Formatting a hard drive along with the install of a new OS is the best option. The vast majority of operating system installations provide a "format" option as part of the installation process.

Many computers these days come with two hard drives, one SSD for fast boot speeds, and one that can be used for storage. My Dell G5 gaming laptop is a great example with a 128GB NAND SSD and a 1TB SSD ...

The most practical ways to move an operating system installation to a different hard drive are to either restore a system image or clone the old drive to the new drive. These methods will make a 1:1 ...

Like Lion (OS X 10.7) before it, Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) doesn’t ship on a disc—it’s available only as an installer app downloadable from the Mac App Store ...

Mavericks (OS X 10.9) doesn’t ship on a disc. Instead, it’s available only as an installer app downloadable from the Mac App Store, and that installer doesn’t ...

Did you know that a full copy of Windows can be installed and run from a USB drive? Microsoft introduced "Windows To Go" with Windows 8 Enterprise and has continued supporting the feature in Windows ...

Sometimes installing OS X may result in odd behavior if the partition scheme on the drive is not set up properly. If you are experiencing problems, a simple repartition during setup may be an easy fix ...

Prior to the release of Windows 8 and 10, after you formatted a hard drive, all data on that drive would be lost, including the operating system, programs, personal files and more. To get the machine ...

Qubes OS is a free open-source operating system that’s fully security-oriented. It leverages Xen-based virtualization, which allows the user to create, use and delete easily isolated compartments ...

Every Windows PC usually starts from the built-in hard drive, as the term “Windows PC” implies. This is because the Microsoft operating system is not anchored in or with the hardware, but is installed ...