From the course: Help Yourself: Tech Tips Weekly

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Formatting media

Formatting media

- [Instructor] Your duty to format computer media isn't required as much today as it once was. Only when you must fully erase media, such as a thumb drive or a media card, do you need to use the Format tool. To do so, insert the media, such as this thumb drive. You can dismiss any warning or pop-up that appears. Instead, you need to visit the This PC window. Press the Windows and E keyboard shortcut to bring up a File Explorer window. Choose This PC. And right-click on the media in question. Choose Format. Unless you truly need to change the file system, keep it as is, such as the FAT32 system shown here. Other options include NTFS, and exFAT. You may see additional options depending on what type of media it is, but just keep everything as is unless you really, really know what you're doing. You can ensure that the Quick Format option is selected and click the Start button. The warning is serious. Do not reformat any media that contains information you want to keep. Otherwise, click…

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