Does this drive need to be formatted?
1029923
Yes. It's blank. Usually installation of an OS (operating system like Windows, Linux, OSx) will format the drive. Different OS's may use different format parameters so the drive will work in many different computers and OS's.
1029924
with any hard drive, it depends on what you're going to be using it on, or with what OS. Usually you will need to format it.
1029925
I installed Windows Vista on this drive, and did not have to separately format it. I just followed the instructions to install Windows, and the installation wizard did the rest. Whether or not the install application formatted the drive before actually doing the install of Windows, I don't know, and it didn't concern me one way or the other.
1452770
This drive is not formatted. It is a standard drive and has worked great on my MacBook Pro, but who knew about formatting? Genius Bar did that for me, no charge.
62531
the HDD is brand new in sealed bag,. not sure what file system is formatted with. but you can format it with any file system.
2184714
I did not format the drive as it was from an older computer and I needed the files from it. If it was a new drive you may need to format it. Most new ones are formatted to use with a Windows computer. I have a Mac and they pretty much will read anything. If it was a new drive I would format it just to make sure it worked with my computer, Mac or PC.
534113
Yes it is formatted in Fat 32 but you can reformat to exFAT or NTFS if you would like.
1118388
Try This: Go to Control Panel-> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management -> Select the F: Drive by click it (If F: Drive is shown, otherwise the drive is not good)-> Click "Action" MENU -> Move mouse to "All Tasks" and Select "Format"
1137406
It came formatted in FAT32, I reformatted it to NTFS as I use large image files on it and can not use FAT32 due to the file size limitation of 4GB for a single file.
1841457
You didn't say if the drive was formatted with HPFS or NTFS or FAT32. You also didn't say whether Windows prompted to format the drive when you plugged it in. FAT32 is compatible with both Mac and PC so I would recommend converting to that file system. The only caveat is that the largest file size is 4GB in FAT32. Another thing to check is whether enough power is being provided to the drive through the USB port of what I assume to be a laptop PC. You may need to use a powered USB hub.
1923240
Shouldn't auto format but would most likely give you the option to format/wipe both drives as WHS partitions are not supported.
289965
You sure can, there is no need to format the drives before installing. I bought this to take my two drives from an old desktop that had died, each that had plenty of data, and had it up and running with my new laptop in no time at all with full access to all of the old data. I've now used this with both Windows XP and Windows 8 without any issues, and have since swapped in a new drive from another old desktop.
1211444
No, use your manufacture drive tool , third party software or simply reformat existing drive
293116
If your using it as a secondary drive Windows will reformat it for you. I reformatted mine several times.
967865
Is there any software on the internal memory that will be erased if I format the drive?
504748
Yes it will go through the USB or eSATA (preferred) You just format the drive.
747540
I don't know. I am unsure if the adapter I had works properly. Your system sees something, but if you reformat, you will lose the info on the drive.
2010168
I believe formatting of the flash drive shall remove everything from it. So its good to take a backup of the Sandisk software on your HDD. Hope this helps.
1424646
probably if you can get it work at all! Every restart I did resulted in it loosing the date and needing reformat (that was two new drives! both same problem).