Can't empty recycle bin as disconnected external hard drive

10_66

Will reformating the hard disc get rid of the files that came on it?

robmar0se

yes. save them onto yr PC if necessary - unless its a wd passport with a virtual partition (which you cannot remove) - just reformat the main partition if there is more than one.

10_66

robmar0se wrote: »

yes. save them onto yr PC if necessary - unless its a wd passport with a virtual partition (which you cannot remove) - just reformat the main partition if there is more than one.

Sorry, you've totally lost me after the "unless its a wd etc etc". What does this mean, please?

agrinnall

wd = western digital (a manufacturer of hard disks)

10_66

Have just gone to reformat the external hard disc, but I don't know which "file system" to select from the options "NTFS" or "ex FAT". When checking the disc's properties it says the file system is FAT32, so which of the above options do I need to select, please?

robmar0se

If you will use it only on a Windows system use NTFS (new technology file system)

10_66

robmar0se wrote: »

If you will use it only on a Windows system use NTFS (new technology file system)

After my last post, I had a look on the disc manual and it has its own formatting system. There is the option of reformatting it to FAT32 on this, but would you still recommend reformatting it to NTFS, please?

TimothyEBaldwin

Once you have used the check (and fix) the disk for error option, it should the sufficient to rename the the recycle bin folder, called RECYCLER. You will then be able to delete it in the normal fashion.

Reformatting is unlikely to be needed.

robmar0se

10_66 wrote: »

After my last post, I had a look on the disc manual and it has its own formatting system. There is the option of reformatting it to FAT32 on this, but would you still recommend reformatting it to NTFS, please?

The reason wby external hard drives are FAT32 is that it is the one common standard across most platforms/systems. As I said before if you intend to use it only on Windows then NTFS will do, but the older FAT32 standard will work just as well.

The reason that there is a packaged reformat program is because natively FAT32 partitions were historically restricted in size. This is overcome by the packaged program for your convenience.