New external usb hard drive?

[tsatsa]

I just got myself a new external usb hard drive, being a computer noob I want to ask before I screw up something. I am running Window Vista.

I guess Vista will format it when I first plug that drive into the ubs port it right?

I also want to partition that drive into 3 partitions.

How do I go about doing that?

And do I need some kind of software to do that?

Thanks

[7jaii]

Vista will auto detect and display the formated capacity around 930GB. You will use Vista management to delete this partition, determine if you want NTFS or FAT32, then create 3 partitions.

Let it complete a proper full format (not Quick Format) and as long as you don't use it for P2P then it'll last for years.

[tsatsa]

You will use Vista management to delete this partition, determine if you want NTFS or FAT32, then create 3 partitions.

Let it complete a proper full format (not Quick Format) and as long as you don't use it for P2P then it'll last for years.

Thanks 7jaii,
Being a noob I don't understand what you mean by "Vista management to delete this partition" yes, I will select NTFS and a proper full format.

[theguy]

Thanks 7jaii,
Being a noob I don't understand what you mean by "Vista management to delete this partition" yes, I will select NTFS and a proper full format.

Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Under "Storage" (expand it) > Disk Management

Once your here, in the bottom middle, you should see your hard drive.

Right click > Shrink > Follow Instructions > Format all the partitions you made > Voila! Your done.

:D

[7jaii]

Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Under "Storage" (expand it) > Disk Management

Once your here, in the bottom middle, you should see your hard drive.

Right click > Shrink > Follow Instructions > Format all the partitions you made > Voila! Your done.

:D

Great instructions and thanks for posting, I apologize for not describing each step. I can't believe we're all using 1TB+ capacities and it's $100! I remember paying 3x that for a 10GB IDE.

[tsatsa]

> Format all the partitions you made > Voila! Your done.

:D

Thank you theguy

Sorry being so dumb, do you mean I first partition my new drive and than format it. My understanding is I must first format before partition, right?

[theguy]

Thank you theguy

Sorry being so dumb, do you mean I first partition my new drive and than format it. My understanding is I must first format before partition, right?

Shrink/Partition then Format :D

Since you wanted 3 partitions on your hard drive, you'll have to shrink 2 times. Then you'll have to format each partition.

For future reference, if you format then shrink, the "NTFS" will be erased so you'll have to format again.