For help installing the WD external drive on a computer or formatting/re-formatting a WD external hard drive on Windows XP or Mac OS X, please see the answers below. Usually you can take the internal hard disk of an old computer and install it as an additional drive in a new one. There's also a more flexible alternative. Also I will be showing you while using Applocale on how to make.

For help installing the WD external drive on a computer or formatting/re-formatting a WD external hard drive on Windows XP or Mac OS X, please see the answers below. Usually you can take the internal hard disk of an old computer and install it as an additional drive in a new one. There's also a more flexible alternative. Also I will be showing you while using Applocale on how to make.

How to partition and format a WD drive on Windows and mac. OSAnswer ID 3. 86. This answer explains how to format a WD drive for use on Windows and mac.

OS.*END. External hard drives and solid state drives come pre- formatted and ready for use. Internal drives do not ship pre- formatted and will need to be Partitioned and formatted before being used.

Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 1. Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the Operating System (OS), creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Windows 1. 0 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.

To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps: Right- click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom- left of the screen, and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.

Trying to format a large external USB or Firewire hard drive to the FAT32 file system? Can’t do it? Only see an option for formatting the drive using the N. View special characters and formatting codes in Word. Sometimes Word will just format things oddly and it’s not really clear what is going on. Almost all hard disks that you purchase have already had a low-level format. It is not necessary, therefore, to perform a low-level format yourself unless you want to.

If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right- click the bar and click Delete Volume. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right- click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume.

The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will open. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step.

Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2. TB drive, set the volume size to 1. TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1. TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next.

By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Book or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below.

Return to Top. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 8 or 8. Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the Operating System (OS), creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume.

Both processes are normally done together. Windows 8 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps: Right- click on the lower- left corner of the desktop screen and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue, which indicates the drive is already formatted and may contain data.

If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right- click the bar and click Delete Volume. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right- click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next.

By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step.

Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2. TB drive, set the volume size to 1. TB) and continue to the next step.

When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1. TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written.

Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below.

Return to Top. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Windows includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps: Click on Start and right- click Computer. Click on Manage. A window called Computer Management will open, displaying two panes. On the left- side pane, under Storage, click on Disk Management. This will load Disk Management on the right- side pane. Disk Management will proceed to display all the hard drives detected by Windows.

The window may need to be maximized in order to see all the drives listed. The lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted.

It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. When ready to proceed, right- click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black. Right- click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume. The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear.

Left- click on Next to proceed to the next screen. Choose the volume size and click Next.

By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2. TB drive, set the volume size to 1. TB) and continue to the next step.

When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1. TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how to data is read and written.

Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and set Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. Note: If an error message is received stating that Windows is unable to unmount the drive, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive.

Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down, and then try again. Please see Answer ID 2. Unable to safely remove (unmount) a WD external drive in Windows for assistance with this error under Windows. The listing for the drive (Disk 3 in the picture below) will say Formatting as it formats the drive. This process may take a few seconds.

When the drive is done (Disk 3 in the picture below), the bar will be blue and the drive will say Healthy. Return to Top. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows Vista. Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the Operating System (OS), creating a Volume for the Operating System to use.

Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Windows Vista includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. Please see Answer ID 1.

How to access Disk Management in Windows to manage hard drives for more information. Please follow the steps outlined below: The lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted. It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. When ready to proceed, right- click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black.

Now right- click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume.