reformatting external hard drive

My computer runs WinXP SP3. I have instructions (from this newsgroup a
couple years ago) for reformatting an external hard drive. The instructions
include going to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Disk Management,
etc.

However, I noticed today when I plugged in my new 320GB external hard drive
that right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer brought up a menu that
included Format. Could I just click on Format and proceed? Will that
accomplish the same thing as going through Control Panel?

What I want to do is reformat from FAT32 to NTFS, so I can do a full backup
in a single file instead of in multiple files. I have no data on the
drive--although the manufacturer seems to have loaded a bunch of programs I
don't want.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Yes, you can do it that way. Just select NTFS.
"Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote in message
...
My computer runs WinXP SP3. I have instructions (from this newsgroup a
couple years ago) for reformatting an external hard drive. The
instructions include going to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Disk
Management, etc.

However, I noticed today when I plugged in my new 320GB external hard
drive that right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer brought up a
menu that included Format. Could I just click on Format and proceed? Will
that accomplish the same thing as going through Control Panel?

What I want to do is reformat from FAT32 to NTFS, so I can do a full
backup in a single file instead of in multiple files. I have no data on
the drive--although the manufacturer seems to have loaded a bunch of
programs I don't want.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Yes, you can do it that way. Just select NTFS.
"Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote in message
...
My computer runs WinXP SP3. I have instructions (from this newsgroup a
couple years ago) for reformatting an external hard drive. The
instructions include going to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Disk
Management, etc.

However, I noticed today when I plugged in my new 320GB external hard
drive that right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer brought up a
menu that included Format. Could I just click on Format and proceed? Will
that accomplish the same thing as going through Control Panel?

What I want to do is reformat from FAT32 to NTFS, so I can do a full
backup in a single file instead of in multiple files. I have no data on
the drive--although the manufacturer seems to have loaded a bunch of
programs I don't want.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Thank you, Rich! I did it, and it worked fine.

Jo-Anne

"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
Yes, you can do it that way. Just select NTFS.
"Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote in message
...
My computer runs WinXP SP3. I have instructions (from this newsgroup a
couple years ago) for reformatting an external hard drive. The
instructions include going to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Disk
Management, etc.

However, I noticed today when I plugged in my new 320GB external hard
drive that right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer brought up a
menu that included Format. Could I just click on Format and proceed? Will
that accomplish the same thing as going through Control Panel?

What I want to do is reformat from FAT32 to NTFS, so I can do a full
backup in a single file instead of in multiple files. I have no data on
the drive--although the manufacturer seems to have loaded a bunch of
programs I don't want.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Thank you, Rich! I did it, and it worked fine.

Jo-Anne

"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
Yes, you can do it that way. Just select NTFS.
"Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote in message
...
My computer runs WinXP SP3. I have instructions (from this newsgroup a
couple years ago) for reformatting an external hard drive. The
instructions include going to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Disk
Management, etc.

However, I noticed today when I plugged in my new 320GB external hard
drive that right-clicking on the drive in Windows Explorer brought up a
menu that included Format. Could I just click on Format and proceed? Will
that accomplish the same thing as going through Control Panel?

What I want to do is reformat from FAT32 to NTFS, so I can do a full
backup in a single file instead of in multiple files. I have no data on
the drive--although the manufacturer seems to have loaded a bunch of
programs I don't want.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne