These include flash drives, SD cards, and similar portable devices. If the primary drive is partitioned, the operating system may be maintained separately from other files.Įxternal hard drives, on the other hand, are storage devices that are easily removable. Primary hard drives or C drives (C:) are internal hard drives that contain a computer’s operating system. They cannot be removed without opening the computer and accessing the drive enclosure. An internal hard drive, as the name suggests, is a drive built into the device. The steps above are the same whether the hard drive you’re formatting is internal or external. Reformatting different types of hard drives

Select the file system you want to use (default is APFS) and click “Erase”.

Select the correct hard drive from the menu on the left and click “Erase” at the top of the window.

Access the Utilities folder under “Go” in the Finder menu.

If you only want to delete the data on the drive, a quick format should suffice. If you want to wipe the entire drive, make sure “Perform a quick format” is left unchecked and it will perform a normal format.

In the box that appears, select the file system you want to use (default is NTFS).

In the details box that appears across the bottom, right-click and select “Format” from the menu.

Select the correct hard drive from the list that appears in the Disk Management window.

Open the Run app by searching for it in the Windows menu.

Windows will choose the first available letter by default, but you can override this (provided the letter you want to use is available). Click “Okay.” Jared Newman / TechHive Assign the drive a letterĬhoose a letter to associate with the drive. Do you want to delete this partition?” Verify one more time that you’re working with the Tablo drive and then click “Yes.” Jared Newman / TechHive Create a new volumeĭisk Management will now label your old Tablo drive as “Unallocated.” Right-click on it and select “New Simple Volume.” When the New Simple Volume Wizard appears, click “Next” and then verify that the simple volume size is equal to the maximum volume size. Ready? Right-click on the disk and choose “Delete Volume.” Windows will display this message: “The selected partition was not created by Windows and might contain data recognized by other operating systems. If you pick the wrong drive, you will lose data. Triple-check that you are working with the Tablo drive, because this next step will delete the volume. Jared Newman / TechHive Prepare to delete the volume (You might need to scroll down to see it.) Verify that the amount of available storage matches what you know is available on the Tablo drive. Plug the Tablo drive into one of your PC’s USB ports and look for a new disk number to appear in the Disk Management program. Jared Newman / TechHive Plug in the Tablo drive

How to reformat hard drive windows me