How to Format an External Hard Drive for Windows 10?

Format an External Hard Drive for Windows 10

The most external hard drives are designed to figure for Windows computers, but at times after you have to be compelled to reformat one.You would possibly need a drive that works with Macs and PCs, or even you wish to partition it, which is able to split it up into 2 completely different formats. Here’s the way to format an external drive for Windows 10 or partition it.

1.Connect your External Hard Drive to a Windows Computer

Your computer will automatically detect when the external hard drive is working. In this case the drive will appear under the devices and drives next to your internal drives in the PC window. You can also find it in the left sidebar of File Explorer.

2.Select a Format Under File System

Windows chooses NTFS (New technology file system) for you by default as 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.

3.Check the Quick Format Box and then click start

Your system will take a few minutes to finish the process which will depend on the size of the drive and the files to be deleted in it.

4.Once the format complete pop up appears on your screen, click OK

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 computer systems. Here’s how to do that:

Steps to partition an external drive in Windows 10 to Format an External Hard Drive for Windows 10

1.Go to the windows search box, type “diskmgmt.msc,” and then press Enter

In the bottom left corner of your computer screen, you will see a windows search box in the button icon. 

2.Right-click on your external hard drive and then click on Shrink Volume

In case you don't have this option available, reformat the drive to NTFS and try again.

3.Enter an amount of space that you want to shrink your volume by

Rest of the remaining space will be displayed in megabytes.

4.Click on shrink

By clicking on shrink, it 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.Now click on next

7.Indicate how big you want the partition to be

Enter the maximum disk space indicated above it, in case you want to use the rest of the space. Now click on next.

8.Next, select what drive letter you want to use

Now remember that the letters that have already been assigned to the other drives won’t be listed on the list. So don’t worry if there are missing letters. Just choose among the drive letters still available.

9.Open the file system and select a format

Now again windows will choose NTFS for you, as it'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. (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 then click next

11.Lastly, click finish

Lastly, click on the format disk, once the pop up appears on your screen to format the disk. The newly formatted disk will open automatically, when it's done.

Partitioning the external drive will allow you to perform tasks in one section without affecting the rest of the drive. We hope the above article helped you to Format an External Hard Drive for Windows 10.