To format the 4TB drive for storage, you can simply connect it to your computer, open the Disk Management tool (Windows) or Disk Utility (Mac), select the drive, and choose the format option. Make sure to select the correct file system for your operating system (FAT32 for Windows, exFAT or APFS for Mac). This will erase all data on the drive, so ensure you've transferred everything to the new drive before formatting. If you're using the drive with a console like Xbox, you might need to use a different formatting process, but for general storage purposes, the above steps should suffice.
To use your Xbox drive on Windows 10, ensure it's formatted in a compatible file system, such as exFAT, FAT32, or NTFS, which are all supported by Windows. NTFS is the recommended choice, being the native file system of Windows.
If your WD MyPassport hard drive is in FAT32 format, you can directly convert it to NTFS within Windows, but if it is in exFAT format, you'll need to reformat it to NTFS.
Here we will provide two methods and tools to format the WD MyPassport to work on Windows 10 after using it on Xbox. You can choose according to your needs.
Method 1. Format the WD MyPassport Hard Drive to NTFS
To access Disk Management in Windows, press the Windows key + X and select Disk Management, or type "diskmgmt.msc" in the Run dialog box (Windows key + R) and press Enter. In the Disk Management window, you can view and manage your disks, including creating, formatting, and deleting partitions, as well as initializing and removing disks.
Step 1: To open Disk Management, open the Run window and type `diskmgmt.msc` to open it.
Step 2: Select the target drive and partition, right-click, and select "Format."
Step 3: To format a drive using NTFS, select the NTFS file system and check the box for "Perform a quick format." This will quickly erase the drive and prepare it for new data.
Method 2. Convert WD MyPassport Hard Drive to NTFS
For FAT32, you can use Qiling Disk Master Free to convert it to NTFS directly without losing data, using this easy-to-use professional formatting tool.
The following is a simple step-by-step guide to converting FAT32 to NTFS.
Step 1. Open Qiling Disk Master and right-click on the target FAT32 partition to select it.
Step 2. Select "Advanced," and then choose "FAT to NTFS."
Step 3. To complete the process, click "Proceed" and then "Apply". Wait for the process to finish.