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Formatting an SSD drive is useful in the event you want to sell the drive, dispose of the drive, or install a new operating system. You can format an SSD drive using a Windows or Mac computer.
Steps
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Verify that the SSD drive you want formatted is either installed in your computer, or attached to your computer via USB cable. -
Go to “Start” and click on “Control Panel. ”Advertisement -
Click on “System and Maintenance,” then click on “Administrative tools. ” -
Open the “Computer Management” application. -
Click on “Disk Management” in the left pane of the Computer Management window. -
Click on the name of your SSD drive in the list of drives displayed on-screen. -
Right-click on the SSD drive, then select “Format. ” -
Select your preferred values from the “File system” and “Allocation unit size” drop-down menus. -
Place a checkmark next to “Perform a quick format,” then click on “OK. ” Your computer will format your SSD drive.
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Verify that the SSD drive you want formatted is either installed in your computer, or attached to your computer via USB cable. -
Open Finder to verify that the SSD drive displays in your list of devices. -
Click on “Applications,” then click on “Utilities. ” -
Launch the “Disk Utility” application. -
Click on the name of your SSD drive in the left pane of Disk Utility. -
Click on the “Erase” tab, then take note of the value next to “Partition Map Scheme,” which is located at the bottom of the window. -
Verify that the value next to Partition Map Scheme reads, “Master Boot Record” or “Apple Partition Map,” then click on the “Partition” tab.- If the value next to Partition Map Scheme reads, “GUID Partition Table,” select “Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)” from the Format drop-down menu, click on “Erase,” then skip to step #13.
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Select the number of partitions you want from within the “Partition Layout” drop-down menu. -
Type a name for the partition, or SSD drive, under “Partition Information,” then select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format drop-down menu. -
Click on the name of the SSD drive in the middle window, then click on “Options. ” -
Select “GUID Partition Table,” then click on “OK. ” -
Click on “Apply,” then click on “Partition” to verify that you want to format your SSD drive. -
Wait for Disk Utility to format your SSD drive. The name of the drive will display in Finder when complete. [1] X Research source
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Community Q&A
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QuestionI only want to enable the operating system and programs on the SSD drive?jonas ilverCommunity AnswerYou can use the chrome recovery utility to format storage devices on a Chromebook.
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Warnings
- If using a Windows computer, avoid defragmenting or performing a full format on your SSD drive. Since SSD drives have a limited number of read-write cycles, opt for the quick format option to help maintain the overall efficacy of your SSD drive.Thanks
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