Safely Format a Hard Drive without Losing Data: A Full Guide

What Will Formatting a Hard Drive Do?

Formatting a hard drive refers to the process of preparing the storage medium (such as a hard disk drive or solid-state drive) for data storage by creating a file system structure that the operating system can use to organize and manage data. Formatting a hard drive will erase any existing data on the drive and set up the necessary structures for new data to be stored.

Formatting a hard drive will:

• Erase Data: Formatting will remove all the files and folders stored on the drive, including the operating system, applications, and personal files.
• Create a New File System: Formatting creates a new file system (like NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, or others) on the drive, which allows the operating system to organize and manage files efficiently. You should select a proper file system according to your requirements.
• Remove File Allocation Information: File allocation information (which files are stored where) is wiped out during formatting, making it appear as if the drive is empty.
• Remove Bad Sectors: A full format can identify and mark bad sectors on the drive’s surface, preventing data from being written to those areas in the future.

So, formatting a hard drive should be done with caution because you might lose your important data if you are not careful enough.

However, you might ask such a question: Can I reformat a hard drive without losing data?

Of course, yes. You can back up your data before proceeding with formatting. If the hard drive is inaccessible due to some reason, you can use professional data recovery software to rescue your files and then format the drive to normal.

Format a Hard Drive without Losing Data: Data Backup

If the hard drive is accessible, the task will be easy. You can simply use Windows backup software like MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up all the contents from the hard drive to another drive. After that, you can format a hard drive without data loss.

About MiniTool ShadowMaker

MiniTool ShadowMaker can back up files, folders, partitions, disks, and systems to an internal hard drive, external hard drive, or removable storage drive. This backup software also supports scheduled backup and event-triggered backup, along with differential and incremental backup schemes. Whether you want to back up a system disk or a data disk, this backup software can help you do it.

MiniTool ShadowMaker has a trial edition that allows you to use all of its features for free for 30 days. You can utilize this trial edition before making a decision.

How to Back up a Hard Drive Using MiniTool Shadow Maker?

After downloading and installing this software on a Windows computer, you can follow these steps to back up the hard drive to another one.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: If you want to back up files to an external hard drive, you need to connect the external drive to your computer in advance.

Step 2: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker. Since you are using the trial edition, you will first see the inputting license key interface. You can simply click the Keep Trial button located at the bottom-right corner to proceed.

Step 3: You will see the software main interface, then click Backup from the left main menu. Drive C (the system disk) is selected by default in SOURCE.

If you want to back up the system disk, you don’t need to make any changes under SOURCE. If not, you need to click SOURCE, then click Disk and Partitions on the next interface. Next, you need to select the disk you want to back up and then check all partitions on it.

Step 4: Click OK to go back to the Backup interface.

Step 5: Click the Destination section to proceed.

Step 6: Select a drive or partition to save the backup file.

Step 7: Click OK to go back to the Backup interface.

Step 8: Click the Back Up Now button and then click the Yes button on the pop-up interface to confirm the operation.

Your data is safe now. You can feel free to format the hard drive without losing data.

How to Back up the Internal Hard Drive if the Computer Is Unbootable?

If your computer won’t start normally, you can use MiniTool ShadowMaker Bootable Edition to back up the internal hard drive.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

First, you need to use MiniTool’s built-in bootable media builder to create a bootable USB drive on a functioning computer. Then, you should access the BIOS and configure the computer to boot from the bootable USB drive. After completing these steps, you can proceed with backing up the hard drive, following the instructions provided in the previous section.

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Format a Hard Drive without Losing Data: Data Recovery

If the hard drive becomes inaccessible for some reason, you can use professional data recovery software to rescue your files and then format the drive to normal. In this way, you will not lose your important files.

We recommend using MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data from the hard drive.

About MiniTool Power Data Recovery

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is specialized data recovery software designed to assist you in recovering a wide variety of files from internal hard drives, external hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, memory cards, SD cards, and various other types of data storage devices. It is capable of identifying both deleted and existing files on a storage device, effectively fulfilling your requirement to recover files from an inaccessible hard drive.

You can run this software on all versions of Windows, including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 7.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free allows you to scan your drive for data and recover up to 1GB of files for free. You can try this freeware in advance.

After downloading and installing this data restore tool on a Windows computer, you can use these steps to recover files from the inaccessible hard drive.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to enter the main interface, where all detected partitions are displayed under Logical Drives by default.

Step 2: Select the drive you want to recover data from, then click the Scan button to start scanning the drive.

Step 3: When the scanning ends, you can see all the found files categorized into three general paths: Deleted Files, Lost Files, and Existing Files. If you only want to recover existing files on the hard drive, you can select Existing Files to recover them. If you want to recover some missing data from the hard drive, you can find it in the other two paths.

Step 4: After selecting your needed files, you can click the Save button and then select a proper location to save the selected files.

If the total size of the files you want to recover exceeds 1GB, you will need to upgrade MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edition to an advanced one. If you’re a personal user, the Personal Ultimate edition is the best choice because it offers a license for 3 PCs and includes a lifetime free upgrade service.

How to Recover Data from an Internal Hard Drive when the PC Won’t Boot?

When your system crashes, you might need to reinstall Windows 11/10 on your device. But this will format the system disk during the process. If there are important files on that disk, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable Edition to rescue your files.

Similarly, you need to use the bootable media builder built-in MiniTool Power Data Recovery to create a bootable USB drive on a functioning computer. Next, you should configure the computer to boot from the bootable USB drive. Once done, your computer will boot into MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable Edition, allowing you to scan the target drive and recover the necessary files.

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Your data is safe now. Then, you can format the hard drive without worrying about data loss.

How to Format a Hard Drive on Windows?

There are many methods to format a hard drive on a Windows computer. For example, you can format a hard drive in File Explorer or Disk Management, or you can format a hard drive using Command Prompt. In addition, you can also format a hard drive using a professional partition manager like MiniTool Partition Wizard.

This article introduces all of these methods: How to format a hard drive on Windows 11.

Can I Convert NTFS to FAT32 or FAT32 to NTFS without Losing Data

For compatibility and portability reasons, you might find it necessary to convert NTFS to FAT32 or convert FAT32 to NTFS. One commonly used method for this is formatting a hard drive from NTFS to FAT32 or FAT32 to NTFS. However, it’s important to note that this method is not ideal, as it will erase all files and folders on the hard drive.

Here comes the questions:

• How can I convert NTFS to exFAT without losing data?
• How can I convert exFAT to NTFS without losing data?

Using a professional partition management tool is a good choice, and MiniTool Partition Wizard is one such option.

About MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a professional partition manager that can run on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 7. You can use it to manage hard drives and removable storage comprehensively.

For example, you can use it to convert file systems between NTFS and FAT32, create/delete/format/merge/split/wipe partitions, extend partitions, migrate OS to another drive, rebuild MBR, and more.

Many features are available in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, including converting FAT to NTFS without losing data. But you need to use an advanced edition if you want to convert NTFS to FAT.

You can click the following button to download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition on your PC for further use.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Here is how to convert FAT to NTFS without data loss using MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to enter its main interface.

Step 2: Right-click the FAT32 drive and select Covert FAT to NTFS. You can also select the FAT32 drive and then click Convert FAT to NTFS from the left Action Panel.

Step 3: Click the Start button to start the file system conversion process.

Step 4: When the process ends, you need to click the Close button. Then you can see the selected FAT32 drive becomes an NTFS drive successfully.

If you want to convert NTFS to FAT32 without losing data, you can turn to one of MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Editions. The Pro Ultimate Edition is the most suitable edition for personal users because it offers a license key for 5 PCs and a lifetime free upgrade service.

Conclusion

The process of formatting a hard drive involves removing existing data and creating a new file system for data storage. If you want to avoid losing your files, you can use MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up the hard drive or use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover your data if the hard drive is inaccessible before formatting.

Additionally, if you wish to convert a hard drive from NTFS to FAT32 or vice versa without formatting it, you can use Convert NTFS to FAT/Convert FAT to NTFS to make the conversion without losing data.

If you encounter issues while using MiniTool software, please feel free to contact us via [email protected].