[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":181},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-part-a-formatting-an-ssd-with-a-master-boot-record":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"slug":7,"thumbnail":8,"tabTitle":9,"postDescription":10,"previewText":11,"postType":12,"isLive":13,"hidden":14,"content":15,"updatedDate":180,"createdDate":11},"BTgHbsdkKxNVDMFHbwjv","Part A - Formatting an SSD with a Master Boot Record","Steve Harrington","part-a-formatting-an-ssd-with-a-master-boot-record","https://igeddit.ca/img/macRunningWindows.webp","Part A","Formatting an SSD for Windows installation on a Mac","","post",true,false,{"type":16,"content":17},"doc",[18,21,29,34,41,46,51,56,81,86,89,94,99,104,109,114,119,128,133,138,140,143,148,152,157,175],{"attrs":19,"type":20},{"src":8},"image",{"content":22,"type":26,"attrs":27},[23],{"text":24,"type":25},"This post is a continuation of the post \"Running Windows on a Mac\". It will only make sense to you if you read that post first, and decide to take this branch: Part A","text","paragraph",{"textAlign":28},"left",{"type":26,"content":30,"attrs":33},[31],{"text":32,"type":25},"Part A ",{"textAlign":28},{"type":35,"content":36,"attrs":39},"heading",[37],{"text":38,"type":25},"PATH A - FORMATTING WITH MS-DOS (FAT) AND MASTERBOOT SCHEME. Detailed steps.",{"level":40,"textAlign":28},1,{"content":42,"type":26,"attrs":45},[43],{"text":44,"type":25},"We will be formatting our SSD in MS-DOS(FAT) format and using a scheme of Master Boot Record.",{"textAlign":28},{"attrs":47,"content":48,"type":26},{"textAlign":28},[49],{"text":50,"type":25},"Like we did when we were formatting our USB stick, eject all \"External\" drives from your Mac so that only the SSD you want to format for Windows 10 is connected. This will make the process much simpler.",{"type":26,"content":52,"attrs":55},[53],{"text":54,"type":25},"Select your SSD under the \"External\" category. Mine is listed as \"Samsung PSSD T7 Shield Media\".  Next click the \"Erase\" button in the top menu. Use the following settings (you can use whatever name you want, I just happened to choose 'WIN10':",{"textAlign":28},{"content":57,"type":80},[58,66,73],{"type":59,"content":60},"listItem",[61],{"type":26,"content":62,"attrs":65},[63],{"text":64,"type":25},"Name: WIN10",{"textAlign":28},{"content":67,"type":59},[68],{"attrs":69,"content":70,"type":26},{"textAlign":28},[71],{"text":72,"type":25},"Format: MS-DOS (FAT)",{"type":59,"content":74},[75],{"type":26,"content":76,"attrs":79},[77],{"text":78,"type":25},"Scheme: Master Boot Record",{"textAlign":28},"bulletList",{"type":26,"content":82,"attrs":85},[83],{"text":84,"type":25},"Here's what mine looked like:",{"textAlign":28},{"attrs":87,"type":20},{"src":88},"https://igeddit.ca/img/master-boot-record-format.webp",{"type":26,"content":90,"attrs":93},[91],{"text":92,"type":25},"Once you've set the parameters to WIN10, MS-DOS (FAT), and 'Master Boot Record', and you're sure nothing on the SSD is of value to you, because ALL WILL BE ERASED !!!, click the \"Erase\" button.",{"textAlign":28},{"attrs":95,"type":26,"content":96},{"textAlign":28},[97],{"text":98,"type":25},"After the Disk Utility erases your SSD, if you open a finder window, you should see your 'WIN10' SSD listed. You can quit the Disk Utility App now.",{"type":35,"content":100,"attrs":103},[101],{"text":102,"type":25},"Installing Windows 10 on your newly formatted external SSD with VirtualBox",{"level":40,"textAlign":28},{"content":105,"type":26,"attrs":108},[106],{"text":107,"type":25},"We haven't moved out of the \"caution\" area yet; that's why this content is still in between the two \"caution\" tape images.",{"textAlign":28},{"content":110,"type":26,"attrs":113},[111],{"text":112,"type":25},"This next section is very detailed and you need to pay attention to those details - this is IMPORTANT!",{"textAlign":28},{"attrs":115,"type":26,"content":116},{"textAlign":28},[117],{"text":118,"type":25},"Open up Disk Utility again, only this time you're going to be using the Terminal App.",{"type":80,"content":120},[121],{"type":59,"content":122},[123],{"attrs":124,"type":26,"content":125},{"textAlign":28},[126],{"text":127,"type":25},"Open Disk Utility: Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app",{"type":26,"content":129,"attrs":132},[130],{"text":131,"type":25},"When the Terminal app opens, you will see a command prompt, type in \"diskutil list\" without the quotes and press \"Enter\" from your keyboard (you can copy and paste the code below into the Terminal window).",{"textAlign":28},{"content":134,"type":137},[135],{"text":136,"type":25},"diskutil list","codeBlock",{"attrs":139,"type":26},{"textAlign":28},{"attrs":141,"type":20},{"src":142},"https://igeddit.ca/img/disk-util-mbr.webp",{"content":144,"type":26,"attrs":147},[145],{"text":146,"type":25},"As you can see from the screenshot above, the diskutil list shows three disks: ",{"textAlign":28},{"content":149,"type":137},[150],{"text":151,"type":25},"/dev/disk0\n/dev/disk1\n/dev/disk2",{"attrs":153,"content":154,"type":26},{"textAlign":28},[155],{"text":156,"type":25},"Take note however that /dev/disk2 is the only disk that displays \"(external, physical)\" next to it. Disk2 also has a \"DOS_FAT_32\" AND it contains the name \"WIN10\". ",{"attrs":158,"content":159,"type":26},{"textAlign":28},[160,162,167,169,173],{"text":161,"type":25},"Disk2 is the disk we are interested in but hold on. That's the disk of interest (the SSD drive) on ",{"type":25,"marks":163,"text":166},[164],{"type":165},"bold","MY",{"text":168,"type":25}," computer but it may not be the same disk number on your computer. So take note of the disk number of interest for ",{"text":170,"marks":171,"type":25},"YOU",[172],{"type":165},{"text":174,"type":25},": that disk number is going to be very important in the next step.",{"type":26,"content":176,"attrs":179},[177],{"text":178,"type":25},"You can close this tab and return to the main post to resume where we branched to Part A.",{"textAlign":28},"2026-05-29",1780034025224]