About formatting an external hard drive

a talking monkey · Dec 27, 2011

I have an XP SP3 desktop and for Christmas I was given a G-DRIVE external hard drive that's pre-formatted for Mac. So I have to re-format the G-DRIVE.

Also, I'm planning on getting a Windows 7 laptop. So here's my question:

If I reformat the G-DRIVE with my XP desktop, will G-DRIVE be plug-and-play when I use it on the Windows 7 laptop?
Or should I wait until I get the laptop and reformat the drive with the laptop?

DavidGP · Dec 27, 2011

HI

Yes as FAT32 and NTFS are both formats that XP and Win7 can read, however if you where to use it in a MAC it cannot read NTFS, only FAT32.

So while I tend myself to only format in NTFS, depending on your usage, then FAT32 maybe best.

Some more info HERE

Also read this on Windows 7 HERE as it has some specific instructions that maybe the way to clean and format the drive for use with Windows 7.

If you dont need to use the drive until you get the Win7 PC then maybe worth waiting and format with Win7.

ouranos · Dec 27, 2011

There is also exFat that you can use also in win XP you need to download it and install it from microsoft site.
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=19364

fat32 limits the size of the file to 2gigabyte
exFat has not that limit
so there are 3 options to consider

troglodyte · Dec 31, 2011

OK, thanks for the advice guys. I appreciate it.

I think I'll wait until I get the laptop and then reformat the G-DRIVE.

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About formatting an external hard drive

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