reformatting ssd drive from pc

Hi, I am a newbie and after reading some of the topics my eyes started to glaze over (ads). I have a hyperdeck and 2 Intel ssd drives which (due to my incompetence, Im sure) need re-formatting. Would you happen to have a site that will show me how to format them when Im working off of a pc. It would have to be a detailed step by step kind of thing. Im sure its not too difficult, its just that I am the worst geek around.
thanks

OK... just checking... you have some kind of dock for the PC so those drives can be seen there right?

1. Can you currently "see" the SSD drive(s) as an available drive in Windows Explorer?
2. Do they need to be formatted as exFAT format? I'll assume they do (as otherwise you would have to format them HFS using MacDrive or something).
3. If you are lucky (unlike me) you should be able to see the drives using the Disk Management tool in Windows and format them as exFat right there.
4. If you do not see the SSD drive as an available local drive - you will need to mount the drive using the Disk Management tool and assign it a drive letter.
5. If you see the drive in Disk Management... try to select the option to format it - and if you see an option for exFAT - you will be good to go. Choose a Quick Format
6. If you have my luck... then exFAT is not an option using the Disk Management tool. You'll have to format them using the CMD line tool.
7. Make sure you know which drive letter is assigned to the SSD dock for the drive you want to format (you can see this in the Disk Management Tool).
8. Then launch the CMD tool (Start->CMD>Enter)
9. Then type FORMAT x: /q /fs:exFAT (where "x" is the drive letter for the SSD you want to format

WARNING: Make double/triple certain you are formatting the correct drive letter.

Thanks for the info, I will try this out tonight and keep my fingers crossed. The drives were formatted by the salesman that got them for me and he used mac so they were HFS Im sure, but hoping that either way (HFS or exFAT) it will do the trick. I am not sure if it makes a difference but I am using them to record off of a Sony HVR-2000u

HFS is only accessible on a PC if you install MacDrive (a not free piece of software). exFAT works in both PC's and MACs and it doesn't cost anything.

Have you been able to view/transfer any of the contents of those drives to the PC before now? If so... then they will have to be exFAT - or you would have to already have MacDrive installed.

I have used one of them successfully before, the other never did work. Now even the first one doesn't record. I'm not sure if I screwed it up somehow when I deleted all the files on it after copying them to my pc, or perhaps I pulled it out of the docking station without shutting the power off or some such faut pas. I Have downloaded Macdrive for Windows but that doesn't seem to be doing me any good this time. But what I lack in computer smarts I make up for in perseverance. Once again thanks and I will let you know for sure if I am successful. Actually Ill be so pleased with myself I will let everyone know.
Archie

Well.. if you did not have Macdrive on your PC before (and you could read them) then they were not formatted as HFS.

On the drive that does record... can you see that drive OK on your PC? In which case.. you should be able to view the properties of the drive and verify how it is formatted.

On the drive that "doesn't record" can you even see it in the list of drives?


Anyhow... see if you can reformat using the instructions I provided.