There are mainly two ways to format a disk in Windows. Whatever version you have installed on your computers, the procedure is very simple
You have noticed that your USB flash drive is no longer working properly. Or you can't store files on your recently purchased external hard drive. There must surely be a problem with the hard disk. If the problem is not too "serious", you could try formatting the hard disk.
Without venturing into useful technicalities, formatting is a computer procedure that basically "resets" the hard disk, erasing everything and preparing the hard disk to be used again. As if it had just been purchased. Therefore, before taking action, it is advisable to make a backup of the data saved on the hard disk. In this way, once the "cleaning" process is complete, all you have to do is transfer the files to the formatted disk. If you are unfamiliar with the computer, don't worry. You don't need to be a great expert to complete a format.
Format Windows Hard Disk: How to Do It
There are mainly two ways to format a disk in Windows. Whatever version you have installed on your computers, the procedure is almost identical.
Let's get to work, then. Turn on the computer first, of course, and connect the hard drive to the pc in case it is an external hard drive. Once this is done, we need to open "File Explorer" ("Windows Explorer" in previous versions of Windows) and then click on "This PC" (you will find the computer icon on the left side). If you weren't able to locate the folder in question, simply type its name in the Windows 10 search menu.
Now identify the hard drive you want to format. Be careful: make sure it is the correct one among the hard drives in "File Explorer". Right-click on the drive you want to reset and then click on "Format". Here you will need to choose the "File System" (NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT) and then give the hard drive a name. If you check the "Quick format" option, the procedure will be faster, but less complete (it is possible that the disk won't be formatted entirely). Finally, press "Start" and you're done.
As mentioned above, you can use another method to format the disk. It is slightly more time-consuming but not complicated. Open the "Control Panel" and then click on "System and Security". From here, select "Administrative Tools" and then "Computer Management". Alternatively, you can skip all these preliminary steps by typing "Computer Management" directly from the Windows search menu. All that's left to do is to click on "Disk Management", find the hard drive you want to format and proceed as seen in the previous solution.