Format ExFAT drive in Windows
ExFAT is faster than NTFS by up to several percent
hard drive write speed.
ExFAT allows a hard drive to easily be
read across operating systems.
Windows Subsystem for Linux can
read ExFAT
drives.
Formatting a disk deletes all data on the drive.
The system hard drive %SYSTEMDRIVE%
for Windows OS MUST be NTFS.
NOTE: If the hard drive is unformatted, it will not have a drive letter. If you are SURE the drive is empty or want to erase the contents to make it ExFAT, do this through Disk Management.
Format a drive to ExFAT from Windows Explorer by right-click on drive to format and select “format” → File System: “ExFAT”
Alternatively, format a drive to ExFAT from Command Prompt or PowerShell by:
format driveletter /FS:exFAT /Q
Format a drive to ExFAT from Disk Management by running diskmgmt.msc
and right click the new drive → Format.
If NTFS is the only option, use Windows Explorer to format to ExFAT after first formatting to NTFS here.