#LOW LEVEL FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 7 PASSWORD#

Step 2. Double-click the BitLocker drive or external drive, enter your password in the pop-up window. Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer and locate the BitLocker encrypted drive.

In this part, you'll learn two ways to unlock the BitLocker hard drive or USB, SD: Way 1.

#LOW LEVEL FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 7 SOFTWARE#

Once the BitLocker drive is locked, Windows will change the file system parameters, directory entries, and other important parameters of the disk.Īs a result, except for Windows itself, no other software can recognize and access the drive. Note that when your drive is encrypted by BitLocker password, you must unlock it first.

IMPORTANT: If you have vital data saved on the BitLocker hard drive or external USB, SD card, unlock the drive, and back up data to another secure location first. In other words, when your BitLocker drive is unlocked, you can directly jump to Part 3 and apply one method to format the drive immediately. You can also access and even make changes to the saved files, even including the drive. If your BitLocker drive is unlocked with a blue lock icon, it means that your drive data is currently visible and editable. You'll have to unlock it first before formatting. If your BitLocker drive or USB is encrypted with a golden lock icon, it means that your drive is currently locked. Check BitLocker Drive State - Is The Drive Locked or Unlockedīefore you start, open Windows File Explorer to check the state of your BitLocker encrypted drive first: Case 1. Check BitLocker Drive State - Locked or Unlocked If you are trying to format the BitLocker drive, follow through the following parts to restore your drive back to a normal state: However, if the hard drive or USB is encrypted with Windows BitLocker, things become a bit more complex. In most cases, you can easily format or even wipe a hard drive. When you enabled or even locked BitLocker drive, USB, SD card, you can format it on your own. I want to remove BitLocker to decrypt the hard drive, but the problem is that I don't know the password nor recovery key.Ĭan I format the BitLocker drive and make it usable again?'Ī: Yes. 'Several days ago, I got a Bitlocker encrypted external hard drive. Can I Format a BitLocker Encrypted Hard Drive When enabling BitLocker on a hard disk, USB flash drive, or SD card on your computer, Microsoft Windows encodes the files and folders stored on the device so that only the permitted users can access the data. It's designed to protect data by providing encryption for an entire volume.'

#LOW LEVEL FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 7 HOW TO#

Format BitLocker Drive on Windows 11/10/8/7 (4 Methods) BitLocker Drive Overviewīefore getting to know how to format Bitlocker drive, you may first need to know:Īccording to Wikipedia, 'BitLocker is a volume encryption feature included in all Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. Unlock BitLocker Drive Before Formatting Part 3. PAGE CONTENT: BitLocker Drive Overview Part 1.

Low level format external hard drive windows 7