Windows 7 Backup Image on USB Hard Drive

When I try to create a backup image on my WD USB 2 hard drive Windows tells me that it can not be done because it is not formatted with NTFS.

How do I go about formatting it correctly?

Thanks,
Stan

 

FAT32 has a 4 GB file size limit which is why the formatting needs to be NTFS.

You can convert FAT32 to NTFS. There is a discussion here:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=295031

Be sure to back up any "Important" Data before making the conversion. There is always a risk of Data Loss when converting file systems. This risk is usually "Very Low". If the USB Hard Drive does not have any Important Data on it, I would just format the USB Hard Drive to NTFS using the Windows built-in Disk Management. I prefer a "Full Format" which may take several hours to complete.

 

I tried using Macrium but the boot disk didn't see the WD USB drive and after reading the possible solutions I was dazed and confused. I also tried Acronis True Image but on start up the monitor program caused some problems. The built in Win7 image seems the easiest way to go.

I'll move anything that's important and let it do a full format.

Thanks for your help.