SSD, short for solid state drive is a type of data storage device produced by many manufacturers such as Samsung, Kingston and so on. Compared to conventional hard disk drives, it performs better in many aspects: faster running speed, lower power consumption, less noise and so on.
As such, more and more users want to use SSDs and need to reformat or reformat SSDs. However, it is possible that the SSD will not format, with the error message “Windows was unable to complete the format”.
If you are in the same situation, then read this article till the end and hopefully it can help you. Using an SSD should be a lot easier than with a normal hard-drive, but errors tend to occur from time to time, no matter what type of drive you’re using.
It is recommended that you only buy and use branded SSDs, as generic ones can cause you a lot of problems, and there is no support available for them. This implies that if your drive fails for any reason, you will have to replace it.
In this article we will explore some of the best methods for fix SSD drive not formatting properly in Windows 10/8/7.
Please make sure to follow these steps carefully to ensure no more problems arise. Here’s how to format your SSD drive on Windows 10:
1. Remove write protection of your SSD drive
If your SSD is still under write protection, you will not be able to write new information on it or change the information that is already stored.
To remove write protection, you can use Diskpart tool by following these steps:
1. Press Win + R keys on your keyboard to open the Run box.
2. Type diskpart -> press Enter to run it.
3. Inside diskpart environment -> type and execute each of these commands by pressing Enter.
4. Type disk list -> press Enter.
5. Identify the SSD in the list -> type select disk X -> press Enter (where X is the name of your SSD).
6. Run attributes disk clear readonly.
7. Wait for the process to finish -> type Exit and press Enter to close Diskpart.
Try formatting your SSD drive again. If this method has not solved your problem, please try the next solution.
2. Use Diskpart to format SSD Raw
It is recommended that you open Disk Management to check the status of your SSD. (press Win + X -> select Disk Management).
When the item is displayed as RAW inside the Disk Management window, you will be able to format the SSD by using these steps:
Follow the first two steps of the previous method to open Diskpart. Run the following commands by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard after typing each one:
- disk list
- select disk X (where x is the SSD drive)
- clean
- create partition primary
- format fs=ntfs quick
- assign letter=m (where m is the letter assigned to your SSD)
PS: If you want to format your SSD drive to FAT32 or exFAT, you have to replace ntfs with fat32 or exfat.
Conclusion: In this fix article, we explore the quickest and easiest steps to take if your SSD drive can’t be formatted, or if a formatting error occurred at the offset of the formatting process.
First of all you have to make sure that your SSD drive is not in write-protected position and change it if that is the case. Then, you need to format your SSD by using some Diskpart commands.
