Is it possible to reformat an external Hard Drive from NTFS to FAT32, without losing the data?

Question

Hi everyone, I am fairly new to this, so apologies if this seems like a daft question.

I have my LR catalog (56000+ photos) on an external hard drive which was formatted for use on a MacBook. I have now loaded LR on to my Windows 10 PC, but cannot read the HD as it is not in FAT32 format.

Does anyone know if I can reformat the HD without losing the data?

Thanks in advance

99jon · Answer

Formatting will wipe all the data. Probably best to treat the drive as a backup and buy a new external drive. If you format the new drive as FAT32 or exFAT (for drives lager than 4GB) it will be compatible with both Windows & Mac and you should be able to copy your files quite easily from Mac for use on Windows.

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