The meaning of formatting in computer involves preparing a storage device or creating its file system so that the operating system can easily manage the information stored. For instance, when you format a flash drive, the Windows operating system can format the drive to use file systems like NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT. Formatting can be done in preparation for using the device in another computer. It may also be done to use the device in another computer. However, formatting may make you lose the files on the drive since they are deleted to make way for other files on the drive. If you format a drive accidentally, ensure you do not use it before thinking of ways to recover your files.