First off, NTFS is only recommended if you're copying large (>2GB files to/from Windows machines on a regular basis. Here's how I found to do it (YMMV): 1. Install Gnome Partition Editor (gparted) 2. Install 'ntfsprogs' 3. Open Partition Editor and select your desired drive to format. 4. (Optional) Remove any unnecessary partitions, create a new one. 5. Right click and select the format you'd like to apply. (NTFS should be available) 6. Apply changes. That's it. I got this info from here .