Format external hard drive - so it'll work

Formatting an external hard drive is not a big challenge. Especially since the formatting process is identical for almost all storage media. Here you can find out what you should pay attention to when formatting a memory.

Format external hard drive - you should be aware of this in advance

Before you format the external hard drive, first check whether there is still important data on the storage medium.

• If necessary, first save the data for which you are unsure on another storage medium. You can still delete the data later, maybe you cannot restore it.
• The data from a formatted hard drive can be reconstructed under certain circumstances, but this can be difficult. If you need professional help, the fun quickly becomes expensive.
• If you have several hard disks in your computer, it quickly happened that the wrong memory was formatted. It therefore makes sense to provide the various storage media with unique names in advance. Alternatively, you can give the external hard disk the name delete in advance.
• If you want to format an external hard drive with a MAC, the process is almost identical.

Step-by-step instructions: This is how you can format it

After you have connected the external hard drive to the computer, call up your storage media in Windows Explorer. Under "Devices and drives" you will find not only your internal hard drives and other storage media such as USB sticks, but also your external hard drive.

Right click on the external hard drive to be formatted. Make sure that you really click on the correct storage medium. Then select the "Formatting" option in the pull-down menu.

In the "Formatting" menu, it is best to choose "NTFS" under "File system". Alternatively, you can also select FAT. We will explain in detail what distinguishes the FAT32 and NTFS file systems in the next article.

Under "Volume name" you have the option of giving the external hard drive a self-explanatory name.

If you want to carry out a thorough formatting, remove the check mark in front of "Quick formatting".

Finally click on "Start". The final formatting process begins as soon as you confirm with "OK" that you have read the final warning.