Your question confuses me BUT gives me enough tidbits to THINK I know what you are trying to do.
Like Moses I like the old program FORMAT C:/........BUT I am getting the impression you bought an
external drive to store files on that you want to KEEP prior to wiping the drive and formatting it.
If that is the case then in a lot of ways you are just going to end up with only a LITTLE less trouble than
where you started. Personally I like the white knuckle ride of formatting the drive and starting from scratch.
Data is such a ball and chain.