A Backup
The technical name is cloning.
a drive image
SYSPREP
You get another memory storage device, such as an external hard drive, and you copy everything on your hard drive onto the external hard drive, and keep it safe. That way, if your hard drive crashes, then you can take it out, and plug your external hard drive in, and work from that.
Information is written, and read from the hard drive.
Yes.
Yes it will, but it will also remove EVERYTHING on the drive; your personal files, settings, programs, even your operating system. Don't attempt to format your hard drive unless A) You are prepared to loose everything on the drive AND you have experience installing Windows or another operating system. B) It is a secondary drive (such as an external hard drive) which has no system files AND you are prepared to loose everything on the drive.
looking hard at it
The negative points are the hard drive is where all of your programs and files are stored, so if the drive is damaged for some reason, you will lose everything on your computer
Format hard drive/s
The partition table on a hard drive is installed in a reserved area at the beginning of the drive. It tells the operating system where everything is located for quicker access.
Of course, copy all your programs and files you need from the old hard drive and put it on your new hard drive BEFORE formatting the old hard drive. Formatting your hard drive will mean losing everything and a slim chance of getting it all back.
Yes
Go to my computer then select the drive where your hard drive is (usually c:) it is usually labeled as something like local disk c: then you are able to view everything saved to your hard drive