what happens if you format a local disk on your pc like local disk D?

Question

my local disk D is not formatted and if you do it deletes everything that has on it now i don't know what it has on it but i dont know what the dangers are of foramtting it please tell me soon as i need more space on my pc. it has like 40 gigs free on it and i would be grateful if you answered my question. thanks

Answer 1

If your operating system is telling you that local disk D is NOT formatted, then there is no data on it to lose. In Windows, a disk partition has to be formatted with a file system before files can be stored on it.

So, if your question wording is accurate, go ahead and format drive D, you should not lose anything. Just don't format drive C ;)

Answer 2

If you have added an extra Hard drive to your system, it should show as drive D: unless some other drive is already D: then it will show as drive E or F etc. Seeing as you say your drive is D: it indicates that you may only have one Hard drive C: and have just added D: for more space. If it was a brand new hard drive (HDD), then it will not have anything on it at all. Your opperating system will always warn you that formmating a drive will remove all data stored on it to make sure that you actually do want to format the drive.

So if it is a brand new HDD that you want to format then go ahead, it's got nothing on it and you will get a meaasge asking if you are sure you want to format and just say yes.

If it was a drive that you were using or has been used, then you should know if there is any data of yours on there or not. if you are able to open the drive and it has nothing on it, then it is blank and you can formmat it. Remember that you need to create a partition on the drive first before formatting.

Answer 3

if you did not create that drive then there is a possibility that the computer you bought it from (HP is the one I know) stores the restore information in that drive (in case you want to go back to manufacture settings like when you messed the computer up by accident). Check your manual to be sure.

Formating will erase everything and you will not be able to recover it without special software and/or tools.

I suggest using a software such as Partition Magic as that can move around free space so your local disk C can have more drive space (this will not erase data unless you tell it to).

Answer 4

It dosen't restore it to the factory settings. There are risks if you don't have another computer handy. But everything you have on it will be gone. Are you going to format it for FAT32, NTFS, ZF46, or REO2? And you r local dick IS formatted. If it wasn't it would not work. The only danger is if you turn it off or stop it at ANY time you have to use another computer to start it and reformat it.

Answer 5

It's for whatever you want it to be for. Computers can have more than one hard drive. Yours apparently has two. Windows views each physical drive as (or rather each partition on each physical drive) a separate entity, and assigns it a drive letter. In other OSes such as Mac OS X and Linux, the drive/partition is assigned a folder somewhere in the file structure, and you never need to know it's a separate physical drive in your computer. (For example, while in Windows you'd have a separate C and D drive for each drive, in Linux one might be the root directory -- the equivalent of the C drive, where the operating system is installed -- while the other drive may be your user folder, but all you would see is the folder, and not a separate drive.) If you want to better utilize your storage, you can move some of your user folders to the D drive. In Windows Vista and 7, create a folder on the D drive you want to move one of your user folders to. For example, if you want to move your Videos folder, create "D:\Videos". Go to your user folder (NOT library view), andright click on the folder you want to move. Select Properties, and click on the Location tab. Click Move, then select the folder you just created on the D drive. Windows will then move all of the files in that folder to the new location, and you'll start using that folder instead. You can also install applications to the D drive. Most applications ask where you want to install them, and provide a default location on the C drive. You can change this to the D drive if you want by just changing the drive letter.

Answer 6

Your local hard drive C is the one you want to make sure you don't format. The D: should be ok, just make sure windows is not using any programs that you've installed on as they will need to be removed safely before formatting.

Answer 7

Well think of it as a 'full clean-up', sure all the files are removed, but all the clutter,viruses and spyware thay may have entered the system. I do not see anything wrong with reformatting but I would not recommend doing it often, maybe every year is a nice schedule. Just be sure to backup what you need and make sure you have a copy of your operating system.

Answer 8

It will wipe everything of the drive
If it says that its not formatted then there is nothing on it or that the drive is damaged or not operating correctly
If you do format your drive you will lose everything on it
Best is to format it and use the space for new data

Answer 9

Open it in my computer and see whats on it. If nothing shows, see if you can copy a file to it. If so, its already formatted and ready to store files. If not, right click and format. Rithy makes a good point too!

Answer 10

Formatting erases the disk and enables it to be accessed by Windows (or whatever OS you are using).