Logical differences: internal / external drives

[egmus]

I have a powered usb2 to sata adapter to which I connect a bare 3.5" HDD and format it exfat. Windows works with it fine. When I connect the same 3.5" HDD directly to the motherboard via sata, Windows says it needs to be formatted. Why?

 

[ArtPog]

You've indicated the "bare" drive is formatted exFat which is fine if you're going to use the drive exclusively as a USB external drive, however, when you install the drive internally in the system the Windows OS prefers to format the drive to the NTFS file system which is the preferred file system for the Windows OS.

If you're planning to utilize the drive for "double-duty", both as an internally-connected drive and as a USB external drive, it's best to format it to the NTFS file system.

 

[egmus]

You've indicated the "bare" drive is formatted exFat which is fine if you're going to use the drive exclusively as a USB external drive, however, when you install the drive internally in the system the Windows OS prefers to format the drive to the NTFS file system which is the preferred file system for the Windows OS.

If you're planning to utilize the drive for "double-duty", both as an internally-connected drive and as a USB external drive, it's best to format it to the NTFS file system.

 

[egmus]

I appreciate your response. Will try NTFS and see how it goes.