How to Quickly Format an SSD in Windows 7/8/10/11 for Free (3 Ways)?

Why format SSD?

An SSD stands for "Solid State Drive". It’s a type of disk which stores mediums in the computer. Compared with traditional hard disk, it has many advantages. Like a hard disk, an SSD must be divided into one or more partitions to store data. Thus, formatting an SSD also means formatting SSD partition.

As SSD becomes more and more common, formatting or reformatting becomes important as well. For example, a computer may run slowly after being used for a long time. A lot of useless programs, accumulative viruses, corrupt files and so on can all be problems. You may need a clean installation of Windows, Then, a proper SSD formatting is a good choice, which will clean the SSD so that you can get rid of a virus, your computer can run faster or you can upgrade system.

Here are three effective methods introduced to help you format an SSD.

How to format SSD in Windows 7/8/10/11?

Before formatting an SSD: Formatting means deleting everything. So if you have important data on SSD, please backup them first. By the way, free Qiling Backup can deal with it.

Method 1. Format SSD with Disk Management

Step 1: Press "Win+R" to open "Run" box, and then type "diskmgmt.msc" to open Disk Management.

Step 2: Right click the SSD partition (here is E drive) you want to format. Choose "Format".

Step 3: You can change settings in the pop-up window, such as label the partition, change file system, perform a quick format. Then click “OK”.

Tips: Only the partition whose size is smaller than or equal to 32GB can be formatted from NTFS to FAT32 through Disk Management.

Step 4: A warning about data loss will appear. Click “OK” after your confirmation to execute.

Method 2. Format SSD via DiskPart

Step 1: Press "Win+R" to open "Run" box, and then type "cmd" to open Command Prompt.

Notice: To format SSD from BIOS, you need to access Command Prompt from BIOS first. Windows Installation Disc, Repair Disc, or Advanced Startup will be helpful. Then, follow these commands to format the SSD.

Step 2: Input these syntax successively, and press Enter after each command.

• diskpart
• list volume
• select volume n (where n is the partition number of your SSD drive)
• format fs=ntfs quick label=test (or you can type “fs=fat32” to format SSD to FAT32)
• exit

Tips: To clean an SSD drive, you can try these syntax: diskpart > list disk > select disk n (where n is the disk number of SSD) > clean > exit.

With Windows built-in tools, system partition and boot partition are not allowed to be formatted. You will find the option “Format” is greyed out when right click C drive.

However, if you do need to format system partition for a clean installation of Windows, you can realize it under the help of third-party partition manager - such as Qiling Disk Master Standard, which provides the utility "Make Bootable Media" that helps you create a bootable USB/CD to start your computer from Windows PE where you can format system partition.

Method 3. Format SSD with Free Qiling Disk Master

Qiling Disk Master is a free partition manager software which can manage your hard disk partitions easily. It even allows you to format a partition larger than 32GB from NTFS to FAT32.

Step 1: Download Qiling Disk Master Standard. Install and launch it. Then, right click the SSD partition you want to format. Select “Format”.

Step 2: Here you’re able to name partition and change file system, and then click "Proceed" to continue.

Step 3: A warning messagebox is showed, click "Yes" to commit the operation.

Note: Formatting C drive or system drive will make operating system unbootable. Think twice before you leap.

Besides, free Qiling Disk Master supports write zeros to hard drive which known as a kind of low level format. Try the feature if the need ever arise.

Verdict

The aforementioned three ways apply to almost all popular SSD drives such as Samsung SSD, Crucial SSD, etc. In fact, formatting doesn’t really erase the data on SSD before you write new data on it. They can still be found by some data recovery software. If you intend to sell or donate your SSD, deleting all data on SSD permanently is necessary, Qiling Disk Master also has the function like wipe partition. Once it’s carried out, the data won’t be found by any data recovery software.

By the way, Qiling Disk Master Standard version is widely used by home users. More advanced features such as allocate free space, convert dynamic disk to basic, SSD secure erase, etc, are available in Qiling Disk Master Professional edition or the Server edition.

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