Whether you're installing a brand-new drive or wiping an old one clean, formatting a drive is a basic maintenance task you should know how to do. Luckily, Windows 7 and 8 make this pretty easy.

Copilot on Windows can now retrieve files from your PC’s hard drive. I've tested the AI-driven search feature and show you how to benefit.

To format a hard drive before you start using it in Windows, use the Disk Management utility; on a Mac, use Disk Utility.

Do you have a hard drive, a solid-state drive, or both? To find out what type of storage you have on your PC, open the Charms bar, click Search and type Optimize.