How do I partition an external hard drive on Windows 11?

Here are some alternative approaches and tools you can consider to free partition external hard drive in Windows 11:
Step 1: Make Sure the Drive is Recognized by Windows
Check Device Manager:
* Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager.
* Expand Disk drives and see if your WD external drive is listed.
* If it’s listed but has a yellow warning icon, right-click and choose Update driver.

Check Diskpart (Command Line Tool):
Open Command Prompt as administrator:
* Press Win + X and select Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin).
* Type diskpart and press Enter.
* Then type list disk to see all connected disks.
* If your external drive appears here, you can proceed to partition it using Diskpart commands.

Open Command Prompt as administrator:
* Press Win + X and select Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin).
* Type diskpart and press Enter.
* Then type list disk to see all connected disks.
If your external drive appears here, you can proceed to partition it using Diskpart commands.

Step 2: Use Diskpart to Prepare the Drive
Warning: To partition external hard drive. Diskpart is powerful; ensure you select the correct disk to avoid data loss on other drives.

1. In Command Prompt (Admin), type: diskpart
2. List disks: list disk
3. Identify your external drive by size (1TB). It’s usually labeled as Disk 1, Disk 2, etc.
4. Select your drive: select disk X. Replace X with the correct disk number.
5. Clean the disk (this deletes all partitions and data): clean
6. Create a new primary partition: create partition primary
7. Format the partition with NTFS: format fs=ntfs quick
8. Assign a drive letter: assign
9. Exit Diskpart: exit

Your drive should now be formatted and recognized in File Explorer.