Overwrite exFAT format of 8TB external drive with NTFS?


  1. Posts : 175
    Windows 10 Version 6.2 (Build 9200) Home, 64bit
       #1

    Overwrite exFAT format of 8TB external drive with NTFS?


    I have an external WD 8TB My Book: My Book - External Hard Drive | Western Digital (WD)

    It is formated in exFat. Could I do a quick format with NTFS? Would this cause any drawbacks?
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  2. Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    It won't cause any drawbacks other than erasing everything that is currently on the drive. I would start with the clean command in diskpart. Just make sure you have the correct drive selected!
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  3. Posts : 175
    Windows 10 Version 6.2 (Build 9200) Home, 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thank you!

    Unfortunately I do not have any idea of diskpart. Why is it better to use that one, why not the Win partition manager? The clean command? To delete the content of the drive? Anf after formating? Why?

    Is there an adavantage of using NTFS? There are some programs (indexing) obviously running much faster with NTFS.

    Many thanks again
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  4. Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    The clean command just resets everything so nothing left behind would interfere with it in the future. You run it from a command prompt (admin) or "run as Administrator" command prompt. Then:

    Diskpart
    List disk
    Select disk # -replace # with the actual number of the 8tb drive
    Clean - this will erase the selected disk
    Convert gpt
    Create part pri
    Format fs=ntfs quick
    Assign
    Exit
    Exit
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  5. Posts : 175
    Windows 10 Version 6.2 (Build 9200) Home, 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thank you very much!

    I am afraid I have any idea of such commands and how to serve that command prompt, very sorry.
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  6. Posts : 15,485
    Windows10
       #6

    Main difference between exfat and ntfs is that exfat drives can be read on a mac as well. If you do not need that functionality, ntfs is generally more efficient.
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  7. Posts : 175
    Windows 10 Version 6.2 (Build 9200) Home, 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Yes, I do not need the drive for Mac, for Win only.

    ntfs is generally more efficient
    What does it do better?
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