Do I Need to Format a New Hard Drive Before Partitioning?

My teacher and I are having a disagreement regarding formatting and partitioning hard drives. He believes a hard drive is first partitioned, and then a partition is created, formatted with a filesystem. While I think first a hard drive is formatted, and then a partition table—GPT, MBR—is set. I wonder which one is right?

No, you don't need to format a new hard drive before partitioning because you will set the file system during the partitioning process whether you use Disk Management or third-party software. Moreover, it can't work out if you want to format a hard drive with partitions to create partitions with the new file system. You can only erase the data on your hard drive, but the file system remains.

The only way out is to delete and recreate the partitions with the new file system. Compared to the Windows built-in Disk Management tool, EaseUS Partition Master is a versatile and easy-to-use partition manager. This utility will allow you to create, delete, and resize partitions according to your need. Here is a detailed tutorial on how to delete partitions on your hard drive:

Note: Back up the important data on the partition you will delete.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master and enter "Partition Manager."

Step 2. Select to delete one partition or delete all partitions on your hard drive.

Step 3. Click "Execute 1 Task" and "Apply" to confirm the operation.

Its "New Disk Guide" tool can assist you in partitioning your new hard drive effortlessly. Follow the quick steps to use EaseUS Partition Master.

If you want to learn more about partitioning a new hard drive, you can read and discover in the following link:

Related Article: How to Create Partition from Unallocated Space