Windows 10: How to format USB Flash Drives in Windows

Most USB Flash Drives that you plug in to a Windows PC are detected automatically by the system. Some may need to be formatted before you can start using them. Put simply, formatting makes sure that the operating system can interact with the device. Files can be saved, loaded, deleted or edited.

Formatting may also prove useful if the device doesn't work properly anymore, e.g., when it is not detected by Windows, or when you want to start anew and erase all data on the drive.

Windows includes tool to format drives. It is an easy process, but I still get emails every now and then from users who seek guidance.

Formatting drives in Windows


Formatting adds a file system to a drive. You may have heard about FAT32 or NTFS. These file systems have rules in which they operate. FAT32 devices, for instance, support only files up to 4GB in size.

Formatting helps when a fully functional drive is not recognized by the Windows operating system. It can't magically repair a defective USB Flash Drive on the other hand.

Windows' built-in tool to Format drives and partitions supports different file systems. You may use it to change the name of the volume and also some other parameters.

There is also an advanced tool, called Disk Management, which can be used to partition drives and more. Last but not least, you may also format drives from the command prompt.

Using the basic Format tool in Windows




The easiest option to format a drive in Windows is to open File Explorer's This PC overview. It lists all drives and volumes at the time.

Right-click on the drive that you want to format and select the Format option from the context menu. A small program opens.



It lists the following information and options:

• The total capacity of the volume.
• The (new) File System. The three main file systems are FAT32, NTFS and exFAT. Windows does support additional file systems though.
• The Allocation unit size.
• A restore device defaults button.
• Volume Label field.
• Quick Format toggle.

Options may be limited here. Most users may want to keep the defaults. Quick format is the faster option, but it makes any file that is on the drive recoverable. If you want all files erased, uncheck the quick format option.

Note: to be 100% sure that no one can recover files on the drive, encrypt the entire drive before you run a full format.

Hit the Start button to start the process. Quick format should not take longer than a couple of seconds. Full format may take hours or even days. It depends on the size of the drive, its speed and also the load of the PC.

Disk Management, the advanced tool




Disk Management is an advanced tool. It can be used to format drives, but also to create, delete, shrink or expand volumes, combine storage space and more.

The easiest way to start Disk Management on Windows is to use the keyboard shortcut Windows-X and select Disk Management from the menu that opens.

Windows displays all disks and their volumes on Start. Right-click on any volume and select the format option to format it. You will notice that the menu is different from the basic tool.



You get the same options, more or less, with one exception. You can enable file and folder compression to save storage space at the expense of performance.

Select OK to start the formatting of the selected volume.

Disk Management is helpful for advanced operations. You can split an external drive into two volumes, or merge volumes again. Right-click on all volumes and select "delete volume" to delete all existing volumes and create a single volume with all the available storage space.

Using the command line




You may notice that the graphical user interface tools support only some or even just one file system. You may miss FAT32. If you need to assign a different file system to a drive, you may need to use the format tool from the command line.

To get started, open the Start Menu, type CMD, locate Command Prompt from the list of results and select run as administrators. Confirm the UAC prompt to continue.

You can run the command format /? to get a list of all parameters of the format command and some examples.

The base command is format drivelLetter, e.g., format e:. You are prompted to type the current label of the drive for confirmation. This is done to avoid accidental formats of other volumes. Windows displays a warning after you have typed the volume label correctly. All data on the specified volume is deleted when you proceed. Select Y to continue or N to cancel the operation.

Note that the default command runs a full format on the selected volume.

• The command format e: /q changes that, as it instructs Windows to run a quick format.
• The command format e: /q /fs:FAT32 defines the file system, in this case FAT32. You may also specify NTFS, which is the default, or exFAT instead.

Now You: when was the last time you formatted a drive?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post How to format USB Flash Drives in Windows appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Converting or formatting a USB flash drive to fat32

Hi, I'm Anvar, I'd be glad to help you today on this

If FAT32 option not showing in format , suggest to use diskpart command line tool

kindly fellow below steps

1. Type cmd in windows search ad right cick on it and click run as administrator

2. Next you can type the command diskpart in Command Prompt window. Press Enter to launch DiskPart utility.

Then you can type the command "list disk", press Enter and all detected disks will be displayed with detailed information. Check carefully which disk is your USB drive. You may identify the USB by checking the size. n this example we are assuming it as disk 3

Step 4. Select and clean the target USB drive

Type the command "select disk 3" and press Enter to select the target USB flash drive. Then type "clean" command and press Enter. DiskPart will wipe disk data.

Step 5. Format USB flash drive/pen drive with CMD (Command Prompt)

Tip: Before you format USB using CMD, you can confirm again that you’ve selected the right disk, to avoid formatting the wrong disk. You can type list disk command again, press Enter, and the selected disk should have a “*” mark before the disk number.

After that, you can type the command create partition primary, and press Enter.

Then type the command "format fs=ntfs" or "format fs=fat32", and press Enter to format the USB flash drive to NTFS or FAT32 format. Optionally you can add a “quick” flag after the command for a faster format.

Step 6. Assign a drive letter for the USB

Continue to type the command "assign letter=h", replace “h” with the preferred drive letter you want to assign to the USB drive. Press Enter to assign a letter for the USB drive and make it visible in Windows File Explorer.

Type exit to close DiskPart and type exit to close Command Prompt window.

After formatting the USB flash drive in CMD (Command Prompt), the USB drive should be shown in Windows File Explorer and is available for storing files

Note :_ Exlude quotes while typing commands

(source :- minitool.com)

Hope this helps.

 

How To Format A Write Protected Flash Memory ?

¿You already tried this one?...

Run CMD


1. diskpart
2. list disk

Then in the 3º step, put the correct number of disk in the list for the usb flash (if it's listed in disk 3, then you'll have to write select disk 3).

2. select disk #
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

with that commands you will format the flash drive in fat32, if you have a large drive you can select also "format fs=ntfs" in step 7.

good luck!

 

USB Flash Drive saying not formatted..?

Hi,

I have a Memorex Poker Chip USB Flash Drive 1GB, and It shows up fine on one PC as "Poker Chip" in explore, and I can transfer files... but on my other PC (the one I'm on now..specs in profile) it's listed only as H: Removable Disk, and when I click on it, it says: "The Device is not formatted, would you like to format it now? (Y/N). Why would it be recognized on one PC, but the not the other? How come the other PC didn't need it formatted? When I click yes to format it, it says: "Windows was unable to complete the format"

I went to the BIOS and USB 2.0 is enabled. And Device Manager does list it as a Memorex Poker Chip..