Windows Formatting a USB Memory Stick or External Drive
Universal Serial Bus or USB devices include the keyboard and mouse, some speakers, cables to connect a phone, digital recorder, camera, and many other devices. USB is a way for the computer and the device to talk back-and-forth to each other. USB memory sticks are also referred to by names such as "flash drive, thumb drive, jump drive" and other titles. These USB memory type sticks can have small amounts of memory (i.e. 2 gigabytes) up to very large amounts of memory (i.e. 128 gigabytes). External USB hard drives have as much memory as the hard drive in the computer, and operate at the same rotations per minute. The smaller size of the USB memory stick makes it a good choice for saving documents, music, pictures, audio files and more that you want to carry with you and use in other computers. Most public libraries, and some schools will not allow you to insert your USB memory stick into their computer. The threat of a potential virus on a memory stick infecting the library computers is a great concern. External hard drives are generally used to store large amounts of data for files. One common use for the external drive is to store thousands of songs, hundreds of video movies, and other very large files.
It should be noted here that cloud based computing is making some of the original uses for the USB memory stick obsolete. If you have a free Drop Box, Ubuntu One, or Google Docs account, you can store all of your documents for school on your account, on the internet, and sync that account to your computer. When you are away from your computer you can go on line, login to your account, and retrieve your files. If you are an employee handling confidential information for a business, cloud based file storage may not be acceptable by your company.
Do the following activity to set up your new USB memory stick, or external drive. While it is not completely necessary to do the following activity, we will because companies that make these USB devices often put their own name on the item, and often have folders of items we do not need, pre-installed on the device. Make sure the device is for storage and not something like a USB wireless card, TV tuner, or even dongle for a screen reader or screen enlarger. When you are finished move to the link at the bottom of this page titled "BACK" to go to the "Simple Windows Lessons" web page.
1. Insert the USB memory stick or external drive into a USB port on your computer.
2. Wait for a box to pop up.
3. Hit the Escape key one time.
4. Press and hold down the Windows key and hit the letter e to open Windows File Explorer.
5. Release the keys.
6. Press and hold down the Shift key and hit the Tab key again-and-again until you get to the "Tree View." (be patient and listen to your screen reader!) You should land on the "Computer" item.
7. If you are not on the "Computer" item, hit the letter c until you get there, or up or down arrow to that item.
8. Right arrow one time to open the "Computer" item.
9. Down arrow until you hear the name of the company that made the USB memory stick or external drive. You will also hear a drive letter such as "e." The drive letter that Windows assigns your USB device will vary from computer to computer. For example, on your home computer it might be "e" and on your work computer it might be "f." This does not matter because you will still be able to open and use the USB drive.
10. Hit the Enter key one time to activate the USB drive.
11. Hit the Applications key one time.
12. Down arrow to the "Format" menu item.
13. Hit the Enter key one time and a box comes up titled "Format Storage" and the drive letter your computer assigns to the device.
14. Hit the Tab key again-and-again until you get to the edit box titled "Volume Label."
15. Type a name for your USB drive. Your last name is a good option if you are going to use the device at home and work. If you are putting books on the device, maybe name it "Books." You can use up to eleven letters or letters and numbers.
16. Tab one time and you will hear "Quick Format" checkbox checked. Leave this checkbox checked for a fast format. If you feel you need to do a long format, hit the Spacebar one time to uncheck this box. The long method is very good, but does take a long time.
17. Tab one time and you will be on the "Start" button.
18. Hit the Spacebar one time on the "Start" button and a warning box titled "Format Storage" followed by the drive letter Windows is assigning to the USB device. A message will then be spoken telling you that if you format the USB device all data, meaning folders and files, will be permanently erased from the USB device. If you really want to format the USB device, hit the Enter key. If you do not want to format the USB device, hit the Escape key.
19. If you did format the USB device a box will pop up telling you that it is done. Press the Escape key to close the formatting area.
20. You should still be in the "Tree View" of the Windows File Explorer. Use your up and down arrow keys to see if the USB device has the name you gave it.
21. Make sure you are on the name of your USB device in the "Tree View," and then hit the Applications key one time.
22. Down arrow to the "Eject" menu item.
23. Hit the Enter key one time and Windows releases the memory stick or external hard drive.
NOTE: If you leave your USB memory stick or external drive attached to your computer and want to quickly get into the list view of the device, press and hold down the Windows key and hit the letter r. Release the keys. Type the letter that Windows assigned to the USB device follow immediately by a colon. Hit the Enter key one time and you will be in the "List View" of your USB memory stick or external hard drive.