Advice Request Help Formatting Ext. HDD

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JHomes

JHomes

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Hello Meatbags,

I have a 2 TB Ext HDD that has a lot of content on it, now I'm realizing I gave it the wrong format. Ugh right?

I need to re-format but I'm worried I'll lose all of my data. Is there a tool or procedure to preserve the data while reformatting or even just putting it back on.

My plan (for now) is to zip everything, put zip file on dekstop and reformat, then unzip but that's going to be a lot of work and time. Any recommendations?
 
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JHomes said:
I need to re-format but I'm worried I'll lose all of my data.
Click to expand...

....you don't have any other (full) backups of you drive ? Then i would say: reformatting could be very risky.... .
In this case i would suggest: simply buy another ext. drive (or even two) and (before reformating) copy the entire drive to the new disk(s)....

I'm also storing all my data (music, films,documets, pictures, etc.) on a external drive (2TB). But i'm frequently
making backups of this drive to two other separate external drives.







 
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No other option i'm afraid. You have to copy your data somewhere else, format, then copy back your data to the reformatted external hard drive. You can try TeraCopy (it has a free version), i use it all the time.
 
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BoraMurdar said:
I know, but that's the safest option. Chose to copy your data instead of moving them (cut). It will be faster if temporarily disable your real time protection while transferring.
Click to expand...
Spot on, and what I would do in his situation, he's gonna mess around with one of those other tools and
there is a good chance he will loose his data. ;)
 
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JHomes said:
I do, but I'm using 1.4 GB of that 2, so it's gonna be a hefty data transfer.
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1.4GB compared to 2TB is miniscule, it shouldn't take long with USB 3 and Battery set to High Performance (Laptop).

Backup your backup.
You haven't a lot to lose, so a complete wipe using Windows Disk Management tool.

How did you manage to get the incorrect disk format in the first place, and not notice you were not getting 2TB?
 
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Use a certain backup application which you can assigned the files and folders to be transfer off, in that case no interruption should occur and will use the maximum read and write speed as possible.

Avoid multi-task on that part.
 
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