LSF 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are two types of formatting usually seen.
1. Quick format. Wipes out the file allocation table. file allocation table can be thought of as a index in a book. its something that gives files, page numbers in context of the disk. Quick format does not delete all the data on the disk but just deletes the entries in the file allocation table. you may be able to retrieve some of the data using specialized tools if the disk has been quick formatted.
2. Full format. This format goes to each writeable location on the disk and clears the data there. once you full format a disk you cannot retrieve the data that was previously there. this brings the disk back to the condition it was when you bought the disk.
Full Format also can be used to change the filesystem of the disk. Different operating systems use different filesystems. Windows operating systems use file systems like FAT, FAT32 etc. UNIX also has its own proprietory file systems. Some tools that do format also can change the format of the disk from one filesystem to another.
2006-12-23 01:32:26 · answer #2 · answered by josus76 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Erase everything and take your hard drive back to the state it was when purchased. Sometimes, it will even require you install Windows again. I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you have someone competent with computers.
2006-12-23 01:20:04 · answer #3 · answered by Angela D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It basically deletes everything on your hard drive where you store all your folders.
Sometimes you may need to do it on a regular bases to keep your computer virus free and fast as it deletes unnecessary data which slows your system.
2006-12-23 01:24:20 · answer #4 · answered by Render 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It erases all the data present in that drive to make it empty once again
2006-12-23 01:19:04 · answer #5 · answered by R2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Erases your harddrive AND 'formats' it to a specific standard. Specific standards are like FAT32, FAT16, NTFS, ext2, ext3 & tons of others.
2006-12-23 01:24:35 · answer #6 · answered by slash_lander 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
erase
2006-12-23 01:19:23 · answer #7 · answered by pickologist 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
erases everything on it
2006-12-23 01:21:20 · answer #8 · answered by free_indeed2000 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋