You might need to format an external hard drive before you can use it with your computer. We have some tips to help the process go smoothly.

If you want to re-format an external hard drive (a drive you plug into your computer, instead of installing inside of your computer) or flash drive, it's extremely easy to do.

You can format an external drive quickly and easily in Windows, without the need of any third-party tools. But before you format your USB drive, you need to consider which file system to use.

To format a hard drive before you start using it in Windows, use the Disk Management utility; on a Mac, use Disk Utility.