Should i format when installing windows 7

Hello friends i have tried researching but i am finding conflicting responses, straight to the point, i get a new primary hdd tomorrow to replace one which is failing to boot, do i need to slave it first on another system and format it or can i just put the new hard drive into the laptop without formatting and hope the OS finds the drive and allows me to install windows?

I know the install formats the drive but if the hdd is blank does it even contain a file system? ACTechy Distinguished. Oct 25, 1, 0 20, Just throw the drive in, boot from disc, install Windows, and you'll be golden. You don't need to mess with it first. Dark Lord of Tech Retired Moderator. Aug 18, , 1, , 25, To install Windows 7 using the Custom option and formatting the hard disk To format your hard disk during Windows 7 installation, you'll need to start, or boot, your computer using the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive.

Turn on your computer so that Windows starts normally, insert the Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive, and then shut down your computer. Restart your computer. Press any key when prompted, and then follow the instructions that appear. On the Install Windows page, enter your language and other preferences, and then click Next. If the Install Windows page doesn't appear, and you're not asked to press any key, you might need to change some system settings.

To learn how to do this, see Start your computer from a Windows 7 installation disc or USB flash drive. On the Please read the license terms page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms, and then click Next. On the Which type of installation do you want? On the Where do you want to install Windows? Click the partition that you want to change, click the formatting option you want to perform, and then follow the instructions.

When you've finished formatting, click Next. Follow the instructions to finish installing Windows 7, which include naming your computer and setting up an initial user account. Thanks guys! MrBalisticNinja Reputable. Dec 17, 34 0 4, 0. I Keep getting failure to format hdd error. You must log in or register to reply here. Storage 10 Oct 22, S Question Any way to recover a disk that had an aborted formatting done on it?

Storage 7 Oct 5, Question installed 2nd m. The steps and screenshots shown in these steps refer specifically to Windows 7 Ultimate edition but will also serve perfectly well as a guide to reinstalling any Windows 7 edition you may have, including Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Home Premium.

Microsoft has changed the clean install process for every new Windows release. If you're using Windows 10, 8, Vista, etc. The most important thing to realize before performing a clean install of Windows 7 is that all of the information on the drive that your current operating system is installed on probably your C: drive will be destroyed during this process.

That means that if there's anything you want to keep, you should back it up to a disc or another drive prior to beginning this process.

One quick way to back up the list of programs you have on your computer is with the CCleaner tool. It doesn't back up the actual program data but simply a list of what's installed so that you don't have to remember every program name.

You should also locate the Windows 7 product key , a digit alphanumeric code unique to your copy of Windows 7. If you can't locate it, there are tools you can use to dig it up, but this must be done before you reinstall Windows 7. If Windows originally came preinstalled on your computer i. This is the product key you should use when installing Windows 7. When you're absolutely sure sure that everything from your computer that you want to keep is backed up, proceed to the next step.

Keep in mind that once you delete all of the information from this drive as we'll do in a future step , the action is not reversible! If your existing Windows installation begins to boot or you see a "No Operating System Found" or " NTLDR is Missing " error here instead of the screen above, the most probable reason is that your computer is not set up to boot first from the correct source. It's perfectly fine if, instead of the screen above, the Windows 7 setup process begins automatically see the next step.

If this happens, consider this step complete and move on! You don't need to do anything at this point but wait for Windows 7 to finish loading files in preparation for the setup process. No changes are being made to your computer at this time. Windows 7 is just temporarily "loading files" into memory for the setup process.

You'll be removing everything on your computer as part of the Windows 7 clean install in a future step.

After the Windows 7 install files are loaded into memory, you'll see the Windows 7 splash screen, indicating that the setup process is about to begin. You don't need to do anything at this point either. Choose the Language to install , Time and currency format , and Keyboard or input method that you'd like to use in your new Windows 7 installation. Select Next. Select Install now in the center of the screen, under the Windows 7 logo. This will officially begin the Windows 7 clean install process.

Do not select the Repair your computer link at the bottom of the window even if you're completing this clean install of Windows 7 as part of some larger repair project for your computer.

The Repair your computer link is used to start a Windows 7 Startup Repair or perform another recovery or repair task from System Recovery Options. If you're performing a clean install of Windows 7 as a solution to a major problem but have not yet tried a Startup Repair, do that first. It could save you the trouble of completing this clean install process.

The Windows 7 setup process is now beginning. No need to press any keys here—everything is automatic. The next screen that appears is a textbox containing the Windows 7 Software License. Read through the agreement, check the I accept the license terms checkbox under the agreement text, and then select Next to confirm that you agree with the terms. You should always read "small print" especially when it comes to operating systems and other software. Most programs, Windows 7 included, have legally binding limits on how many computers the application can be installed on, among other limitations.

You are not breaking any laws or contracts by reinstalling Windows 7 via this clean install. As long as this particular copy of Windows 7 is only being operated on one computer, you're OK.

In the Which type of installation do you want? Select Custom advanced. Even if you are upgrading from a previous operating system to Windows 7, I highly recommend that you do not follow the Upgrade installation. You'll get better performance with less chance of issues if you follow these clean install steps. In this screen, you'll see each partition that Windows 7 recognizes.

Since a clean install involves the removal of all operating system related partitions, if they exist, we'll do this now. If, and only if, you're installing Windows 7 on a new hard drive, which of course does not have an operating system on it to remove, you can skip directly to Step 15!

Windows 7 setup considers partition management as an advanced task, so you'll need to select the Drive options advanced link to make those options available. In the next few steps, you'll delete the partitions containing the operating system you're replacing with Windows 7, be it Windows Vista, Windows XP, a previous installation of Windows 7, etc. Now that all available drive options are listed, you can delete any operating system related partitions from your existing hard drive s.

Before continuing, please be aware that deleting a partition will permanently erase all data from that drive. By all data I mean the operating system that's installed, all programs, all data saved by those programs, all music, all video, all documents, etc. Highlight the partition you want to delete and then select the Delete link.

Your list of partitions may differ considerably from mine shown above. On my computer, I am performing a clean install of Windows 7 on a computer with a small 30 GB hard drive that has previously had Windows 7 installed. Many people, for example, have second hard drives or partitions that act as backup drives.

That's certainly not a drive you want to be deleting. After deleting the partition, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion. The message says "The partition might contain recovery files, system files, or important software from your computer manufacturer.

If you delete this partition, any data stored on it will be lost. Choose OK. As I spelled out in the last step, please be aware that all the data stored on that drive will be lost. If you have not backed up everything you want to keep, select Cancel , end the Windows 7 clean install process, restart your computer to boot back into whatever operating system you have installed, and back up everything you want to keep.

To be clear: This is the point of no return! There's no reason to be scared, I just want it to be very clear that you can't undo the deletion of the drive you selected after you choose this OK button.

If there are any other partitions that need to be deleted, you can do so at this time. For example, the Windows 7 installation I had on my PC previously created this special MB very small partition to store system data in. This is most definitely related to the operating system that I'm trying to completely remove from my computer, so I'll delete this as well. Highlight the partition and select the Delete link. As you can see, the partition we deleted in the last step is gone.

It may appear like it's still there but if you look closely, you'll see that that same Just as in Step 12, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion of this partition. Second, shut down your computer then turn it on restart your computer and press F2 repeatedly until you see an option page on your screen. Lastly, change the settings of your computer and instruct it to access its CD-ROM drive first before anything else.

This process is important to make the windows 7 CD installer run. A simple note: the "Boot" tab on the picture above may differ from the "Boot" tab of your computer. Do not fret because it may look different but the function is still the same. After you run the installation of windows 7, the installer will ask the type of installation.

Second, a page having the list of the computer hard drives will display on the screen. Just click the button to format the selected hard drive. Second, the installation process will proceed and will take some time. Just relax and take a break for a while. Lastly, the installer will ask for computer name, password, windows 7 product key, and etc.

These are just trivial things I think, or not?