Formatting Drives

Re-formatting a drive will wipe all of its data off of it. This is helpful for a variety of reasons when it comes to fixing issues for customers or getting it ready to pass the computer to a new owner.

If you want to format a drive that can be read by both Windows and MAC then format the drive to EXFAT

Formatting for Windows

1. Plug the external drive into a Windows computer via a USB external drive or SATA.
2. In the lower left corner of the screen click on the search bar and type in “ Disk Management” and click on it.

The drive you are formatting can not be the drive you have booted too

3. This will open up a new window that will show you all your drives. Locate the drive that you wish to reformat. (it will be labeled with a letter. Possible D or F). -> Right click on the section of the drive that has the letter. (The section will also be crossed through).
4. Click on format.
5. A window will pop up asking you to label and to format the drive.
   1. Choose any letter from the alphabet to label it.
   2. For the file system choose “NTFS”.
   3. Allocation unit size can remain as “Default”.
   4. Make sure that “Quick format” is checked and that “File and Folder compression” is not selected.
6. Click “Okay” and the drive will start formatting. This can take up to 30 seconds. After the format is complete the drive is good to go.

Formatting for Mac

1. Make sure that the drive you want to format is connected to a Mac computer
2. Open up “ Disk Utility”
3. Locate the drive you want to reformat it and click on it.
4. Click on “Erase”. It will ask you to give the drive a name.
   • You can leave it as “Untitled”.
   • Choose “APFS” for the format, but if that is not available then choose “MAC OS extended (journaled)”.
5. Click “Erase” and the drive will be reformatted