How to Full Format External USB HDD in Windows Vista

Before bringing it 'back into service' for backup purposes, I chose to do a secure format outside of Windows with DBAN. The problem is that DBAN doesn't like my laptop (non-Mac), and the Linux kernel kept 'panicking'. After the failed format, Windows could not recognize the device (I thought it killed the drive, but alas, I just had to go inside the disk manager and create the RAW partition). Is this related to the NTFS formatting of the drive, or is there a more serious issue?

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Dany· Answered on Jul 20, 2023

If there is no vital data on your USB flash drive or other devices, you can format your USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS on Windows Vista with Windows' free built-in disk formatting utilities. Because your USB drive may become corrupted or inaccessible owing to RAW or incorrect file systems, bad sectors, or other issues, to solve these issues quickly, try to use CMD to format the USB drive:

  • In Windows, to access the context menu, press the Windows + X keys together
  • Select Command Prompt (Admin) to launch the Administrator mode command
  • Enter convert (drive letter): /FS:NTFS, for example, convert G: /FS:NTFS

After a few basic steps, Windows will begin the file system conversion procedure. It may take some time, especially if you have a huge drive. The file system of the target device is now NTFS. You can view and use the saved data on the drive again.

You can also try Disk Management to format your USB flash drive to NTFS.

  • Select "Disk Management" from the Manage menu after right-clicking on This PC.
  •  Locate and right-click your USB flash drive or external hard drive, then choose "Format".
  • Change the file system on the USB to NTFS, check "Quick Format," and then click "OK" to confirm.

However, because immediately formatting a disk would delete data, you'd better copy vital files and save them somewhere secure before attempting the next two techniques. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can make it simple if you need to recover data from formatted USB drive.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard should be your first port of call because it is not only an easy-to-use data recovery solution, but it is also free, so there is no financial risk involved. It can recover files from a formatted computer hard drive, external hard drives, SD card, memory stick, and other PC-compatible storage devices in addition to USB flash drives.

Use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover deleted or lost files easily and quickly.

Tutorials on how to recover lost, deleted, or formatted data from HDD, SSD, USB, SD card, or other storage media on Windows and Mac.

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