How Long Does It Take to Format an External Hard Drive?

Approved By Anuraag Singh

Published On June 4th, 2025

Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Category Data Erasure

Summary: Depending on the size of the external hard drive and the speed of your computer, formatting may take a while. How long does it take to format an external Hard Drive? Knowing how long the process will take and what is involved in the process can help you plan and decide when to maintain your storage devices. Let’s talk about how much time it will take to format an External Hard Drive.

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What is the Need for Formatting a Hard Drive?

When you format a hard drive, you’re preparing it for storing new and fresh data, and then adding a new file system. All data will be erased from the drive in this process. Thus, your drive will be ready for new use. We frequently format for the following reasons:

When you Install a New Drive: Generally, when you buy a new hard drive you have to format it before using it.
Switching file systems: Also, this can be helpful to change file systems, such as NTFS, exFAT, or FAT32.
Correcting errors: Sometimes corruption or errors in the file system can be fixed by formatting a drive.
Secure erase: To wipe data off your drive for good before giving it away or selling it.

Parameters With an Impact on Formatting Time

The time to format an external hard drive can be different depending on different factors such as:

Drive Size: The larger your drive (1TB, 2TB, or more), the longer it will take to format. Depending on the size the formatting time can increase or decrease.
Type of Format: A quick format is much quicker but it doesn’t completely wipe data. A detailed and better format does the formatting in a better way, but it consumes a lot of time.
File System: Matrices like NTFS, exFAT, or FAT32 each have different formatting speeds from each other. NTFS is an easy-to-use system for Windows and exFAT system is known for its compatibility with Mac.
Speed Of Connection: Drives using a USB 3.0 or USB-C are faster than their USB 2.0 counterparts.
System’s Performance: If you have a new computer, then it will definitely process the Extraction faster than one that is very old or slower.

Typical Formatting Times

Times, however, can vary, and formatting an external hard drive would take something like this.

Fast Format: Typically 5 minutes or less, depending on drive size.
Full Format: With a smaller 500GB drive, it may take from 20 minutes to a few hours. This may take several hours for a 2 TB or larger drive.

If you have ever wondered and wanted to know the length of time it would take to format an external hard drive, the above points must have given you enough amount of clarity.

How to Format an External Hard Drive? Manual Methods

Formatting an external drive is easy and the steps below are for an external hard drive, and the process varies slightly when formatting a solid-state drive, especially if your operating system and its system files are on the hard drive itself.

For Windows Users:

Firstly, Connect the external hard drive to your computer by plugging it in.
Then, Choose the “File Explorer” option ? pick the drive’s destination.
Right-click on the drive and click “Format.”
Select the file system (NTFS, exFAT, FAT32), the allocation unit size, and either a quick or full format.
Click “Start” to begin.

For Mac Users:

Attach the drive to your Mac.
Click on ALS Disk Utility(in the Applications folder).
Then choose the drive and click “Erase.”
Select the file system (APFS, Mac OS Extended, exFAT) and click “Erase.”

Keep your Data Safe with Professional Software

The question “How long does it take to format an external hard drive?” depends on the tool used also such as SysTools Data Eraser Software to completely erase the data from the drive. Using specialized tools can often cover residual data, which you might be worried about if you are formatting the drive for disposal or resale.

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This tool helps you to wipe sensitive data from the hard drive that can not be recovered in any way and also ensures that no other recovery tool can recover your data. Unlike the normal format option, this tool makes the data non-recoverable by:

Overwriting data using advanced technologies numerous times.
It works with all storage devices such as external hard drives.
Creating a friendly interface for beginner users as well as experienced ones.
Verifying that wiping criteria have been met for secure erasure.
If you want to reuse, donate, or even sell your device, this application makes sure that your sensitive data is fully protected from unauthorized access from unknown sources and private recovery.

Tips for Efficient Formatting

To ensure that writing and formatting your drive goes as smoothly as possible, follow these guidelines:

Save Your Data: Don’t forget to back up your files before formatting.
Select the Appropriate File System: Opt for a file system that can meet your requirements, whether it’s NTFS (for use with Windows) or exFAT (for compatibility with several platforms).
Utilize the Proper Connection: Select a connection with a faster speed such as USB 3.0 to move things along.
Look for Errors: Before formatting, check the drive for errors to make sure nothing is wrong with it.

Also read – Will Formatting my PC Make it Faster?

Conclusion

If you’ve wondered how long does it take to format an external hard drive, the time will vary based on the size of your drive, its connection type, and the chosen formatting type. It is important to understand the process and its implications for effective storage management and maintaining data security. Formatting clears everything from the drive to make it ready to use again, and when that’s the case, you should turn to a reliable tool, to secure the drive wipe (so your sensitive info doesn’t fall into the wrong hands). But fear not, you can format an external drive quickly and, if you only make this mistake once, you’ll never forget again why that value is so important.