Reformatting to fresh start without software? Hi, I was just wondering, is it possible to reformat this particular drive, (leaving no traces of western digital software on the drive) and still have plug-n-play ability?
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If you still need the help, you may can use the "Disk Management" program in windows 7. Once you find the program that lets you reformat the volume, it should be simple to follow the rest of the instructions.
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I'm having the same problem as Anthony - I have two of these, but one keeps reformatting itself whenever I turn off the XBOX. I tried formatting the drive into NTFS, but to no avail. Any other ideas?
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First Question: There is a way to do a clean install with the upgrade version on an empty formatted hard drive. At windowssecret.com there are complete instructions. Second Question: You actually need to buy the 64 bit version
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Yes, it comes from the factory formatted with FAT32 but you can reformat it with NTFS if desired or most any other system.
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Thanks Dean, the drive was working so the format is probably OK. When you plug in the USB the charge light comes on but the data side is obviously not working as the drive is not recognised. You can hear the disks spinning but they are very quiet. Thanks again for your help. Regards: Brendan
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I installed Windows Vista on this drive, and did not have to separately format it. I just followed the instructions to install Windows, and the installation wizard did the rest. Whether or not the install application formatted the drive before actually doing the install of Windows, I don't know, and it didn't concern me one way or the other.
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As commenter Super Geek suggests, if you're using a PC, then you will need to reformat it as Fat32. If you have any data on it, you will need to back it up elsewhere in order to reformat the drive for PC.
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Yes, I have. There is no problem doing this as these drives are generic. However, the company I bought it from sent me one which appeared new (with new packaging) but tested as having thousands of hours of use on it. The test said it was working just fine but it wasn't a new device. I did not pursue the matter further as I did not intend to put this computer into daily use and it was not worth the hassle.
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Basically, any new operating system installs best on a newly formatted HD. This means your computer's empty. You are not going to save your programs and data. Be aware most programs will need to be reinstalled, then it's data can be restored. This being said, your computer should forget who it was and it's component parts also, part of a OEM disk protocol is to format your HD. Be sure to have access to your computer's manufactures web sit for driver access. Win 7 Pro has a good driver data base but may not have your network card or wireless radio. Having an Ethernet dongle is recommended. This is if you have an OEM OS disk, an update disk is different. Not as clean of a reinstall of the OS, I've heard.
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while I don' t have a clear cut answer, I do have one that works. See if it at least is at least recognized in device manager under Windows' control panel. If it is, you might right click on properties and have windows look for a new driver on the net. You might want.to reformat it under fat32 or NTFS....
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My drive does have software with it, on the drive and not on a separate CD. However, my Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers found the drive without difficulty when I hooked it up with the USB cable. I often have to use the Windows fix: shut off everything, unplug it, wait a minute, plug everything in, and turn it on.
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I personally found Actonis to be significantly less than useful. Was a poor purchase decision. As far as migration / upgrade of HDD size or types, I simply used windows back-up to create an image on my 3TB external Seagate HDD and a recovery DVD set. Then I did my drive swap, made sure my PC had the DVD as an alternate boot drive and then booted from the recovery DVDs. Piece of cake, albeit a lengthy process.
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The install routine will ask you where to install. When it does this you can choose to format the drive and then install. I like the others recommend a clean install.
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Check he website. I think I saw some programs that you could download. But the drive works like any other so you can just use your OS backup software which works like a charm. It's really plug and play, no software needed.
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Sorr y my first answer was not complete. You can down load software for wd and seagate drives that will recognize and format them.
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You do not need the software. But you do need the driver "only" during install select drive only. In your case have soneone copy the disc to a memory chip. etc.
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Not if it isn't retail. I usually buy oem drives, they just arrive in bulk. If you are loading any Windows version, it will format the drive.