Hey Friends today we will see how to format usb flash drive using MS-DOS. Manny times we need to format our usb drives, people find it difficult so today reading this article you will be able to format you usb very easily,lets see the steps. Steps To Format Your Unformatable USB. 1) Click Start Run, and type cmd in the box then Click OK. Choose exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) for the format; Choose Master Boot Record for the Scheme; Click Erase; 5. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button. NOTE: exFAT is used on SDXC card (64GB and higher). NOTE: exFAT can be used on flash drives or memory cards to transfer files larger than 4GB.
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How to format USB to FAT32? If the USB flash drive is within 32GB, the native Windows File Explorer and Windows Disk Management are good FAT32 formatter. However, if you want to format 64GB or 128GB USB to FAT32, you can only depend on CMD (Usually diskpart and powershell) and a third-party FAT32 format tool.
*EaseUS Partition Master Free is an all-around FAT32 format utility that breaks the limit of the 32GB capacity on a USB flash drive, pen drive or memory card. You can apply the software to format any drive from 2GB to 256GB or even bigger to FAT32 without limitation. Read on and get to know the FAT32 file system and how to choose the right tool to format USB to FAT32.
Why Do We Format USB to FAT32?
Related topic:Should you format USB to FAT32 or NTFS?
What's FAT32? FAT32 is regarded as the default file system for external drives, especially the removable USB flash drives and SD memory cards. It's the most compatible file system that can be used on major devices and operating systems like Windows and macOS. So, the advantage of using FAT32 is portability.
However, FAT32 has some disadvantages, or let's say limitations as well. First and foremost, if you use a single file over 4GB in size, you'll need to convert FAT32 to NTFS or exFAT; What's more, due to the manufacturers' specifications, FAT32 can only be used to format drives between 2GB and 32GB, and that's why native tools on Windows have that limit, too. When you try to format a USB drive over 32GB in Windows Explorer, there is no 'FAT32' option at all.
- Warning
- Formatting the USB flash drive will delete all the content on the device. Please make sure that you have backed up everything on the drive you want to save before the operations.
How to Format USB to FAT32: Windows Tools or Third-party Formatter?
According to the previous FAT32 analysis, 32GB is the watershed when it comes to deciding how to format your USB flash drive to the FAT32 file system. In a word, when the USB drive is within 32GB, you can choose any tool mentioned on this page to make it. Otherwise, once the USB drive capacity exceeds the 32GB limit, you'll need to turn to more advanced solutions, including:
- 1. EaseUS FAT32 formatting software
- 2. Diskpart & PowerShell command
Next, we'll cover all free solutions to let you format 2GB, 8GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB USB flash drive to FAT32 with success.
#1. Format USB (Under 32GB) to FAT32 via Windows 7/8/10 File Explorer
How to make your windows into a mac. Connect your USB drive to a Windows PC or laptop and let Windows recognize your drive and assign it a drive letter. Check it in Windows Explorer and follow the steps to format the drive to FAT32 as you want.
Step 1. Press Windows + E keys and open File Explorer.
Step 2. Right-click on your USB drive and choose Format.
Step 3. Choose FAT32 as the target file system, tick Quick Format and click Start.
#2. Format USB (Under 32GB) to FAT32 via Windows 7/8/10 Disk Management
Disk management is a free Windows built-in utility that is designed to help users deal with common disk partition related jobs. It is ready to help whenever you want to format a small USB drive to FAT32.
Step 1. Right-click This PC in Windows 10/My Computer in Windows 7, and choose Manage.
Step 2. Choose Disk Management under Storage.
Step 3. Right-click on your USB drive and select Format.
How To Format Memory Stick On Mac
Step 4. From the File system drop-down list, choose FAT32 and click OK.
#3. Format USB (32GB, 64GB, 128GB) to FAT32 with EaseUS FAT32 Formatter
Since the FAT32 option is not available in the regular Windows formatting tools when the USB size is over 32GB, you need other capable USB format tools to get around that. Here we recommend you try EaseUS Partition Master Free, a free partition manager that can help you format your hard drive and USB devices without size limitations. In addition, it also lets you easily resize, create, delete, merge, split, copy partitions, convert MBR to GPT drive and vice versa, and many other things you cannot realize in the default Windows programs.
Now you can download the program and follow the simple steps to format the USB flash drive in any size to FAT32.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition you intend to format and choose 'Format'.
Step 2: In the new window, enter the Partition label, choose the FAT32 file system, and set the cluster size according to your needs, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: Then you will see a warning window, click 'OK' in it to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting the partition to FAT32.
Smaller cluster size makes less waste of disk space. The smaller cluster size is, the bigger the file allocation table (FAT) will be. The bigger the FAT is, the slower the operating system works with the disk.
#4. Format USB to FAT32 Using CMD
Though Windows Command Prompt is the other attainable way that enables users to format a storage device to whatever file system, it's kind of higher-leveled and risker for average persons.
How To Format Memory Stick On Macbook Pro
If you are with solid computer skills and familiar with the command lines, you can try the diskpart and powershell command to format your USB drive to FAT32 like the third-party EaseUS format tool does.
Diskpart Command Line:
list disk
select disk *
list volume
select volume *
format fs=ntfs quick
PowerShell Command Line:
format /FS:FAT32 X:
Are You Able to Format USB to FAT32 Now?
Regarding the topic 'how to format USB to FAT32', we analyzed the FAT32's advantage and disadvantage, and clearly know that the regular Windows File Explorer and Windows Disk Management can only deal with the USB drive under 32GB. If you're trying to format a large USB drive that is 64GB or 128GB, you'll need to download the third-party formatting software - EaseUS Partition Master Free, or challenge yourself to learn the Diskpart or PowerShell commands.
All in all, no matter how large your USB flash drive is, EaseUS FAT32 format software is the optimal choice to format your USB drive to FAT32. It doesn't require the USB storage size, and most of all, it's user-friendly that everyone can benefit from it.
Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions
Will formatting a USB completely loses all of its data? Interesting question right? Many of your answers will be yes. But interestingly it won't. In this world of technology, nothing becomes impossible. Even after completely formatting all the files from an exFAT or FAT32 USB flash drive we can completely recover it or even we can repair the damaged data.
Here we explain it in such a way that each one of you can format USB drive without losing data.
Part 1: What Does Format Flash Drive Mean
When we buy a new USB drive, we all make sure that the complete space available in the flash drive is empty. So what happens when we start adding files to the same? Logitech hd pro webcam c920 mac compatible. We know space starts to get occupied by the files.
But what happens if it is filled and we want to use it again in a fresh manner. There we use the technique called formatting which means we completely erase all the data and files inside the flash drive. So let us see how this works:
When we add data to a USB flash drive it creates a filing system that organizes the data while allowing you to store the most files possible. This virtual filing cupboard organizes your files in a way that makes your USB flash drive perform at its best.
Part 2: Will Formatting Flash Drive Erase Data
The answer to this question is a simple yes. Let us have a quick look at how it happens. Here we talked about organizing files. Files are allocated by certain systems that determine how and where your files are digitally stored. There are mainly 4 types of file systems for storage devices: FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS.
NTFS uses less fragmentation and therefore manages space more effectively. It also excels at transferring files larger than 4GB. However, this system is not always optimal for USB flash drives unless you need to transfer extra-large files.
FAT and FAT32 are supported by nearly every operating system, use less memory, and work faster. The file system exFAT combines the best of both NTFS and FAT for flash drives by reading and writing larger files at a faster speed.
Formatting is not complex either. If you have your flash drive and computer system, you already have all the tools you need.
Step 1: Right-click on your flash drive under My Computer and select Format.
Step 2: Choose from the drop-down menu for the File System to change it to its desired format. The default is generally FAT 32.
Step 3: Uncheck Quick Format if needed.
Step 4: Then, click Start and click OK to bypass the deletion warning.
Part 3: Is It Possible To Format USB Flash Drive Without Losing Data?
Yes, it is possible to format the removable disk without losing data. Let us see how this can be done.
Step 1: Backup data first before formatting Create a mac recovery disk.
Step 2: Format USB flash drive
These steps don't need many explanations. Before doing the process of formatting you should create a backup of all the files and data of your drive. This can be done by any backup methods of your choice. Simply you can connect it to a computer and copy all the files to it and then do formatting drive.
Part 4: How to Recover Lost Data After Formatting
If you didn't make a backup before formatting or you find some files lost after formatting, are you worried about losing your data? No more worries because Recoverit Data Recovery is going to help you.
Recoverit Data Recovery - The Best File Recovery Software
- Ability to recover all files like photos, videos, documents, etc.
- Can retrieve data from all data loss scenarios.
- Ability to restore data from all storage devices (internal and external) and crashed windows system.
- Video repair tool that can repair corrupted videos under different scenarios.
How to Recover Lost Data From Your Storage Device Using Recoverit
To recover files, first, you have to launch Recoverit on your computer. To make Recoverit Data Recovery run on a Windows computer, you have to double click the 'Wondershare Recoverit' icon on the Desktop. If it is not available on the Desktop, you can enter 'Recoverit' in the search box on your Windows computer. And then click on the App or Choose to 'Open' it.
Step 1: Connect the external device
Before getting Recoverit started, you need to connect the external device to your computer. Make sure that it can be recognized or detected.
Step 2: Select the external device
To recover lost or deleted files from the removable storage media, please select the device as the target location. And then hit on the 'Start' button. Even though the partition on the device has got lost, you can still use Recoverit to bring the lost data back.
Step 3: Scan the external device
An all-around scan will be launched on the external storage media. Wait a few minutes to finish the scanning. During the process, you can locate the targeted files, as well as pause or stop it.
How To Format A Memory Stick On A Mac
Step 4: Preview and recover files
Once the scanning ends, you can preview the files from the scanning result. To get the files back, click 'Recover' and save them into another safe location.
Conclusion
When you have lost files, the primary thing you would like to see is whether or not you've got a backup on your computer or other storage media. Just attend the backup and restore all of your files. Regularly creating a backup is extremely important and useful, it can assist you to save longer to recover files from USB drive when data got lost, and otherwise you should get the Recoverit USB Data Recovery software to recover your data back.
USB Topic
- Recover USB Drive
- Format USB Drive
- Fix/Repair USB Drive
- Know USB Drive