How to reformat an external SSD or HDD that is marked readonly

To low-level format and repartition an external SSD or HDD using diskpart, follow these steps to wipe the drive and remove the write protection:

1.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

• Press Win + S, type cmd, right-click “Command Prompt,” and select “Run as administrator.”

Run diskpart:

• Type diskpart and press Enter.

List disks:

• Type list disk and press Enter. Identify your SSD (e.g., Disk 1).

Select the SSD:

• Type select disk X (replace X with the disk number of your SSD, e.g., select disk 1) and press Enter.

Remove write protection:

• Type attributes disk clear readonly and press Enter.

Wipe the drive:

• Type clean and press Enter. This removes all partitions and data, freeing the full drive.

Create a new partition:

• Type create partition primary and press Enter.

• Type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter to format as NTFS.

• Type assign and press Enter to assign a drive letter.

Exit diskpart:

• Type exit and press Enter.

The SSD is now wiped, formatted, and ready for use. You can verify it in Disk Management or File Explorer.