force format external hard drive windows 10

Solutions to Fix ‘You need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it’ Error

Unplugging storage media without ejecting or while the drive is in use.

Probable Causes of the ‘You need to format the disk …’ Errorįollowing are some probable reasons that may lead to this error: In this article, we’ll discuss the probable causes behind this error and the solutions to fix it. You must understand that this issue is not restricted to external drives only and can also occur with internal drive of your system. Moreover, there is no surety of drive becoming usable after formatting.

Then hit the Start button to begin formatting your hard drive.When you connect an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or SD card, you may receive an error message, “ You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it.” In such a case, do not immediately format the drive as it may result in data loss. Quick Format – it’s suggested to leave this unticked if you’re not sure. Volume label – enter a name for your hard drive. Here are the options you need to specify before you can format the drive:ĭrive – choose your external hard drive from this dropdown menu.Īllocation unit size – leave it to the default values.

Double-click on the downloaded file and the tool will launch.Connect your external hard drive to your computer if it isn’t already.Head over to the FAT32Format website and download the tool to your computer.A great thing about this tool is that you don’t even need to install it on your computer – it just works straight out of the box. This method is ideal for those of you who don’t like running commands and prefer tools with a simple user interface. The FAT32Format utility has been around for a long time and it lets you quickly format any of your external hard drives to FAT32. Use FAT32Format To Format Your External Hard Drives

In most cases, it should only take a few minutes but it also depends on how large your external hard drive is. It’ll format the drive to FAT32 and let you know when it’s done.

Force format external hard drive windows 10