How to revert external hard drive formated on ps5?

​PlayStation 5 (PS5) revolutionized the gaming experience by offering high-speed loading times, beautiful graphics, and more immersive gameplay. However, with its advanced features comes the potential risk of losing valuable data, especially if you’re using an external hard drive for storage.

When you connect an external hard drive to a PS5. the system automatically formats it to be compatible with the console’s system. While this process is essential for the PS5 to recognize and use the external storage, it can create problems if the hard drive was previously used for different purposes, or if you want to revert the drive to its original format.

What Happens When You Format a Hard Drive on PS5?

When you plug in an external hard drive to a PS5 and choose to format it, the console essentially overwrites the drive’s previous file system with a new one that’s designed to store games and apps. Typically, this involves formatting the drive in the exFAT file system, which is a universal format that allows the PS5 to read and write data efficiently.

However, once formatted by the PS5. the external hard drive is no longer in its original state. If the drive was previously formatted in NTFS (commonly used for Windows systems), HFS+ (used on Mac), or any other format, all the data on the drive is wiped, and it’s essentially ‘locked’ to the PS5 system.

While this makes it easy to store and load games on the console, you might find it necessary to revert the external hard drive back to its original format, especially if you want to recover data, reuse the drive for other purposes, or switch it to a system that doesn’t support exFAT.

What You’ll Need

Before you begin the process of reverting your external hard drive, ensure you have the following:

A Windows or Mac Computer: To reformat the drive to a usable file system.

Data Backup (Optional): If you have any data left on the drive, make sure to back it up beforehand.

External Hard Drive: The drive that was formatted on the PS5.

PS5 Console (for reformatting and initial process).

Part 1: Assessing the External Hard Drive’s Current State

When the PS5 formats an external hard drive, it essentially resets it to be optimized for the console. To start the reversion process, you’ll need to check how the PS5 has altered your external hard drive’s structure.

Step 1: Plugging the Hard Drive Back into a Computer

Connect the external hard drive to your Windows PC or Mac using the appropriate USB cable.

Check the drive’s contents. In most cases, the drive will not be immediately readable if it’s formatted with a PS5-compatible file system. You may receive a message indicating that the drive needs to be formatted before use.

On Windows: The external hard drive might appear as “Unallocated Space” or may not show up at all.

On Mac: The drive will show as unformatted or will be labeled with an unknown format.

Attempt to access the drive. If you try to open the external drive, you will likely see a prompt asking you to format the disk to be used. This confirms that the drive is formatted in a PS5-specific file system (likely exFAT).

At this point, you have to reformat the drive to return it to its original state.

Part 2: Reverting the External Hard Drive to Its Original Format

The next step is to erase the exFAT file system installed by the PS5 and return the hard drive to its original format, which could be NTFS (for Windows) or HFS+ (for Mac). This process will erase all data on the drive, so be sure to back up anything important before continuing.

Reverting on Windows

Open Disk Management:

Press Win + X and choose Disk Management. This will open the built-in Windows tool that helps you manage your drives.

Locate the External Hard Drive:

In Disk Management, you will see a list of all connected drives. The external hard drive should appear here with an exFAT file system, but it might be labeled as “Unallocated” or “RAW” if the PS5’s formatting has disrupted its original structure.

Delete the Existing Partition:

Right-click the external drive and select Delete Volume. This will wipe all the data on the drive and return it to unallocated space.

Create a New Partition:

Right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a new partition. You’ll be prompted to assign a drive letter and format the drive.

Select the File System:

If you’re planning to use the drive with Windows, select NTFS as the file system.

If you plan to use the drive with Mac, select exFAT or FAT32. but be aware that exFAT offers cross-platform compatibility.

Complete the Process:

Click Finish, and the external hard drive will be reformatted with the new file system.

Check the Drive:

Once the reformatting is complete, the drive should be usable again on your computer.

Reverting on Mac

Open Disk Utility:

On a Mac, navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. This is the tool you’ll use to manage your external drives.

Select the External Drive:

In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive that was formatted by the PS5.

Erase the Drive:

Click on the Erase tab at the top of the Disk Utility window. This will allow you to delete the current file system on the drive.

Choose the File System:

For use with macOS, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

For use with both Mac and Windows, choose exFAT.

Reformat the Drive:

After selecting the desired file system, click Erase. The drive will be reformatted and ready for use again.

Check the Drive:

Once the process is complete, the external drive will be accessible again. You can now use it to store files or transfer data.

Part 3: Restoring Data (If Applicable)

If you had any data on the external hard drive before it was formatted by the PS5. you may want to restore those files. Here are the methods you can use to attempt data recovery:

Method 1: Use Data Recovery Software

Panda Assistant is a powerful data recovery tool designed to help users recover lost, deleted, or formatted files from a variety of devices. Whether it’s a computer, external hard drive, USB drive, or SD card, Panda Assistant can assist in recovering a wide range of file types, including documents, photos, videos, and more. It offers a user-friendly interface, making it accessible for both beginners and advanced users.

The software supports recovery from different file systems, such as NTFS, FAT32. exFAT, and more, ensuring compatibility across various platforms, including Windows and Mac. Panda Assistant also provides features like deep scanning, which can identify files even after they’ve been deleted or formatted, and preview options that allow users to check recoverable files before committing to the restoration process.

Method 2: Seek Professional Help

If data recovery software doesn’t work, or if the drive was physically damaged during the formatting process, you might need to turn to professional data recovery services. These services often come with a higher price tag, but they have specialized equipment and techniques to recover data that consumer tools can’t access.

Part 4: Using the Reverted External Hard Drive

Once you’ve successfully reverted the external hard drive to its original file system, you can use it again for your desired purposes. Here’s how you can continue to use the external hard drive:

Store Files: Copy documents, photos, videos, or any other data onto the external hard drive as you would with any other storage device.

Transfer Files Between Systems: Use the external hard drive to move files between a Windows PC, Mac, or other devices, depending on the file system you’ve chosen.

Backup Important Data: Store backups of important files to safeguard against data loss.

Reverting an external hard drive formatted by a PS5 is a relatively straightforward process, though it does require wiping the drive and reformatting it to a usable file system for your computer or other devices. Whether you need to restore lost data or reformat the drive for general use, the steps outlined in this guide should help you restore your external hard drive to its original state.

While reformatting the drive will erase all its data, taking precautions to back up important files before starting the process can save you from data loss. Additionally, using data recovery software or seeking professional assistance may help if you need to retrieve lost files after the format. With these tools and techniques, you should be able to get your external hard drive back in working order and ready for use once again.