Formatting an external SSD on MS Windows

To format the external SSD on MS Windows, follow this procedure:

1. Connect the SSD to an MS Windows PC with a USB cable.
   Note: MS Windows does not detect the SSD automatically as it cannot read the SSD ext4 file system.
2. From MS Windows, search for and select Create and format hard disk partitions.
   
3. From the Disk Management dialog:
   1. Select the SSD marked "Not initialized" and "Unallocated".

   2. Confirm the correct SSD size (usually 1TB). In the example graphic, it is "Disk 2" but can vary.

   3. Right-click the SSD and select Initialize Disk
   
4. From the Initialize Disk dialog, select the correct disk (Disk 2 in the example graphic),.
5. For the partition style, select GPT (GUID Partition Table) and then click OK.
   
6. After initialization, the SSD shows as "Online". Right-click in the Unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
   
7. From the New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next.
   
8. In the Simple volume size in MB field, click the arrows to select the simple volume size. Use the full size of the SSD. The default values should be OK.
   
9. Assign a drive letter to the disk to access it in File Explorer:
   1. Select Assign the following drive letter.

   2. Click the arrow to select a drive letter.

   3. Click Next

   
10. Format the partition: Select Format this volume with the following settings:
    1. In File system, select "exFAT".
    2. In Allocation unit size, leave as "Default".
    3. In Volume label, enter "data".
    4. Select Perform a quick format.
    5. Click Next.
    
11. From the New Simple Volume Wizard, confirm the settings and then click Finish.