# Should I reformat my external hard drive?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567 "2006-01-11T22:19:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567/1 "2006-01-11T22:19:49Z")

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I just purchased a new [external hard drive](http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Western-Digital-External-Hard-Drive-WDXUB800BBNN-/sem/rpsm/oid/99810/catOid/-12973/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do) from Circuit City. It comes peformated in FAT 32. Should I reformat it to NTFS?

My computer runs WinXPHome/SP2. The external drive will initially be used to hold data while I do a clean reinstallation of the OS. After the OS is reinstalled, updated, and running securely, I hope to use the new drive as a set-it-and-forget-it backup. The only time I can imagine transporting this drive to another computer is to bring some huge file to my work computer. The work computer runs WinXPPro/SP2, so NTFS should still work.

So basically, should I go with NTFS or leave it FAT32?

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**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567/2 "2006-01-11T22:44:07Z")

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“Microsoft highly recommends you choose NTFS.”

Here is a page that discusses the issues. I’d go with NTFS.

[http://www.thundercloud.net/information-avenue/ntfs-vs-fat32/](http://www.thundercloud.net/information-avenue/ntfs-vs-fat32/)

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567/3 "2006-01-11T23:15:53Z")

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While many benefits are negligible for casual use, you should still reformat it if it is new. A quick format should be just that.

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**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567/4 "2006-01-11T23:53:14Z")

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Yeah, quick format takes about 3 seconds; regular NTFS format takes closer to an hour.

As for file system type: if you want to ever access the drive using Windows 98 or ME, then stick with FAT32. If you don’t care about that, go with NTFS.

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**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-reformat-my-external-hard-drive/339567/5 "2006-01-12T00:39:00Z")

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If you work with large files at all (say DVD image .iso) you’ll definitely want NTFS. One of the limitations of FAT32 is a maximum, single file size of 4GB.