The operating system is Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 with all updates applied.
I have an external hard disk enclosure (one of these) with a 1 TB drive (garden-variety Seagate). When I right-click in Explorer and choose “Format…” the only option is exFAT. I really want NTFS.
- If I do try to format as exFAT, I get a generic error message: “Windows was unable to complete the format.”
- Other external drives give me a choice of NTFS or exFAT.
- Problem occurs over both USB or Firewire.
Workaround: I was able to use diskmgmt.msc
to format as NTFS.
But I am wondering:
- Why wouldn’t Explorer offer NTFS as an option? Is this a red flag for problems?
- If NTFS is not a formatting option in Explorer, should I do anything with the disk? Re-partition?