How do I format an external drive as NTFS with XP?

[JEBB]

As the title says. Thanks.

[Kyocera]

Either from the my computer folder or from disk management you should be able to right click and select format and select NTFS.

[JEBB]

I found that the disk didn't show up under MyComputer except under Device Manager. There was no format command at that point.

I did find a freeware program called SwissKnife that did what I needed. Only after it was formatted did it show up in MyComputer and upon right clicking was it able to be formatted. Of course that was after I needed it.

MacOSX is so much more logical and so much easier

[bill bolton]

I found that the disk didn't show up under MyComputer except under Device Manager.

Did your look under "Adminstrative Tools" in the Windows Control Panel?

You could have easily done what you wanted from the Disk Manager part of the Computer Management utility!

MacOSX is so much more logical and so much easier.

There is plenty of COIK (Clear Only If Known) in OSX too!

Cheers,

Bill

[Kyocera]

Bill,

that was my suggestion originally, but I think the drive has to have some type of file system on it to be recognized first.

[bill bolton]

but I think the drive has to have some type of file system on it to be recognized first.

A brand new drive with no file system or partitioning is recognised by Disk Management. Disk Management doesn't rely on an existing file system, it basically interrogates the drive electronics to see what characteristics they report.

Cheers,

Bill

[Mr_Roboto]

I had a similar problem a while back ago. The drive would show up in Device manager but would not be listed in My Computer. I was able to partition and reformat it with XP's Disk Management tools.


Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management

Good Luck

~Rich

[smugiri]

If this is a brand new drive, you need to initialize it before you can partition then format.

In "Computer Manager", right click over the icon to the extreme left of the drive listing where the picture is and you will see the option to initialize drive.

After doing this, you will be able to partition the drive and then format it with NTFS.

Here is a picture of what you need to do and more instructions.

[JEBB]

It was a new drive, one in an USB external case. Using Swissknife I created a single partition the size of the whole drive and I formatted it NTFS. XP then recognized it by showing it when I opened MyComputer; it hadn't before that. Right clicking and choosing properties showed it was formated NTFS. I assumed it was initialized in this process; is that not correct?

Does not initializing and formating mean the same thing?

[JEBB]

Thanks smugiri. Those directions were what I needed.

[smugiri]

It was a new drive, one in an USB external case. Using Swissknife I created a single partition the size of the whole drive and I formatted it NTFS. XP then recognized it by showing it when I opened MyComputer; it hadn't before that. Right clicking and choosing properties showed it was formated NTFS. I assumed it was initialized in this process; is that not correct?

Does not initializing and formating mean the same thing?

Thanks smugiri. Those directions were what I needed.

Glad I could help. I had the same problem Tuesday night with my new toy, a 250gb USB desktop drive, and it took me a while to figure it out.

Initializing and formating are different.

I think (but do not know for sure so I would love to be corrected) that initializing a drive is the process of creating a partition table. Before initializing the drive, the drive does not have a defined area in which to store the partition table that describes how the drive is set up so you cannot carry out partitioning.

Think of it almost as defining a set of pages to use as a table of contents when writing a book whose size you do not know in advance. You just say well, I will use these x pages to save the table of contents(partition table) and just go adding entries (partitions) as you go. When you want to find out where your entries are in the book, you simply go back the table of contents and look them up.

[davidspalding]

As someone pointed out the Disk Management of Computer Management (right-clck on MY COMPUTER, select "Manage"; or STart -> run -> DISKMGMT.MSC) will allow you see all physical drives, and create partitions, format them, change drive letters, blahblahblah. NO third party tools needed.