Windows 10: Trying to reformat External Hard drive, previously used on Xbox One

Recently stopped using an Seagate Portable Hard drive on Xbox and wanted to reformat it for personal use, however when it's plugged into my Laptop it's not appearing on File Explorer. Tried reformatting it on Disk Management to no avail as both the Initialize and Format option are not visible. Then tried to do it via Settings Settings -> System -> Storage -> Disks & Volumes and there's not a Format option. Any idea what I can do to reformat it?

:)

 

External hard drive is NTFS but Xbox pc wont recognise it...

Dear Mothcat182,

Welcome to the Microsoft Community



Thank you for reaching out regarding the issue with your Xbox app not recognizing your external hard drive as an NTFS device. It sounds frustrating, but I'm here to help you troubleshoot this problem. Here are a few steps you can follow:

1. Verify NTFS Format and Sector Size: First, let's ensure that your external hard drive is formatted to NTFS and check the sector size, as this might be the cause of the issue:
   
   • Open Command Prompt by typing cmd in the search bar, right-clicking on it, and selecting 'Run as administrator'.
     
   • Enter the following command: fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo D: (replace 'D' with your drive letter). This will display the NTFS volume information.
     
   • Look for the “Bytes Per Sector” and “Bytes Per Physical Sector” in the output. For compatibility with the Xbox app, these should ideally be 4096 bytes or less.
     
2. Reformat the Drive with Correct Sector Size: If your sector size is not 4096 bytes or less, you may need to reformat the drive with the correct sector size. Note that reformatting will erase all data on the drive, so make sure to back up your files first.
   
   • Back up all important data from your external hard drive.
     
   • Right-click the drive in 'This PC' or 'File Explorer' and select 'Format'.
     
   • Choose NTFS as the file system and set the 'Allocation unit size' to ‘4096 bytes’.
     
   • Check 'Quick Format' and click 'Start'.
     
   • This will erase all data on the drive, so make sure to back up any important files before proceeding.
     
3. Use another hard drive: If you cannot reformat the hard drive or the hard drive is still not recognized after formatting, it is likely that there is a compatibility problem with the hard drive. Please try using another hard drive to complete the installation.
   

I hope these steps help you get your drive recognized and allow you to reinstall your games. If there are any more questions or if you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask.



Best Regards,

Martin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

 

Formatting External hard drive.

1. Launch the Disk Manager with diskmgmt.msc
2. Use right-clicks to delete all partitions on the external disk
3. Create one or several new partitions
4. Format them

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.