Formatting an SSD drive in Windows or Mac OSX (with images)

Formatting an SSD drive is useful in case you want to sell the drive, throw it away, or install a new operating system. You can format an SSD drive using a Windows or Mac computer.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Formatting an SSD drive in Windows

Step 1. Verify that the SSD drive you want formatted is either installed in your computer or connected to your computer via a USB cable

Step 2. Go to 'Start' and click on 'Control Panel'

Step 3. Click on 'System and Maintenance' and then click on 'Administrative Tools'

Step 4. Open 'Computer Management'

Step 5. Click "Disk Management" in the left pane of the Computer Management window

Step 6. Click on the name of your SSD drive from the list of drives displayed on the screen

Step 7. Right click on the SSD drive and then select 'Format'

Step 8. Choose your preferred settings from the 'File System' and 'Cluster Size' drop-down menus

Step 9. Check the box next to 'Quick format' and then click 'OK'

Your computer will format the SSD drive.

Method 2 of 2: Formatting an SSD drive in Mac OS X

Step 1. Check if the SSD drive you want to format is installed in your computer or connected to your computer via a USB cable

Step #2. Open Finder to check if the SSD drive shows up in your list of devices

Step 3. Click on 'Applications' and then on 'Utilities'

Step 4. Launch the 'Disk Utility'

Step 5. Click the name of your SSD drive in the left pane of "Disk Utility"

Step 6. Click the 'Erase' tab and check the value next to 'Partition Layout', which is located at the bottom of the window

Step 7. Check if the value next to 'Partition Format' is equal to 'Master Boot Record' or 'Apple Partition Map', then click the 'Partition' tab

If the value next to 'Partition Layout' is equal to 'GUID Partition Table', select 'Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)' from the drop-down list of 'Structure', click 'Clear', then go to step #13

Step 8. Select the number of partitions you want from the 'Partition Layout' drop-down menu

Step 9. Type a name for the partition, or SSD drive, under 'Partition Information', then select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the 'Structure' drop-down menu

Step 10. Click on the SSD drive name in the middle window and then click on 'Options'

Step 11. Select 'GUID Partition Table' and click 'OK'

Step 12. Click 'Apply' and then click 'Partition' to confirm that you want to format your SSD drive

Step 13. Wait for Disk Utility to finish formatting your SSD drive

The name of the drive will be displayed in Finder when formatting is complete.