How to Format a Secondary or External Hard Drive in Windows XP

Just added an external USB hard drive to your system? You'll probably want to format it first.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   You'll format your drive through Disk Mangement in the Computer Management Console in Windows XP. Plug your drive into a free USB port on your PC or laptop and follow the following steps to get to Disk Mangement.
   
   Right click on your My Computer icon on your desktop and choose "Manage," or go to "Start" > "Settings" > "Control Panel" > "Administrative Tools" > "Computer Management."

2. 
    

   Right Click on your new drive in the Computer Management Console and choose format.

3. 
    

   Click "Yes" if you are sure you are ready to format.

4. 
    

   Choose a File System (NTFS is ideal most cases) and give the new volume a name if you choose. You might like to call it something like "Portable Drive," or "Removeable Drive." If not, just take the defaults and click "OK."

5. 
    

   You will get one last warning that you are about to format your drive and erase all data. Click OK to proceed. When you see the process has reached 100%, you are done and you're new external hard drive is ready to use!

[Mpftmead]

on 4/1/2009 Great use of photos! 5*s