Universal Format For External Hard Drive

While most external hard drives are already designed to work for Windows computers, there are times when you need to reformat one. You might want a drive that works with Macs and PCs, or maybe you want to partition it, which will split it up into two different formats. Here's how to format an external hard drive for Windows 10 or partition it.

1. Universal Format For External Hard Drive
2. Format External Hard Drive Ps4

How to Format a Hard Drive for Windows 10

Plug your external hard drive into your PC, go to 'This PC,' then right-click it under 'Devices and drives' and click 'Format.' Here you'll be presented with a number of options, but the ones we're focusing on are 'File System,' which you want to change to exFAT, and 'Allocation unit size.'. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) connects billions of keyboards, mice, joysticks, printers, external hard drives and other peripherals to roughly 1.5bn personal computers, and more than 3bn mobile.

Note: Formatting your drive will erase all the existing files on it. So if your external hard drive already has important files on it, make sure to back them up before proceeding.

1. Connect your external hard drive to a Windows computer. If your external hard drive is working, your computer will automatically detect it, and the drive will appear under Devices and Drives next to your internal drives in the This PC window. You can also find it in the left sidebar of File Explorer.

   Drive for time machine backup. Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it.

2. Right-click on the external hard drive and click Format.
3. Choose a format under File System. By default, Windows computers will choose NTFS (New Technology File System) for you because that's the native Microsoft filing system. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a Mac, you should choose exFAT.

   Note: The exFAT file system only works on Mac 10.6.5 or later, and Windows XP SP3 or later.

4. Check the Quick Format box, and click Start. Depending on the size of the drive, and if there are files to be deleted in it, this can take a few to several minutes to finish.
5. Click OK when the Format Complete pop-up screen appears.

Now you have a hard drive formatted for Windows, but what if you wanted to use it with Mac computers also? One easy way to have a hard drive that works with Mac and Windows is by partitioning it. This means you're splitting the drive into two formats, one for Mac and one for PC. Here's how to do that:

How to Partition an External Drivein Windows 10

1. Open the Windows search box, type 'diskmgmt.msc,' and hit enter. The Windows Search Box is the magnifying button icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen.
2. Right-click on your external hard drive and select Shrink Volume. If this option is not available to you, reformat the drive to NTFS and try again.
3. Enter an amount of space that you want to shrink your volume by. The remaining space will be displayed in megabytes.
4. Then click Shrink. This will split the hard drive, with one part becoming unallocated space.
5. Right-click the unallocated space on your drive and select New Simple Volume.
6. Click Next.
7. Then indicate how big you want the partition to be. If you want to use the rest of the space, enter the maximum disk space indicated above it. Then click Next.
8. Next, choose what drive letter you want to use. Letters that have already been assigned to other drives will not be on this list, so don't worry if there are missing letters. Just choose among the drive letters still available.
9. Go to File System and choose a format. Windows will choose NTFS for you because that's Microsoft's native filing system. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a Mac, you should choose exFAT, which is an upgraded version of FAT32.

   Note: The exFAT file system only works on Mac 10.6.5 or later, and Windows XP SP3 or later.

10. Check the Quick Format box, and click Next.
11. Finally, click Finish. If a pop-up appears telling you to format the disk, click Format Disk. After that, the newly formatted disk will open automatically.

Partitioning your external hard drive will enable you to perform tasks in one section without affecting the rest of the drive. If you want to know how to format a hard drive for Mac, check out our previous article here.

Related Articles

'I encountered the disk not formatted error on my 64GB Toshiba flash drive. The error message said 'You need to format the disk in Drive H: before you can use it'. How can I format my USB flash drive for reuse successfully?'

USB format tool, also known as USB formatter, lets you solve many USB format problems. With the help of the recommended USB format tools on this page, you can easily format USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS, format a write-protected USB flash drive, format USB drive back to the original size, etc.

Pick up the best USB format tool and follow the respective tutorial here to format your USB with ease now.

Why Do You Need USB Format Tool

Generally, formatting is the quickest way to prepare a USB drive ready for data storage, plus it is the best way to troubleshoot many general USB issues.

When you meet any one of the following issues, you would like to format your USB drive or a pen drive with a reliable USB format tool:

• USB is slow in writing or transferring files.
• USB becomes RAW, not accessible, not formatted USB drive
• Remove data and restore USB drive to its full capacity.
• Can't save a single file bigger than 4GB on USB.
• Can't create a partition larger than 32GB on FAT32 USB drive.
• Windows was unable to complete the format while formatting a USB.
• Can't format USB with 'the disk is write-protected' error.

You may also interest in:

2021 Top 5 Best USB Format Tools for Windows 10/8/7/XP Users

To help you fix USB cannot format, USB drive is write-protected, USB format error, USB becomes raw, and more issues, here we collected top 5 best USB format tools in 2021 to help you out.

Pick up one and format your USB flash drive to fix the problems immediately:

Among the top 5 USB formatters, EaseUS Partition Master is highly recommended as the TOP ONE USB format tool. It allows all Windows users to format their USB flash drive, external or internal hard drive, SD card, etc. to all any file system with ease.

Universal Format For External Hard Drive

After picking up the USB format tool, you may follow the tutorial below to format your USB flash drive with ease now.

#1. EaseUS Partition Master - The Best USB Format Tool in 2021

There are many USB formatting tools available online to help, like HP USB Disk Storage Formatting Tool, MMC Formatting tool, USB formatting software, etc. Which one is the best?

Here, we would like to recommend you try EaseUS partition software. Its powerful formatting capacity and easy-to-use features allows all levels of users to format their USB flash drive from all complex cases within only a few simple clicks.

Features You May Like:

• Format USB to Fix 'File Is Too Large for Destination File System' Error
• Format USB to EXT2/3/4, FAT16/32, NTFS, exFAT
• Convert USB from FAT32 to NTFS without Formatting.

Tutorial: How to Format USB Flash Drive with EaseUS USB Formatting Tool

Now you can try the following guide to format your USB drive in Sandisk, Kingston, Panasonic, Lexar, Samsung, Sony, etc. with a few simple steps.

Step 1: Select the USB drive to format.

Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer. Download and launch EaseUS partition software. Right-click the USB drive you intend to format and choose 'Format'.

Step 2: Set the drive letter and file system.

Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: Check the warning box.

Click 'OK' if you see the Warning window. If you have important data on it, back up the data in advance.

Step 4: Apply the changes.

Click the 'Execute operation' button first, and then click 'Apply' to format the USB drive.

#2. Windows File Explorer - Format USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

Windows has default programs that let users format USB pen drives and a variety of hard drive storage devices as well. Windows File Explorer is one of them, though not a professional USB format tool, yet the easiest tool for formatting a USB flash drive or USB.

Adobe premiere elements 13 effects. Note that File Explorer is not designed to solve every USB corruption issue but it's good to have the first try when your USB drive starts malfunctioning.

Features You May Like:

• Free
• Format USB to NTFS/FAT32, exFAT (on big USB drive)
• Delete and remove files from USB

Tutorial: Format USB Flash Drive Using File Explorer

Connect the USB flash drive to your computer, after Windows recognizes the USB, you can follow the steps below to format your USB drive now:

Step 1. Open File Explorer.

Step 2. Choose 'This PC' from the left pane.

Step 3. Right-click the connected USB flash drive and select 'Format'.

Step 4. Under the File system section, set NTFS, FAT32 or exFAT for the USB.

Step 5. Tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start'.

#3. Windows Disk Management - Format a Not Working USB Drive

Disk Management is the other native Windows program that is available in Windows 10/8/7. It enables users to undertake many more tasks to manage a disk as they want.

Features You May Like:

• Free
• Format RAW USB to NTFS/FAT32/exFAT
• Create New Volume on USB
• Delete Volume on USB

Tutorial: Format (RAW or Not Working) USB Flash Drive in Disk Management

Step 1. Right-click on This PC and navigate to Manage > Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click on the USB drive, and choose 'Format'.

Format External Hard Drive Ps4

Step 3. Set the allocation unit size and select NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT as the file system.

Step 4. Check 'Perform a quick format' and click 'OK' to start formatting the USB drive.

#4. Windows Diskpart Command - Advanced USB Formatter for Professionals

Windows Command Prompt is a built-in tool in Windows that can troubleshoot all kinds of computer problems with various commands. You can use the Diskpart command as the USB formatter to format an external USB drive.

Features You May Like:

• Free
• Format USB to NTFS/FAT32/exFAT
• Delete USB Partition
• Create New Volume on USB

Tutorial: Format USB Flash Drive Using DiskPart Command

This method is somehow complex for many Windows beginners. Be patient and careful while utilizing this way to tackle some USB issues via formatting.

Connect your USB to the computer and start formatting it via DiskPart now:

Step 1. In Windows 10, press Windows + R keys and type cmd in the Search box.

In Windows 8/7, click the Windows icon and select 'Search'. Type command prompt in the Search box.

Step 2. Right-click Command Prompt and select 'Run as administrator'.

Step 3. Type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk + number (If the USB flash drive is disk 2, then enter disk 2)
• list volume
• select volume + number (If the USB flash volume is volume 10, select volume 10)
• format fs=ntfs quick (You can also replace ntfs with FAT32 or exFAT)
• exit

#5. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - Best for Windows XP

The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool was created to format USB drives and desktop computers that were produced prior to 2012 and computers that run Windows XP. The formatting tool will work with newer Windows operating systems but results may vary.

Features You May Like:

• Free
• Format USB to NTFS/FAT32
• GUI Similar Interface, Windows XP Formatting Tool

Guide: How To Format USB Drive with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

To achieve the best USB format result, Windows XP users can consider the USB Disk Storage Format Tool to format a USB drive, flash drive or pen drive.

Connect the USB drive to your Windows XP computer and start with the following tutorial:

Step 1. Launch HP Disk Storage Format Tool, click 'Devices' and select the USB drive to format.

Step 2. On the File System menu, select a file system. In the Volume Label input box, enter a new name for the reformatted USB.

Step 3. Click the Quick Format option to enable a quick format.

Step 4. Click Start to begin the USB formatting.

The Bottom Line

On this page, we provided 5 top USB format tools for you to pick up one and follow the respective tutorial to effectively format your USB flash drive or external USB drives to the desired format.

Remember that no what why or how you want to format the USB, you should take a backup of all important data first.

Among the 5 USB format tools, EaseUS Partition Master is always ready for you to try. Besides basic formatting operations, this software also allows you to convert disk, clone disk, even migrate OS to another drive with ease.

People Also Ask

1. How do I format a USB drive?

• Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer.
• Launch EaseUS partition software. Right-click the USB drive and choose 'Format'.
• Assign a new partition label, file system, and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'

2. What happens when you format a USB?

1. 1. Remove existing data from USB.
2. 2. Reset the file system.
3. 3. Restore USB to full capacity.

3. Why can't you format a USB flash drive?

USB Flash drive formatting has its advantages. But File Explorer, Disk Management, or DiskPart can't format USB due to the following reasons:

• Virus Infection
• Bad Sectors
• Physical Damage
• Device Locked or Write Protected
• Incompatible File System

To resolve these issues and format your USB back to a normal state, you'll need the best USB format tool - EaseUS Partition Master as recommended on this page for help.