How to Format Your External Hard Drive (2024)

FAQs

Is it OK to format external hard drive? ›

Formatting allows you to overwrite all the information on the hard drive, resetting the file structure and how the drive interacts with the operating system. It can also be used to prep a hard drive for use with another operating system.

Formatting an external hard drive. Before using an external hard drive, you need to prepare it for use with your operating system by formatting it. When formatting, you create partitions where the folders and files can be read and written to.

Q #2) What is the best format for a hard drive? Answer: NTFS (New Technology for File System) is the recommended format if you intend to use a drive on Windows operating system. However, if you want to use a storage device on both Windows and macOS, the best format is exFAT.

A full format erases any files from the disk, changes (or maintains) the file system and checks the disk for bad sectors. A full format takes significantly longer than a quick format. Windows supports both FAT and NTFS for both quick and full formats.

Computer runs faster and performs well when there is more available space. Hence, formatting hard drive can improve the performance on data storage. After using the computer for a long time, files and codes that run the operating system might be damaged greatly slowing many functions of computer.

Let's summarize. In case you need to format a brand-new data storage device, you should perform a full format. But if your drive has been already formatted and you are absolutely sure that it doesn't have damaged nor logical bad sectors, a quick format would be enough.

As estimated, to do a "full format" on a 1TB hard disk in Windows, it will take a long time, like 2- hours, and over a USB 2.0 connection, it may take a day! In contrast, to do a "quick" format is much faster, usually several minutes.

Otherwise, formatting a hard drive using the quick format option (or an earlier version of Windows) will not actually erase all of its stored data. When you choose to format a hard drive, you are essentially only removing the pointers to the data as the partition table is either cleared or rebuilt.

Unlike the external hard drive saying it needs to be formatted, external hard drive not formatting could result in various reasons, including: Your storage medium is infected by a virus. The hardware driver is outdated. System file (DLL, SYS, EXE) is missing or damaged.

exFAT is bad if you want to store a lot of very small files on it. E.g. a 500KB file will waste up to 12% of disc space because of the 64KB block size. Mainly pics and videos.

Should I format USB drive FAT32 or NTFS? ›

If you need the drive for a Windows-only environment, NTFS is the best choice. If you need to exchange files (even occasionally) with a non-Windows system like a Mac or Linux box, then FAT32 will give you less agita, as long as your file sizes are smaller than 4GB.

Disadvantages of exFAT

Not as compatible as FAT32. It does not offer journaling functionality and other advanced features built into the NTFS file system.

Format recovery is possible as long as the data has not been overwritten. After formatting a hard drive, the most common “next step” is to reinstall the operating system. Doing this automatically overwrites the portion of the area of the hard drive where it begins to write when it's newly formatted.

How Long Does It Take to Format a 2TB Hard Drive: Again, we perform a Quick Format on a 2TB hard drive, it can be done in about 30 minutes. However, a Full Format can take up to 3 hours.

Go to Settings > Change PC Settings > Update and recovery > Recovery. Click Get Started under the Remove everything and reinstall Windows section. Click Next, then choose Fully clean the drive to ensure everything is deleted. Click the Reset button and your drive is wiped, your PC is reset, and Windows is reinstalled.

FAT32 has better compatibility. If you are not sure whether your device supports exFAT, we recommend formatting the memory card to FAT32.

If you are sure that you won't be copying or moving files larger than 4GB, Fat 32 is the way to go. On the other hand, if you need to deal with a large file, then use exFAT. On similar lines, small storage like SD Card and USB go better with FAT32, while external hard drives can use exFAT.

Formatting doesn't typically remove the infected files that are stored or have made a home in your device. Viruses have the potential to return back to your computer even though you have made solid formatting of your hard drive.

Whether it is an internal hard disk or an external hard drive, there are solutions to repair a corrupted hard disk. The most straightforward way to fix a corrupt hard disk is by formatting it, which will cause data loss.

When a drive is formatted, the past is wiped clean. All the data is removed, and space is made for new data and file systems. There are several different reasons for formatting a disk. You might be concerned about security, need to repurpose the hardware or want to install a new file system on your device.

What is the difference between formatting and format? ›

Use format to refer to the overall layout or pattern of a document. Use formatting or formatted to refer to specific character formatting, paragraph formatting, and other types of formatting.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged."

Technically speaking, the answer is Yes, formatting your laptop would make it faster. It will clean your computer's hard drive and wipe all the cache files. What's more, if you format your laptop and upgrade it to the latest version of Windows, it would bring you an even better result.

One terabyte gives you the option of storing roughly: 250,000 photos taken with a 12MP camera; 250 movies or 500 hours of HD video; or. 6.5 million document pages, commonly stored as Office files, PDFs, and presentations.

A terabyte is equal to 1,024 gigabytes (GB), which itself is equal to 1,024 megabytes (MB), while a megabyte is equivalent to 1,024 kilobytes.

A 1TB hard drive can hold up to 500 hours of high-definition 1080p video – that's just over 20 full days!

Right click on the drive and select Format. Enter a name for the drive in Volume label and select the format type in the File system dropdown box. Click OK. It will take a short while to delete all the files and change the format of the disk.

But formatting doesn't work always because the virus can write itself onto the portion of the drive that remains unaffected by the process of formatting and it is hard to tell whether the virus is truly gone or not.

It will give you an empty drive back, which means all the data will be lost completely. After using a flash drive for some time, you may find the need to format it to use it again. But don't worry; formatting will not harm your storage device at all.

Overwriting entire flash drive with zeros or full formatting will significantly shorten its lifespan. However, simply quick-formatting or just deleting all files off the drive is completely safe and doesn't wear it more than regular usage.

How do you check if an external hard drive has a virus? ›

Plug the device into your PC, then, from the Home tab of Windows Defender, tick the Custom option on the right-hand side, then hit the Scan Now button. This brings up a list of available drives – select the one you've plugged in and click OK to check that particular location for any signs of malware.

If your computer is infected with a virus, formatting or erasing the hard drive and starting over often removes any virus. However, if backups of your computer were made and backed up the virus, your computer can be re-infected if not protected by an antivirus program.

Quick formats take a few seconds, whereas a normal format procedure can take several hours. The reason for this behavior is explained on Microsoft's website: "When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors.

The life expectancy of a USB Flash Drive can be measured by the number of write or erase cycles. USB flash drives can withstand between 10,000 to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the memory technology used.

Step 1: Connect the formatted USB drive to your computer. Step 2: Launch Disk Drill and select your USB drive from the list of storage devices. Step 3: Make sure the All recovery methods option is selected and click Search for lost data. Step 4: Allow Disk Drill to run and complete the scan.

1. On the desktop, open This PC (My Computer) and select the desired external hard drive. Right-click it and select Properties -> Tools -> Click on Check. The scan will start, which should fix the external hard drive errors.

Reformatting is the same as deleting a file on a hard drive, except every file is deleted at once. However, while the drive may appear empty, the data may be recoverable either through the use of data recovery software or with the services of a data recovery specialist.