1. Reformat External Hard Drive From Ps4 To Xbox
2. Reformat External Hard Drive Mac
3. Reformat External Hard Drive

External Hard Drive is a great device to back up the data from your computer and free some space. These hard drives offer portability and make the data transfer between computers easy. At certain times you may have some confidential or personal data on the external hard drive, which you may want removed once you don't have the use for it. You may consider to delete or format your external hard drive, but you may know know that delete everything doesn't erase hard drive and formatting also does not erase data. The deleted or formatted data is still recoverable.

I have a Lacie d2 Quadra 1tb External Hard Drive. I had it for years on a Mac. But unfortunately it bit the dust and I decided to get a PC. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a Mac when I plug it into my PC I cant access it. I can find it under Device Manager and Disk Management but that's it. How to Reformat Seagate Portable External Hard Drive. How to Reformat Seagate Portable External Hard Drive.

Drive – choose your external hard drive from this dropdown menu. Allocation unit size – leave it to the default values. Volume label – enter a name for your hard drive. Quick Format – it’s suggested to leave this unticked if you’re not sure. Then hit the Start button to begin formatting your hard drive. For external devices (hard drives or pendrives), I normally just use the drive capacity, drive model, +/or the manufacturer's name - i.e. 320GB Scorpio, 1TB Seagate, or whatever. If you use the drive for backups only though, 'Backups' would be an appropriate name emoticon.Idea.title. Plug your hard drive into your computer. Insert the drive's USB cable into one of the thin, rectangular slots in your computer's casing. If you're using a desktop computer, USB ports are typically in either the front or the back of the computer's CPU box.

Let's take a look at different ways to remove the data from your external hard drive.

Method 1: Delete The Files Manually ( 95% Recovery)

If you wish to free up some space on your external hard drive, but do not wish to erase all the data saved on it, you can delete the files manually. In that case, you will need to select and delete the files manually. Deleting a file or files is easy. If you need to delete a single file, simply click it and press 'Delete' button on your keyboard. You can also right click on the file and choose 'Delete' option. You will need to click Ok on the confirmation window that will pop up in both the cases.

In case you need to delete multiple files saved on the same folder, you can press and hold CTRL while selecting the files. You can also select multiple files by holding down the left click of the file while dragging the pointer over a specific area of the window.

Note: The 'deletd files' can be 95% recovered by most data recoery program. Files you have deleted are still remain on your external hard drive and can be recovered by 19 free data recovery softwares.

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Method 2: Format The Hard Drive ( 98% Recovery )

If you simply wish to wipe your external hard drive clean so that you can have access to the full storage space it offers, you can format it using a very simple process. Formatting the hard drive takes care of any fragmentation issues as well and also speeds it up. Sometimes you may need a formatted hard drive for special purposes to use with certain applications or operating systems.

Make sure that your external hard disk drive is connected to the computer and follow these steps to format it:

Windows OS:

1. If you have a computer running Windows OS, click 'My Computer' (in Windows XP and older versions) or just Computer (in Windows 7 and newer versions) in the Start menu.

2. You can find the icons for 'My Computer' and Computer on your desktop as well. You will see the external hard drive icon on the screen.

3. Right click the icon and click on 'Format'. You will see the following pop up window. Choose the desired settings and click Start. Click 'OK' on the confirmation window to begin the formatting process.

Mac Computer:

1. If you are using a Mac computer, you will need to go to the Applications folder and open the application called Disk Utility.

2. On the left panel you will be able to see the external hard disk drive you have connected to your computer. Select the drive you wish to format and on the right panel click on the 'Erase' button.

3.You will find the Erase button under the tab labelled as Erase. Click Ok to confirm. The drive will get formatted.

Method 3: Completely Erase Data from Hard Drive (Zero Recovery )

Simply formatting the hard drive does not ensure the safety and security of your personal information. This may come as a surprise to many. However, there are ways to extract information from the external drive (or any storage device) that has only been formatted.

When you format the hard drive or delete some files manually, the files are actually not deleted. The operating system simply marks that area as deleted so that it can be overwritten easily. The formatted external hard drive will not show any files on your screen but they may still be available for use. In order to remove the files permanently from the hard drive, it is important to overwrite those sectors. Only then your hard drive will be completely unrecoverable.

There are some good data wiper programs that remove the data from your external hard drive permanently, like Safewiper Data Wipe for MAC. It uses the special algorithms to overwrite the sectors so that your personal or private information cannot be retrieved by any data recovery program.

Step 1 Select Data Erasing Mode

Run the program when the program installed on your computer, you will notice that there three erasing modes built in the program for your different needs. Run the program when the program installed on your computer, you will notice that there three erasing modes built in the program for your different needs. Here , we need to select the Wipe Partition/Drive.

Step 2 Choose Data Erasing Algorithm

Here you need to click Settings to choose a right erasing algorithm, this program offers four erasing algorithms for your choice, each algorithms focus on different erasing demands. The more times you choose, the more time it will take. Here we recommend choosing 3 times erase.

Step 3 Start Erasing Your Hard Drive

After you selecting the erasing algorithm, just click Erase button to let the program completely destroy your hard drive data. It may take some times based on the size of the hard drive, please be patient.

As we talked before, deleting or formatting hard drive doesn't means it's gone forever. Anyone can easily recover your personal data at any time as long as the data was not overwritten. Before erasing the data, it is important to think carefully or create a backup for your important data because once the data is wiped, the data will be gone forever.

So, does format external hard drive erase data? The answer is obvious, NO.

On this page, we'll show you how to format hard drive in Windows 10, wipe a hard drive, and guide you through the process, making your drive ready for storing data, installing Windows, or other purposes.

Formatting is an essential step before you start using a new hard drive, an internal or external hard drive on Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista. Whether you are using Windows 10 or old Windows 7, check out how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive on your own now.

Windows 10 Hard Drive Format Overview

People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in Windows 10 for various reasons. Here is a list of reasons or let's call it benefits that explains why people intend to format their hard drives, external hard drives, USB or SD, etc., storage devices:

• Format new hard drive before usage
• Format to change a hard drive file system for some specific purposes
• Format a hard drive for a clean installation of the Windows system
• Reformat or wipe a hard drive to erase data, such as restoring the full capacity of a disk

However, only a few people know how to get the job done correctly. In the following, we'll introduce you to format a new hard drive in Windows 10, format internal/external hard drive, and how to reformat or wipe a hard drive on your own.

During the process, you may need to use Windows Disk Management, Windows File Explorer, Windows DiskPart, and even a third-party partition manager, etc., for help.

How to Format a New Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to: Format brand new hard drive or external hard drive on Windows 10.

Requested Tools: ①. New HDD/SSD or external HDD; ②. Connection cable - SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable; ③. Format tool - EaseUS partition manager or Disk Management.

If you have a new hard drive or a new external hard drive, you'll need to initialize it first and create a new partition on it before you can format it. The reason is that a new hard drive doesn't have a partition, and as a result, it won't appear in File Explorer.

But you can use a third-party partition manager software like EaseUS Partition Master or Disk Management for help. Insert or connect your new hard drive to the computer, start initializing a new HDD/SSD and format it in Windows 10 now:

Method 1. Initialize and Format a New Hard Drive using EaseUS Partition Master

Best for: Windows beginners

Advantages: Easy to operate

For most Windows beginners, Windows disk management is not user-friendly as the whole operating process is tricky for them. To help you quickly make the new hard drive usable again, here we suggest you try EaseUS Partition Master.

It's efficient and easy. You can start to format your own new hard drive now:

First. Initialize New Hard Drive

Step 1. EaseUS Partition Master. Connect the hard drive or SSD to PC.

Step 2. Initialize your HDD/SSD

Right-click the target HDD or SSD and select 'Initialize to MBR' or 'Initialize to GPT' according to your need.

Step 3. Click 'Execute Operation' to keep the changes.

Next. Create Partition on New Hard Drive

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master

On the main window, right-click on the unallocated space on your new hard drive and select 'Create'.

Step 2. Adjust the new partition size, file system, label, etc.

Set the size, partition label, drive letter, file system, etc. for the new partition and click 'OK' to continue.

Step 3. Confirm to create a new partition

Click on the 'Execute Operation' button and confirm to create a new partition by clicking 'Apply'.

Note that during the creating partition process, EaseUS Partition Master will automatically format the created partition, making it ready for usage immediately.

Method 2. Format New Hard Drive on Windows 10 using Disk Management

Best for: Experienced Windows users

Advantages: Free

To properly format a new hard drive, you need to be very careful while using Disk Management. To format a new hard drive using Disk Management, use these steps:

Step 1. Press 'Windows + R' keys, type diskmgmt.msc and click 'OK' to open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the hard drive or SSD marked as 'Unknown' and 'Not Initialized,' and select 'Initialize Disk'.

If the disk shows as Offline, first right-click it and select 'Online'.

Step 3. In the Initialize Disk dialog box, check the disk to initialize. And then click 'OK' to accept the default partition style, or you can change the partition style (GPT or MBR) as you want.

• Master Boot Record (MBR) is for hard drives smaller than 2TB in size.
• GUID Partition Table (GPT) is for hard drives larger than 2TB in size.

Step 4. Find the initialized disk, right-click the unallocated space, and select the 'New Simply Value' option.

Reformat External Hard Drive From Ps4 To Xbox

Step 5. Set up and format the created partition on the new hard drive.

Follow the on-screen instructions to set up volume size, drive letter, NTFS as the file system, and check the 'Perform a quick format' option.

Step 6. Click the 'Next' > 'Finish' button.

Depending on the size of the drive, it can take some time to finish. When the process completes, your new hard drive will be initialized, partitioned, and properly formatted.

How to Format an Internal/External (Used) Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to: Format a used internal or external hard drive in Windows 10/8/7/XP, etc.

Requested Tools: ①. HDD/SSD or external HDD; ②. Connection cable - SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable; ③. Format tool - EaseUS partition manager, Disk Management, File Explorer, DiskPart.

If you have a hard drive or an external hard drive already organized with partitions, you can format the existing partition to remove its content and start fresh with a clean drive. We cover the three most popular ways to format a partition, like displayed below.

Keep your hard drive or external HDD connected to your PC and choose one method that works best for you to start formatting the disk on your now:

Method 1. Format Hard Drive in Windows 10 with EaseUS Management Software

Best for: All levels of Windows users, specially designed for Windows beginners

Advantages: Easy & 4-Step Formatting

EaseUS Partition Master is a popular disk partition management tool that is available for all hard disk managing jobs, such as to format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem, convert MBR to GPT without data loss and vice versa.

It even works when you failed to do the Windows 10 disk format job or can't format hard drive with other Windows formatting tools.

Video Tutorial to Format HDD/SSD in Windows 10

Step-by-step Guide to Format Hard Drive/External HDD in Windows 10

Step 1: Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose 'Format'.

Step 2: In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: Then you will see a warning window, click 'OK' in it to continue.

Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting the partition on your hard drive.

Repeat the whole process to format all existing partitions on your hard drive one by one.

Method 2. Format Windows 10 Hard Drive Partition using File Explorer

Best for: Windows beginners

Advantages: Free

Another easy way is to use Windows File Explorer to format a working hard drive or external hard drive on your Windows PC. Here are the steps:

Here, we'll take formatting an external hard drive as an example to show you the formatting process.

Step 1. Press 'Windows key + E' to bring up the Windows Explorer.

Or you can click and open up the 'Computer' in Windows 7 or 'This PC' in Windows 10.

Step 2. Right-click on the connected external hard drive or internal hard drive partition and select 'Format'.

Step 3. On the format window, select the desired file system - NTFS for your device.

Step 4. Check 'Quick Format' and click 'Start'.

After this, click 'OK' to confirm and finish the formatting. If you have several partitions created on your hard drive, repeat the whole process till you cleaned all the partitions.

Method 3. Format Hard Drive with Windows Disk Management

Best for: Experienced Windows users

Advantages: Free

Windows 10 offers users a built-in disk management tool to create, delete, extend, shrink, and format partitions. Here are the steps to format hard drive partition using Disk Management:

Step 1. Right-click on Windows icon and select 'Disk Management'.

Step 2. Right-click on the target drive or partition and click on 'Format'.

Step 3. Select the file system and set the cluster size.

Step 4. Click 'OK' to format the drive.

Repeat the steps to format the rest partitions on your hard drive.

Method 4. Format Hard Drive with Diskpart in Command Prompt

Best for: Experienced users & administrators

Advantages: Free

Unlike Disk Management and File Explorer, DiskPart Command Prompt does more than merely formatting disk. It also lets you do other more advanced operations on your computer.

Be careful with every step, as any false operation may cause serious results. Here are the steps to format hard drive partition using DiskPart Command Prompt:

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box in Windows 10, right-click on Command Prompt, and choose 'Run as administrator'.

Step 2. In the command prompt, type diskpart and press 'Enter'.

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

• list disk
• select disk + disk number ( for example, select disk 2)
• list volume
• select volume+ volume number
• format fs=ntfs

Repeat the process till you have formatted all exiting volumes on your hard drive.

Step 4. Type exit and hit Enter to close the command window.

All the ways above can help you format a used hard drive or external hard drive in Windows 10. If you want a comprehensive solution that can help you manage your disk easily, we highly recommend you try EaseUS Partition Master.

How to Reformat or Wipe a Hard Drive in Windows 10

Applies to: Clean up whole hard drive data by re-formatting or wipe hard drive at one time in Windows 10/8/7.

Requested Tools: ①. HDD/SSD or external HDD; ②. Connection cable - SATA Cable, power cable, or USB 3.0 connection cable; ③. Hard disk wipe tool - EaseUS partition manager

Sometimes, people may want to re-format or wipe a hard drive so as to clean up existing data on the device thoroughly. Reformatting a hard drive indeed works but you have to repeat the formatting again and again.

In this part, we've collected an efficient way to help you wipe hard drive data, clear all existing data on the device at one time.

Wipe a Hard Drive using EaseUS Partition Master

Best for: All levels of Windows users

Advantages: One-click to wipe a hard drive several times

Let's see how to wipe your hard drive easily at one time:

Step 1. Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master.

Select the HDD or SSD which you want to wipe. And right-click to choose 'Wipe Data'.

Step 2. Set the number of times to wipe data.

You can set to 10 at most. Then click 'OK'.

Step 4. Click 'Apply' to apply the changes.

Click 'Execute the operation' and then click 'Apply' to start wiping data.

After this, you can restart your PC and use the hard drive like a brand new disk by then.

How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive

Data loss issue due to misformatting hard drive or formatting without backups occurs from time to time. Formatting doesn't erase the data on the disk, only removing the address tables.

However, without a data recovery tool, you cannot recover data from a formatted hard drive. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is capable of recovering lost data even if you accidentally format a disk without a backup.

This top-notch file recovery software enables you to quickly and simply restore lost data because of hard drive formatting, emptying recycle bin, partition loss, OS crash, virus attack, and more. You can even use it to recover permanently deleted files in only a few clicks.

Now, download this robust data recovery program and recover data after formatting hard drive.

Step 1. Choose the partition.

Launch EaseUS formatted data recovery software after the installation. Choose the hard drive partition which you've accidentally formatted. Click 'Scan'.

Step 2. Select wanted files.

After the scanning process, you can click 'Filter' to filter a specific file type to quickly find wanted files.

Step 3. Recover files to a secure location.

Select the data files you wish to recover. Click 'Recover'. Choose a location to store the files and click 'OK'.

Conclusion and Format Hard Drive FAQs

On this page, we covered comprehensive solutions to help you resolve formatting hard drive issues on your own. With the presented methods, you can easily format a brand new hard drive, format an internal or external hard drive, and even thoroughly wipe a hard drive in Windows 10.

As for Windows beginners, we suggest you back up important data first, then apply a practical formatting tool like EaseUS Partition Master for help.

We collected some top concerned questions and list answers here. If you have the same questions about hard drive formatting in Windows 10, check the following FAQs.

1. Can't format hard drive in Windows 10, how to fix?

When you can't format a hard drive in using Disk Management or file explorer, give EaseUS Partition Master a shot. It can directly resolve your issue with its Format feature.

You can also refer to Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format for further fixes.

2. How do I format hard drive when the disk management format option greyed out?

When you are making hard drive maintenance with free disk management tools, you may encounter the issue - 'Disk Management format greyed out'.

You can't format a partition because the 'Format' option is greyed out in Windows 10/8/7. To solve the 'Format volume greyed out' issue, we have offered these solutions:

Reformat External Hard Drive Mac

• Restart PC
• Format Hard Drive using Disk Management alternative, like EaseUS Partition Master
• Run CMD to format hard drive

For a detailed guide, you may refer to 'Format Option Greyed Out' for help.

3. How do I format HDD or external hard drive to FAT32?

According to some game players, sometimes, they need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive to FAT32 for specific usage. However, the normal formatting way can't help.

Reformat External Hard Drive

When there is no FAT32 option in Windows 10 File Explorer or Disk Management, you can apply either the Windows CMD or the third-party partition manager - EaseUS Partition Master to format device to FAT32 in Windows 10/8/7.

Turn to professional FAT32 formatting tools for help and format disk to FAT32 now.