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need to format WD external hard drive

Anonymous
2018-06-16T20:34:19+00:00

I have an old WD hard drive that I want to format. Have it plugged into USB port, shows up in disk manager, but not in this pc. When I right click on the drive format is not an option, only new simple volume. Also there is no drive letter.

Thanks for any help.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. DaveM121 870.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2018-06-16T20:36:38+00:00

    Hi Mickey,

    In Disc Management, is that drive showing as Unallocated Space with a black top border?

    If so, right click the unallocated Space, choose New - Simple Volume

    Accept NTFS file system and when asked to assign a drive letter, accept the default drive letter

    When that is applied, can you then see that drive in Windows File Explorer?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-16T22:02:06+00:00

    You should also in disk management, right click and make it active.

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  3. DaveM121 870.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2018-06-16T21:21:43+00:00

    Hi Mickey, is the whole drive showing as Raw?

    If you right click that Raw partition, do you get 'Delete Volume' if so do that

    Then, try creating a new simple volume on the resulting Unallocated space . ..

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-06-16T21:08:29+00:00

    The top banner is blue. 

    (F:)

    149.05 GB RAW

    Healthy (Primary Partition)

    I get an error message format did not complete.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-06-16T20:36:59+00:00

    Hi Mickey. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

    New Simple volume is what you want since you have to create the partition before formatting it. See here: http://www.wikihow.com/Format-an-External-Hard-...

    I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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