Many users have external hard drives that are used to back up data and store information. Sometimes it becomes necessary to format an external hard drive by changing its file system (naming and data storage order). Hard drives usually have the FAT32 file system type (the most common) or NTFS. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, which you should study in advance. Formatting may also be required for another reason.
Necessary
- - standard operating system tools
- - program for formatting disks
Instructions
Step 1
To format an external hard drive from the operating system, go to "My Computer", select the external drive icon, right-click. Select the formatting and the desired file system.
Step 2
Another way to format using standard Windows tools: click "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Administrative Tools" - "Computer Management" - "Disk Management". Select the required drive from the list, right-click on it, select the file system type and start formatting. From the loaded operating system, only formatting the system disk will be inaccessible to you.
Step 3
To format the disk from the command line, click Start - Run - type cmd - Enter. Type Format X: and press Enter (X is the drive letter).
Step 4
To convert the file system type from the command line, click Start - Run. At the command prompt, enter "convert" followed by a drive letter and action, such as convert F: / fs: ntfs (or convert F: / fs: fat32). The fs stands for the filesystem.
Step 5
Suppose your disk is formatted in Mac OS, and now you connected it to a computer under Windows, and it is not detected by the system. Reformat this disk using a program like Acronis Disc Director. If the program does not see the disk either, create a bootable CD with it, boot from this disk and then format.
Step 6
You can format the drive by reinstalling the operating system. To do this, at the required stage, select the formatting of a specific partition (for example, disk D, F, etc.) and the desired type of file system.
