How To Reformat An SSD In Windows: A Step-By-Step Guide

Formatting or reformatting an SSD or a hard drive is a simple process which only takes a few minutes. The best SSDs out there from the likes of Samsung, Crucial, etc., come with dedicated utilities for formatting, but you can simply use the built-in tools in the Windows operating system to get it done easily. You don’t have to format your SSD frequently, but it may be worth doing it occasionally to restore the drive to a clean state. You can even reformat it to a different file system during this process.

There are a few different ways to approach the reformatting process, so I decided to put together a handy guide to help you get things done easily using the Disk Management utility on Windows. If this is your first time performing a clean wipe of your SSD, then simply follow the steps highlighted below to reformat your SSD to a clean state for a fresh start.

Things to consider before reformatting your SSD

Back up your data

Reformatting your SSD or pretty much any drive will essentially wipe it clean, meaning the process will erase the data you’ve stored on that particular drive. There are ways to recover lost data in some cases with complex programs, but you can avoid the hassle by simply creating a backup of the drive you’re about to reformat. You can copy your data to an external drive or another drive installed on your computer by cloning it.

Select the Quick Format option for SSDs

Don’t risk shortening the life of your SSD

You can skip this particular step if you’re reformatting a hard disk drive (HDD), but those using an SSD should ensure that the box marked Quick Format is checked before formatting it. Without this option checked, your computer will essentially perform a full format, performing a full read/write cycle that can potentially shorten the life of an SSD. I’ll highlight this option once again while reformatting the drive below.

How to reformat an SSD using the Disk Management utility

To format or reformat your SSD using the built-in Disk Management tool on Windows, follow the steps below:

1.Click Start or hit the Windows button, and type Disk Management.

2. Select the Create and format hard disk partition to open the Disk Management utility.

3. Choose the disk that you’d like to format and right-click on it.

4. Select the Format option to open a new pop-up window with formatting options.

5. Edit the volume label and pick between NTFS or exFAT file system based on your needs, and make sure to check the Perform quick format box.

6. Select OK on this box and the next when prompted to format the drive.

NTFS vs exFAT: Which file system to reformat with

Don’t select the wrong file system for your drive

The file system is a framework for organizing files in an operating system or external storage device. The Windows operating system supports NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT file systems, though you’ll mostly be asked to pick between NTFS and exFAT while reformatting your drive. The Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) was introduced in 2006, whereas the New Technology File System (NTFS) is relatively new and the main file system that’s used by all recent Windows machines.

They’re both good for larger flash drives and external drives that have higher file capacity, but keep in mind that only exFAT offers cross-platform compatibility. NTFS only works on Windows OS and is read-only on Mac and some Linux distributions. It’s the preferred format for an internal drive running Windows operating system, though. You can pick either of these while forming or reformatting your SSD, and it doesn’t affect the formatting process in any way.

Formatting or reformatting a drive is fairly straightforward

That’s how easy it is to reformat the SSD using a built-in Disk Management utility on Windows. You don’t have to rely on any third-party utility tools, as the process highlighted above is fairly simple and only takes a few minutes. Just make sure you back up all your important data and select the quick format option to ensure you’re not shortening the life of your drive.