What is exfat disk format

How to Format Hard Drive With Windows 8 eHow

Step 1:

Back up all data on the drive you want to format. Tap the "Search" icon on the Windows Start screen and type "format disk" in the Search field. Select "Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions." The Disk Management utility opens.


Select "Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions." (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 2:

Click the drive that you want to format. Note that in most cases "Disk 0" is the drive with the Windows operating system on it. If this is the disk you want to format, you should reinstall Windows instead.


Select the drive you want formatted. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)




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Step 3:

Click the "Action Menu," select "All Tasks," and then click "Delete Volume..." Double-check that you have the right drive selected. The selected drive is shaded with diagonal stripes.


Select "Delete Volume." (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 4:

Click "Yes" at the warning that all data on the partition will be deleted. After a few seconds, the volume is deleted. The drive is now listed as unallocated in the Disk Management window.


Disk Management warns that all data on the partition will be lost. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 1:

Select the drive you are formatting if it isn\'t already selected. Click the "Action" menu, then "All Tasks" and "New Simple Volume." The New Simple Volume Wizard opens. Note that if the disk is part of an array, advanced users will have additional options like creating a new spanned volume, striped volume, mirrored volume or RAID-5 volume.


Create a New Simple Volume (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 2:

Click the "Next" button in the New Simple Volume Wizard so you can specify your preferences.


The New Simple Volume Wizard opens. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 3:

Specify how much space should be used in the new volume by entering a value in the text field. If you are creating only one volume or partition in the drive, this number should be the same as the maximum disk space displayed above. Click "Next."


Specify the volume size. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 4:

Select a drive letter that you would prefer the computer to use for this drive. If you don\'t want a letter assigned, click the "Do Not Assign a Drive Letter or Drive Path" option. Advanced users may also prefer to mount the drive in an empty NTFS folder. Click "Next."


Specify a drive letter. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 5:

Select a file system for the volume. Your options are ExFAT or NTFS. Use ExFAT if you\'re going to share files with a Mac computer; otherwise, NTFS is the better choice. Unlike its predecessors, ExFAT can support the same volume sizes as NTFS -- up to 256TB. However, it\'s not as robust as NTFS and doesn\'t support file system-level encryption and built-in compression. Mac computer\'s can\'t write files to an NTFS drive.


Select a file system. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 6:

Select the "Perform a Quick Format" option if the drive doesn\'t contain any private information, or if you\'re using the drive for your personal use. A Quick Format takes only a few seconds, but the data it leaves behind can be easily recovered by anyone with the right software. A full format takes much longer but it does erase every byte of data. Select the "Enable File and Folder Compression" option if desired. Type a name for the volume and click "Next."


Change the volume label if desired. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 7:

Click "Finish" after reviewing the settings that were applied to the new volume. If you want to change anything, click the "Back" button and format the drive again.


Close the New Simple Volume Wizard by clicking "Finish." (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)



Step 8:

Select another drive or volume to format, or exit the Disk Management utility.










Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html





Tips & Warnings

• If you\'re formatting a drive to give to someone else, or if you\'re disposing of a drive that has sensitive information on it, you should always deselect the Quick Format option so Windows can perform a full format. However, even a full format may not make the data completely unrecoverable. The only way to be 100 percent certain that data can\'t be recovered is to destroy the drive.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html



References:

Microsoft Windows: Create and Format a Hard Disk Partition

• Microsoft Developer Network: File System Functionality Comparison



• Microsoft Support: Default Cluster Size for NTFS, FAT, and exFAT



• Apple Support: Disk Utility 12.x: Format a Disk for Windows Computers

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html

PC & MAC use different file systems.
It sounds like your hard disk is formatted as NTFS. NTFS will allow a MAC to read from the disk, but not write to it. You need to re-format it using FAT32 (if your MAC is older) or exFAT(if your MAC is fairly new)..
FAT32 will allow a maximum partition size of 2TB(when formatted from a MAC) and a maximum single file size of 4GB.
exFAT will allow pretty much any file size.
NB:Formatting a hard drive DELETES ALL FILES on the hard drive, so backup whatever is important before you re-format it.
1. Open Applications > Utilities
2. Choose you hard drive from the list on the left
3. Choose the "Erase" tab and choose your desired format (FAT32/exFAT)
4. Type in a new name..Click "Erase"

It must be formatted to FAT32 or ExFAT format. TV cannot read NTFS format.

Open a command prompt. Start, Run, type cmd <enter>
If the drive you want to format is F: for example type
format F: /FS:FAT32

Your flashdrive/memory card must be formatted with the exFAT file system. To do this on xp follow these steps: WARNING: - Backup all your data before formatting. - Some cameras may NOT be compatible with the exFAT file system. - Devices formatted using exFAT can NOT be read by any version of Windows prior to Windows XP.
1. Download this Windows update to obtain the exFAT Driver Update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704 2.Right click on the device in My Computer and press format. 3. Select the exFAT file system. 4. Press Start 5. When the message box comes up asking if you really want to format your device and lose everything on it, press ok.
And that should be it.

if you format the drive you will loose all the data on the drive. save the file on a different computer before you format it. later you can transfer them back. (please rate me if this helps Thank you)

First, your Windows XP must be either SP2 or SP3, and then you must add a patch to it. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704/en-us that is KB955794 for the patch

normally you would format to fat32 that will be compatable with most systems ..... exfat is used only for linux ... but linux can also use fat32 and NTFS .... microsoft can't read exfat without a special program ... you can use NTFS if you hve a very large USB drive ...but fat32 will be compatable with the most systems ...

check the disk format of the ipod,is it exFAT. exFAT is the new format for windows but it doesnt support most drives made before win 7 and vista,so try formatting in FAT32 on a win XP ,if not possible then try it on a MAC machine.MAC formats all support all types of ipods.