How should I format my external Western Digital?

I have some data on my external Western Digital drive—it’s a 1TB Samsung T7, actually—maybe around 65-70GB of files total. I've used it a few times now, but looking back at the very first time I set it up, I didn't even realize it was formatted as FAT32. My files were all moved over onto that format by a technician at a local repair shop, and now I really want to switch it over to NTFS. Wouldn't that be much easier? I want to be able to select large files, say 5-10GB at a time, and just let them transfer without any issues... otherwise, I feel like I'm constantly running back and forth to my laptop just to move things in tiny 4GB chunks. It's quite tedious, isn't it?
So, I suppose what I am wondering is: would it be perfectly safe for the Western Digital drive to undergo a format from FAT32 to NTFS right now? Naturally, I would move all the data off the drive before doing anything.

stormygull86 said:I'm wondering if it's safe to format my Western Digital drive from FAT32 over to NTFS right now? Obviously, I'd move all the data off first.

Yeah. You can format a Western Digital drive however you want, any format you feel like. It’s not some heavy or destructive process—it basically takes less than a minute.

The only real concern is when you're trying to wipe data securely, like using software to overwrite everything multiple times so nobody can recover what you deleted... but that's not what we're talking about here.

The only real downside is you might lose access to files on older gear, like some smart TVs or old media players, that don't play nice with NTFS.
Otherwise, if you're on Windows, you can actually jump into the Command Prompt as an admin and convert it without wiping anything by using this command:
convert H: / fs:ntfs
(just swap out the drive letter—so instead of H:, use whatever yours is).

wiredotter14 said:Yes. You can format an HDD as many times as you want using whatever format you prefer; it isn't a demanding or harmful process, and it essentially takes less than a minute.

It is a different matter entirely when you are trying to destroy data securely—you know, using a program that overwrites and erases multiple times specifically to prevent someone from recovering deleted files... but that isn't what we are discussing here.

But does it really matter whether I use Disk Management or just go into "my Computer," right-click, and select format?
Because in Disk Management, when I try to format, the "allocation unit size" is set to default, whereas in "my Computer" it defaults to 4096. How am I even supposed to select those other settings? How do I leave the unit size as default? And should I be using Disk Management or "my Computer"? :/.
CLICK The first two images are from "my Computer," while the last one is from Disk Management.

wearymason4 said:The only downside is losing access to data on older devices, such as certain TVs or similar hardware, that might not support NTFS.
Otherwise, within Windows, you can actually do this via the Command Prompt as an Administrator without losing any data by using the command
convert H: / fs:ntfs
(just use your specific drive letter, since H: is merely an example).

Actually, no... I think I'd rather just move my data somewhere else and do it the standard way... properly 🙂.

It’s easier just using my Computer—right-click and you’re done formatting. You only really need Disk Management if you’re dealing with multiple partitions and trying to merge or split them up.

Anyway, most TVs have supported NTFS for at least the last 10 or 15 years.

The only thing that won't work with NTFS is a Macbook. For those, you need exFAT, which works on Windows and MacOS and Android, but honestly, TVs rarely pick that up.

wiredotter14 said:Actually, most TVs have supported NTFS for like 10 or 15 years now.

I guess I was wrong, too. I thought that was the case, but apparently you need an MS license for NTFS, so even some newer TVs don't support it:

View on reddit

😒

wiredotter14 said:It’s actually much simpler just using my Computer or This PC—you just right-click and format from there. You really only need to mess with Disk Management if you're dealing with multiple partitions and want to merge or split them up.

By the way, most TVs have supported NTFS for at least the last 10 or 15 years now.

The only real issue is that Macbook devices don't support NTFS natively; for those, you'll want to use exFAT, which works on Windows, MacOS, and Android, though I've found that it rarely plays nice with TVs and similar hardware.

And regarding this unit size field... should I just leave it at 4096 or go with the default allocation size?

Set it to 4096, though honestly, it doesn't really matter. The system is just going to pick 4096 by default anyway. This number basically dictates the cluster size on the drive in bytes. If you're saving a file smaller than 4 KB, it’s still going to hog 4 KB of space because that's the minimum cluster size. If you've got something like a 7 KB file, it’ll grab 8 KB—two clusters, to be precise. That's why you see that gap between actual file size and the size on disk.

urbanheron4 said:Just set it to 4096, though honestly, it doesn't even matter. It'll probably just pick 4096 by default anyway. That number basically tells the drive how big its clusters are in bytes. So, if you save a tiny little file under 4 KB, it’s gonna hog the full 4 KB because that's the minimum chunk size. If you drop a 7 KB file on there, it eats up 8 KB (two clusters). That's why you always see that weird gap between the actual file size and the "size on disk."

Not quite.

Look, setting aside all the specific OS jargon, a cluster is really just a collection of "atomic"—you know, indivisible—units, or whatever they decide to call them in a specific file system. Some folks just call them "blocks."

A block is a single unit on the drive, whereas a cluster is basically just a bunch of those blocks scattered around.

Basically, a block is a group of consecutive logical "sectors." With Fat, the logical sector is 512 bytes. For NTFS, it's 4096.

Then you have the logical sector mapping to a "physical" one, which can range from about 512 bytes up to maybe 4096 bytes plus a little extra for ECC.

And get this: one "physical" sector might actually be mapped to anywhere from one to eight actual physical sectors on an HDD, especially when you've got four disks working in parallel (that's 8 surfaces!).

When you're dealing with RAID controllers or smaller storage arrays, there's at least one more layer of mapping involved (called a chunk), and with the massive enterprise stuff? There are way more layers than that.

In the real world, a tiny 12-byte file (like just the text Hello World) could end up eating through a few megabytes of actual physical space.

Super simple once it clicks.

fadedorca66 said:He’s mistaken. I thought the same thing, but turns out you actually need a Microsoft license for NTFS support. Because of that, there are even some newer TVs out there that don't support NTFS at all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS

I'm speaking from experience here; no clue how it works for every single model on the market.

Looking back over the last decade, at least ten different TVs I've used handled USB sticks or external hard drives on NTFS without a hitch, while a few others—even more recent models—just wouldn't touch exFAT.

It makes zero sense that exFAT isn't the standard, especially since, as far as I know, it's free, universal, and easy to implement, but whatever.

I have no idea how people using a Macintosh manage to get files onto a USB drive to watch on their TV, unless the obvious answer is just—go buy an Apple TV. 😁