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By the way if you have any data on the drive you'll loose it by formatting so you'll want to copy that off.
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By the way if you have any data on the drive you'll loose it by formatting so you'll want to copy that off.

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Thanks for your contributions-Midan
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I have an external hard disk that I use to back up my files. &nbsp;I am using Vista operating system which allows me to back up the whole computer but when I select that option it gives the message that the disk needs to be formatted with NTFS.<br />
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Please can you tell me how I can do this and whether there will be a problem if I do this?
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I have an external hard disk that I use to back up my files.  I am using Vista operating system which allows me to back up the whole computer but when I select that option it gives the message that the disk needs to be formatted with NTFS.

Please can you tell me how I can do this and whether there will be a problem if I do this?

Formatting with NTFS

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media used to retain digital data. In addition to local storage devices like CD and DVD readers, hard drives and flash drives, solid state drives can hold enormous amounts of data in a very small device. Cloud services and other new forms of remote storage also add to the capacity of devices and their ability to access more data without building additional data storage into a device.

Storage

Storage devices include any device used for storing and retrieving digital information. Hard disk drives (HDDs) use one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. The primary competing technology for secondary storage is flash memory in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs), but HDDs remain the dominant medium for secondary storage due to advantages in price per bit and per-device recording capacity. CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable) is a digital optical disc storage format that allows information to be stored outside the mechanical HDD.