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Formatting an external drive

Caution: Formatting your device permanently erases all the data on that drive. If you want to keep any of the data that's on the drive, back it up to a different device before you format it.

Follow these instructions to completely erase the contents of a drive:

  1. In the main menu, click Sources.
  2. Locate the external storage device you want to erase.
  3. Under the Source, click the Ellipsis icon.
  4. Click Erase device.
  5. Enter a name for the device.
  6. Select the desired format:
    • Microsoft Windows®
      • NTFS
      • exFAT
    • macOS
      • HFS+J
      • exFAT
      • APFS
      • UFSD_NTFS
  7. Confirm that you understand that all your files will be erased.
  8. Click Erase device.

Depending on the device and its capacity, it may take several hours to erase it.

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