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When you purchase a “bare” (also known as an “OEM”) hard drive, it does not come pre-formatted. This means that if the enclosure itself ever fails, the data on the drive inside it may not be accessible without expensive data recovery services. Aside from often being more expensive than a DIY external drive, the hard drives inside these enclosures are also often accessed in a proprietary way. These solutions are not without their drawbacks, however. Pre-assembled external drives and enclosures from Western Digital, Seagate, and others generally come pre-formatted for Windows or Mac.

Why do I need to do this? Don’t hard drives already come formatted for me?īefore a new hard drive can be used, it must be initialized, partitioned, and formatted. However, the instructions are the same if you’re using a non-Plugable dock. This article also proceeds with the assumption that you’re using one of our Plugable hard drive docks (good choice!) such as the U3 or the UASP1. If the “why” aspect of the process is not of interest, look for the bold text in the post which covers just the basic necessary steps. Each step covers a bit of explanation and context. This guide outlines the process in Windows 8/8.1, though the steps are nearly identical for Windows XP, Vista, and 7. This introductory installment of Plugable Tech Tips will guide you through the necessary steps of setting up your new drive for use.

While some tout the benefits of cloud-based storage, adding local storage capacity has many benefits including substantially better speeds as well as being vastly more secure. Digital photos, music, and movies take up large amounts of space, and adding an external hard drive to store additional media or for backup purposes is an ever-popular PC upgrade. As we all progress further into the digital age, our need for additional storage space keeps growing.