You can format your external hard drive from either the PC or Mac. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for OS X’s Time Machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through Mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible with “Time Machine Backups”.

• Initialize Hard Drive Windows 10
• Initialize External Hard Drive Windows 10

As I've said before, slowing down is not an option for me. At one point, I realized that there were plenty of files on my Mac that I didn't need any more, but too many to delete individually. In other cases, your Mac can be experiencing some major malfunctions: constant crashing, locked controls, slow boot times, missing files, etc. A partition defines an area of the drive to use for storing data. The partition uses a file system (for example, HFS+, ex-FAT, NTFS, and so on). Initialize a drive. Mac OSX detects a drive that needs to be initialized and automatically prompts you to initialize the drive. If you are prompted to initialize the drive, click Initialize.

This answer explains how to initialize or write a signature to a secondary hard drive or Solid State Drive (SSD) in Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP.END Important: This article is for installing a secondary hard drive with the Windows. If you are installing your WD internal hard drive as the primary or only hard drive in your system, Windows will format and initilize the drive as part of the Operating System's installation. You will need to contact or your system manufactuer for assistance installing your OS. Operating System Instructions Windows 8 and Windows 10 (instructions will appear below this table) Windows 7 (instructions will appear below this table) Windows Vista (instructions will appear below this table) Windows XP (instructions will appear below this table). Note: This procedure is for adding a new blank hard drive to your computer, or a drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to using our Data LifeGuard Diagnostics software. Occasionally, a hard drive may not be detected by a computer running Windows 8. If that is the case, you may need to initialize (write a signature to) the drive.

The drive could be a newly purchased internal drive or an internal/external drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to. If your drive is not detected by Windows 8 when you check File Explorer, follow the steps below. Right-click on the Start Screen icon on the lower left corner of the screen. Left-click on Disk Management.

Usually, the Initialize Disk Wizard will appear automatically when you open Disk Management. If you have more than one blank drive that needs to be initialized it will list them. Make sure that there is a check in the box of the drive that needs to be initialized and then left-click on the Ok button. If the wizard does show up, go to step 5.

If the wizard does not show up, please see the note and additional images directly below. Critical: For the best compatibility between computers we recommend using the MBR (Master Boot Record) option and not the GPT (GUID Partition Table), unless a drive larger than 2.2TB is used. Also, if the Initialize Disk wizard is not seen then you will need to start the initialization on your own. The drive that needs to be initialized should have a little circle with a red arrow pointing down like in the image below.

When you find it, right-click on the red arrow and choose Initialize Disk. The drive is now initialized. The disk should have a black bar and say that it is Unallocated. You should now be able to create a partition and format the hard drive.

For assistance doing this please see. Note: This procedure is for adding a new blank hard drive to your computer, or a drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to using our Data LifeGuard Diagnostics software. Occasionally, a hard drive may not be detected by a computer running Windows 7. If that is the case, you may need to initialize (write a signature to) the drive. The drive could be a newly purchased internal drive or an internal/external drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to. If your drive is not detected by Windows 7 when you check Computer or Windows Explorer, follow the steps below. Right-click on the Computer icon on the desktop or in the Start Menu.

Left-click on Manage. Left-click on Disk Management. Usually, the Initialize Disk Wizard will appear automatically when you open Disk Management. If you have more than one blank drive that needs to be initialized it will list them. Make sure that there is a check in the box of the drive that needs to be initialized and then left-click on the Ok button.

If the wizard does show up, go to step 5. If the wizard does not show up, please see the note and additional images directly below. Critical: For the best compatibility between computers we recommend using the MBR (Master Boot Record) option and not the GPT (GUID Partition Table). Also, if the Initialize Disk wizard is not seen then you will need to start the initialization on your own. The drive that needs to be initialized should have a little circle with a red arrow pointing down like in the image below. When you find it.

Right-click on the red arrow and choose Initialize Disk. The drive is now initialized. The disk should have a black bar and say that it is Unallocated.

You should now be able to create a partition and format the hard drive. For assistance doing this please see. Note: This procedure is for adding a new blank hard drive to your computer, or a drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to using our Data LifeGuard Diagnostics software.

Occasionally, a hard drive may not be detected by a computer running Windows Vista. If that is the case, you may need to initialize (write a signature to) the drive.

Initialize Hard Drive Windows 10

The drive could be a newly purchased internal drive or an internal/external drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to. If your drive is not detected by Windows Vista when you check Computer or Windows Explorer, follow the steps below. Right-click on the Computer icon on the desktop or in the Start Menu.

Left-click on Manage. Left-click on Disk Management. Usually, the Initialize Disk wizard will appear automatically when you open Disk Management. If you have more than one blank drive that needs to be initialized it will list them. Make sure that there is a check in the box of the drive that needs to be initialized and then left-click on the Ok button. If the wizard does show up, go to step 5.

If the wizard does not show up, please see the Note and additional images directly below Critical: For the best compatibility between computers we recommend using the MBR (Master Boot Record) option and not the GPT(GUID Partition Table). Note: If you do not see the Initialize Disk wizard. Then you will need to start the initialization on your own. The drive that needs to be initialized should have a little circle with a red arrow pointing down like in the image below.

Initialize External Hard Drive Windows 10

When you find it. Right-click on the little red arrow choose Initialize Disk. The drive is now initialized.

The disk should have a black bar and say that it is Unallocated. You should now be able to create a partition and format the hard drive. For instructions on how to create and format a partition, please see. Note: This procedure is for adding a new blank hard drive to your computer, or a drive that you have Erased, or Write Zero's to using our Data LifeGuard Diagnostics software. Occasionally, a hard drive may not be detected by a computer running Windows XP.

If that is the case, you may need to initialize (write a signature to) the drive. The drive could be a newly purchased internal drive or an internal/external drive that you have Erased, or Write Zeros to. If your drive is not detected by Windows XP when you check My Computer or Windows Explorer, follow the steps below. Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop or in the Start Menu. Left-click on Manage. Left-click on Disk Management.

Usually, the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard will appear automatically when you open Disk Management. If the wizard does show up, go to step 5. If the wizard does not show up, please see the Note and additional images directly below. Note: If you do not see the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard.

Then you will need to start the initialization on your own. The drive that needs to be initialized should have a little red circle with a white dash in like the image below.

When you find it. Right-click on the little red circle with the white dash and choose Initialize Disk. This is where you select what drives you want to initialize. If you have more than one blank drive that needs to be initialized it will list them. Make sure that there is a check in the box of the drive that needs to be initialized and then left-click on the Next button.

This windows just gives an overview of what is going to be done to the disk according to what you chose in the previous screens. Left-click on Finish. The drive is now initialized.

The disk should have a black bar and say that it is unallocated. You should now be able to create a partition and format the hard drive. For assistance doing this please see. In case the answer did not answer your question, you can always visit the for help from WD users.