How To Change The Format Of A Hard Drive

1. How To Format A Laptop Hard Drive
2. How To Format New Hard Drive Pc
3. How To Change The Format Of A Hard Drive On Mac
4. How To Change Hard Drive Windows 10
5. Format Computer Hard Drive

This page explains what is Bitlocker partition, why do you need to format BitLocker drive and how to format a BitLocker drive, USB, or SD card with ease on Windows 10/8/7 computers.

1. Tick 'Quick Format' on the format window, set the file system (NTFS for an internal hard drive, FAT32 for USB/SD smaller than 32GB, exFAT for big external drive) and click 'Start'. Wait for the process to complete, you can now use it as a normal data drive again.
2. In this video I'll show you how to install a new hard drive in your computer and then format it. I'll be using Windows 10, but this is the same.
3. Format: It is the process of preparing a partition for data storage by deleting all the data on it and set up a file system for the drive. You will need to format a hard drive in some specific situations like when your hard drive has a RAW file system, Windows reports 'disk not formatted', or your hard drive is infected by a virus.

Here is quick navigation of the content on this page, you can use it to find fixes for this issue immediately:

How To Format A Laptop Hard Drive

BitLocker Drive Overview

A drive can be used on any type of computer - PC or Mac. But in order for the computer and drive to communicate with one another, the drive has to be formatted with the correct file system. This article explains about file systems and provides instruction to format a drive on Windows and Mac. Formatted external hard drive without backup and want to recover the data? Try Recoverit data recovery: Tip:😎 Leave comments.

Before getting to know how to format Bitlocker drive, you may first need to know:

1. 1. What is BitLocker?
2. 2. What can BitLocker drive do?

According to Wikipedia, 'BitLocker is a volume encryption feature included in all Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. It's designed to protect data by providing encryption for an entire volume.'

When enabling BitLocker on a hard disk, USB flash drive, or SD card on your computer, Microsoft Windows encodes the files and folders stored on the device so that only the permitted users can access the data.

Can I Format a BitLocker Encrypted Hard Drive

How to download microsoft word on my pc. 'Several days ago, I got a Bitlocker encrypted external hard drive. I want to remove BitLocker to decrypt the hard drive, but the problem is that I don't know the password nor recovery key.

Can I format the BitLocker drive and make it usable again?'

A: Yes. When you enabled or even locked BitLocker drive, USB, SD card, you can format it on your own.

In most cases, you can easily format or even wipe a hard drive. However, if the hard drive or USB is encrypted with Windows BitLocker, things become a bit more complex.

If you are trying to format the BitLocker drive, follow through the following parts to restore your drive back to a normal state:

1. #1. Check BitLocker Drive State - Locked or Unlocked
2. #3. Format BitLocker Drive with 4 Methods

Part 1. Check BitLocker Drive State - Is The Drive Locked or Unlocked

Before you start, open Windows File Explorer to check the state of your BitLocker encrypted drive first:

Case 1. BitLocker drive is locked

If your BitLocker drive or USB is encrypted with a golden lock icon, it means that your drive is currently locked. You'll have to unlock it first before formatting.

Case 2. BitLocker drive is unlocked

If your BitLocker drive is unlocked with a blue lock icon, it means that your drive data is currently visible and editable. You can also access and even make changes to the saved files, even including the drive.

In other words, when your BitLocker drive is unlocked, you can directly jump to Part 3 and apply one method to format the drive immediately.

How To Format New Hard Drive Pc

IMPORTANT: If you have vital data saved on the BitLocker hard drive or external USB, SD card, unlock the drive, and back up data to another secure location first.

Part 2. Unlock BitLocker Drive Before Formatting

Note that when your drive is encrypted by BitLocker password, you must unlock it first. Once the BitLocker drive is locked, Windows will change the file system parameters, directory entries, and other important parameters of the disk.

As a result, except for Windows itself, no other software can recognize and access the drive. In this part, you'll learn two ways to unlock the BitLocker hard drive or USB, SD:

Way 1. Unlock BitLocker Drive with Password

Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer and locate the BitLocker encrypted drive.

Step 2. Double-click the BitLocker drive or external drive, enter your password in the pop-up window.

Step 3. And click 'Unlock' to unlock the drive.

Now, you can access the drive and manage everything in the BitLocker drive without any problem.

Way 2. Run Clean Command to Clear BitLocker Encryption (without Password)

If you have forgotten the recovery key or password for the BitLocker drive, you can try the clean command in DiskPart to remove the encryption.

We suggest you try every means to find your password and unlock the drive. As this operation will delete the partition and data on the BitLocker drive.

Do it carefully:

Step 1. Type cmd in Windows Search and right-click on Command Prompt and select 'Run as administrator'.

Step 2. Type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 3. Type the following commands and hit Enter each time:

• list disk
• select disk *
• list partition
• select partition * (Replace * with the partition label of your BitLocker drive or USB)
• delete partition overrride

Step 4. Type exit to close diskpart window.

Now, you can create a new partition on the unallocated space and format it to NTFS for saving data again.

Way 3. Turn to 1-0n-1 Remote Assistance Service Provided by EaseUS

Note that, EaseUS support team also recently provide you with a 1 on 1 remote assistance service. If you are having trouble in unlocking the BitLocker drive, you may turn to our support team for help.

How To Change The Format Of A Hard Drive On Mac

Part 3. Format BitLocker Drive on Windows 10/8/7 (4 Methods)

This part shows you how to format the Bitlocker encrypted hard drive using the following 4 tools:

1. 1. EaseUS partition tool (easiest)
2. 2. Windows File Explorer (Beginners)
3. 3. Disk Management (Experienced Users)
4. 4. CMD Format Command (Professionals)

Fix 1. Format BitLocker Encrypted Drive Using EaseUS Partition Tool

EaseUS partition tool is the best disk formatting tool that you can try to format the hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, and more to various file systems like FAT32, NTFS, FAT, etc. All levels of Windows users can apply it to manage partitions on an internal hard drive or external storage devices.

It is helpful even the drive, or memory card is encrypted with BitLocker. Now, let's see how to format BitLocker drive after unlocking it:

Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.

Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.

Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.

Fix 2. Format with File Explorer

Step 1. Connect your BitLocker drive to PC if it's an external storage device.

Step 2. Open Windows File Explorer and right-click on the BitLocker drive, select 'Format'.

Step 3. Tick 'Quick Format' on the format window, set the file system (NTFS for an internal hard drive, FAT32 for USB/SD smaller than 32GB, exFAT for big external drive) and click 'Start'.

Slotland no deposit bonus codes. Wait for the process to complete, you can now use it as a normal data drive again.

Fix 3. Format BitLocker Encrypted Drive Using Disk Management

Step 1. Type Control Panel in the search box. And click 'Control Panel'.

Step 2. Click 'Administrative Tools' > 'Computer Management' > 'Disk Management'.

Step 3. Right-click on the drive or partition and click on 'Format'.

Step 4. Select the file system and set the cluster size.

Step 5. Click 'OK' to format the BitLocker encrypted disk, USB flash drive, or SD card.

Fix 4. Format BitLocker Drive in DiskPart with Format Command

Step 1. Type cmd in the Search box, right-click Command Prompt, and select 'Run as administrator'.

Step 2. Type diskpart and hit Enter. Tweak photos 2 3 – batch image editing made easy.

Step 3. Type the following commands and hit Enter each time to format BitLocker drive:

• list disk
• select disk *
• list volume
• select volume *
• format fs=ntfs quick

Step 4. When DiskPart tells the format has completed, type exit and hit enter to close DiskPart.

Now, you can save files to the drive again.

Bonus Tip 1: How to Remove BitLocker from Hard Drive/USB/SD Card

If you have turned on Bitlocker for a drive on your computer, you can normally write data to and read data from it. But when you want to install Windows, you will see 'Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Bitlocker drive encryption is enabled.' error message.

To resolve this issue, you can turn off Bitlocker and decrypt the drive by following the steps below:

Note that if your BitLocker drive is currently locked, use your password to unlock it first.

How to view zip files in dropbox. Step 1. Go to Control Panel on your computer. Click on 'BitLocker Drive Encryption'.

Step 2. Find the Bitlocker encrypted drive and choose 'Turn Off BitLocker' to decrypt the hard drive, USB flash drive, or SD card. Wait for the decrypting to finish.

Bonus Tip 2: Recover Files from Formatted BitLocker Encrypted Drive

Currently, there is no third-party software or solution on the market that can recover files from formatted BitLocker encrypted hard drive. But you can recover files from a formatted hard drive that is not encrypted with a data recovery software, like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.

If you fail to back up data but directly formatted the BitLocker drive, EaseUS data recovery software is your best chance. This top-notch file recovery tool enables you to recover lost and deleted, even permanently deleted files from HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, pen drive, SD card, and external hard drives without effort.

Let's see how to recover data after formatting BitLocker drive:

Step 1. Choose the partition.

Launch EaseUS formatted data recovery software after the installation. Choose the hard drive partition which you've accidentally formatted. Click 'Scan'.

Step 2. Select wanted files.

After the scanning process, you can click 'Filter' to filter a specific file type to quickly find wanted files.

Step 3. Recover files to a secure location.

Select the data files you wish to recover. Click 'Recover'. Choose a location to store the files and click 'OK'.

Conclusion

On this page, we explained that is BitLocker encryption and the complete process of removing or formatting BitLocker drive from your PC.

To protect your data security, we highly suggest you first unlock the drive, back up data, and then format the BitLocker drive, USB, or SD card with ease.

For the easiest formatting way, either EaseUS Partition Master or Windows File Explorer Formatting can both help.

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If you buy an external drive—such as one of our recommended desktop hard drives, portable hard drives, or USB 3.0 flash drives—you may need to reformat it to work with your operating system of choice, since different operating systems use different file systems to process data.

Although it's true that any drive is compatible with both Windows and macOS, most drives come preformatted for Windows out of the box. If you use Windows, chances are good that you won't need to reformat your external hard drive—unless you buy it secondhand, or you plan on switching between operating systems, your drive should come ready to use. If you use a Mac, the likelihood that you'll have to reformat the drive is higher. But fear not: The process is simple.

How To Change Hard Drive Windows 10

Choosing the right format for your drive

Non-Linux computers can use four main file systems: NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. So what do those four file systems mean, and which one is right for you?

• If you plan to use your drive for File History backups on a Windows computer, and you use only Windows, stick to NTFS (New Technology File System). NTFS is native to Windows, and most hard drives are preformatted for this file system. macOS and Linux, however, can only read files stored on such a drive; they cannot write to an NTFS-formatted drive. NTFS has huge file and partition size limits that you won't hit; that makes it a better choice than FAT32, which has a 4 GB size limit per file. Many backup archives and video files are larger than 4 GB.
• If you plan to use your drive for Time Machine backups on a Mac, and you use only macOS, use HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus, or macOS Extended). A drive formatted this way will not mount on a Windows computer without additional software. Like NTFS, the HFS+ file system has file and partition size limits that are much bigger and more suitable for modern use than those of FAT32.
• FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32) is an older file system that both Windows machines and Macs still support. FAT32 was introduced in Windows 95 in 1997, but it remains useful because nearly every system can use it. Unfortunately, it isn't any good for storing movies and other large files: FAT32 has a size limit of 4 GB per file, so your files have to be small.
• If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Mac and Windows computers, exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) is the best option, although it doesn't work with File History or Time Machine. exFAT works on both macOS and Windows, and it doesn't have the file size limit that FAT32 does, so you'll be able to back up movies and other large files.
• If you want to use a single external hard drive to back up both File History and Time Machine, you can partition it so that some of the drive is NTFS and some is HFS+. First, partition the drive using Disk Utility with macOS, and (using our walkthrough below) format one part as HFS+ and the other as FAT32; then, plug the drive into Windows and reformat the FAT32 portion as NTFS. Now your computer will see your single drive as multiple, smaller drives. Make sure to leave plenty of room for future backups on both partitions. It's possible, but tricky, to change the size of a partition later on in Windows and macOS; we recommend backing up the data on your drive before attempting the task, since it's possible to wipe your drive doing this.

Now that you've figured out those differences, it's time to reformat your hard drive. Reformatting will delete all the data stored on the drive, so if you need to reformat, do so as soon as you buy the drive. If you already have data stored on the drive, back that data up elsewhere, reformat the drive, and then put your data back on the drive.

Reformatting your drive in Windows

Format Computer Hard Drive

To reformat a drive on Windows:

1. Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu.
3. Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under Volume label, and make sure the Quick Format box is checked.
4. Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

When you've completed the process, you can open the external drive in Windows Explorer.

Reformatting your drive in macOS

To reformat your drive for macOS:

1. Plug in the drive and open the Finder.
2. Click the Go menu, select Utilities from the drop-down menu, and open Disk Utility.
3. Choose your external drive from the left sidebar, and click Erase.
4. Give your drive a name and select the file system you want from the Format drop-down.
5. Click Erase, and the system will reformat your drive.

When you've completed the process, you can open the external drive by clicking on the drive's icon on the desktop of your Mac.

Note: Using the formatting options above on a drive that has data on it may not be enough to prevent some of that data from being recoverable. If you're formatting a drive in order to give it away, sell it, or recycle it, make sure to securely erase the drive to prevent data recovery.

Further reading

• How to Back Up Your Computer

  by Thorin Klosowski

  After hundreds of hours researching the best local storage and online backup services, we've put together a guide to backing up your Mac or Windows computer.