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Summary: This article tells how to format a USB flash drive on Windows 10/8/7 and Mac when you want to reformat a new or second-hand removable storage device to make sure it doesn’t contain any malicious files or fix the logical errors.

What is Formatting？

Format Thumb Drive Mac Fat32 Ntfs

Mac machines: right click your device in Mac - Get Info - General - Format, and see what it shows, if it says 'MS-DOS FAT32', it means your drive is in fat32 file system, which is compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Formatting is the fastest way to prepare the USB flash drive for the initial use. It wipes all the data stored on your flash drive and allows full use of the storage capacity. Meanwhile, it also creates a filing system that can help organizes your data on Windows or Mac.

Which File System Should I Choose for a USB Flash Drive?

We can’t talk about formatting without talking about file system as it differs when we are using the different computers; the common file systems are FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS for Windows, APFS, HFS+, and exFAT for macOS, here we will only talk about the most common file systems when formatting a USB flash drive:

1. But the drives formatted as FAT32 are read and written to Mac operating system but it is not right and you may end up into problems if you don’t use the native format of Mac OS. So, if you have a USB drive that needs formatting or has been formatted as FAT32, then here is the right way to format USB flash drive on Mac.
2. Note: Replace exFAT if you choose another file system, for example, enter the command format fs=fat32 to format the USB flash drive into FAT32 format. Method 3: Format a USB Drive Using Disk Management. This is a method similar to the one performed by using File Explorer, and here are the steps you can follow.

• FAT32: It’s compatible with all major operating systems and uses less memory usage. But it cannot handle single files larger than 4GB and has a limited partition size (up to 32GB).
• NTFS: It can create partitions larger than 32GB and read/write files larger than 4GB. Besides, it supports on-the-fly file encryption. The disadvantage is that the Mac computer can only read the data from the NTFS drive.
• exFAT: It provides an unlimited file and partition size. It serves no matter the Windows or Mac users who want to work with files larger than 4GB.

We strongly recommend that you use exFAT, which is considered the best choice for both Windows and Mac computers, whereas the exFAT file system works better than FAT32 and can handle the file size up to 16GB.

How to Format a USB Drive on Windows 7/8/10?

After deciding which file system you are going to apply, let’s explore the formatting methods. Generally, On Windows 10, 8, 7, there are some common ways you can format a USB flash drive.

Method 1: Format a USB Flash Drive Using File Explorer

This is the easiest way with which many users are familiar. Refer to the following steps to learn how.

Step 1: Connect your USB flash drive and open press Win key + E to open File Explorer.

Step 2: Right-click on the drive and choose the Format option.

Step 3: Expand the File system drop-down menu and select the exFAToption.

Step 4: Click on the Start button.

Note: Uncheck the Quick Format means full format; it goes with a thorough scanning and wiping your data on the USB flash drive, you will have no chance to get back your data after using this option.

Method 2: Format a USB Flash Drive Using Diskpart

Format Thumb Drive Fat32 Mac

Using diskpart to format a USB flash drive is another useful method, and even it works for the computer user who has no exFAT options in File Explorer or Disk Management. However, the user should select the correct volume before carrying out a quick or full format on your USB flash drive:

Step 1: Enter Command Prompt in the search bar and then right-click it, choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: Enter below-written commands in the same order and same diskpart window:

• diskpart
• list volume
• select volume NUMBER (Replace NUMBER to the exact number of your USB flash drive)
• format fs=exFAT quick (Don’t enter quick if you want a full format)

Note: Replace exFAT if you choose another file system, for example, enter the command format fs=fat32 to format the USB flash drive into FAT32 format.

Method 3: Format a USB Drive Using Disk Management

This is a method similar to the one performed by using File Explorer, and here are the steps you can follow:

Step 1: Press Win + Q, type in Disk Management and open it.

Step 2: Right-click on the desired USB flash drive and select Format.

Step 3: Select exFAT from the File System drop-down menu.

Step 4: Click on the OK button.

Method 4: Format a USB Flash Drive Using PowerShell (Windows 10 Only)

PowerShell is a task and configuration management platform which was first appeared in 2006; it’s powerful than Command Prompt that can be used to automate many different system administration tasks, and of course, for formatting a USB flash drive: Autodata crack dongle.

Step 1: Right-click on the Start menu at the lower-left corner and choose Windows PowerShell(Admin).

Step 2: Enter the following command to view the USB flash drive you want to format:

• Get-Volume
• Format-Volume -DriveLetter F -FileSystem exFAT (Replace F to the exact drive letter of your USB flash drive)

Note: In this method, you should note that after entering the format command, it goes to format the USB flash drive to exFAT directly, and if you want a FAT32 drive, just replace exFAT to FAT32, that’s all.

How to Perform a USB Drive Format on Mac?

Reformatting a USB flash drive in exFAT on Mac is easy than you imagine; we should thank the Disk Utility that can make the reformatting easy to complete; Likewise, follow with the same steps if you would like to reformat an SD card, internal or external hard drive:

Step 1: Connect the USB stick to the PC with one of the USB ports and then press Command + Space to search Disk Utility.

Step 2: After selecting the drive on the left part of the Disk Utility window, click on the Erase button lying at the top of the window.

Step 3: Now, select exFAT from the drop-down menu of the Format.

Step 4: Click the Erase and wait for the reformatting process to complete.

Note: Please back up your data before the formatting of your USB flash drive as Erase will wipe all of the stored data!

What if you were not intended to format the USB flash drive, and there are lots of the vital photos, videos, documents, or any other files stored on the drive that have been lost due to the reformatting. What should we do to retrieve lost data? Don’t worry, a quick format won’t cause all of the data to lose, the file contents still exist on the USB flash drive, and you will have a big chance to get back your data as soon as you launch the third-party data recovery program – Bitwar Data Recovery to perform a full scan.

Recover Files From a Formatted Drive Using Bitwar Data Recovery

No matter how carefully or gradually backing up the USB flash drive, the data loss is still inevitable, such as the USB flash drive turns to a RAW drive suddenly, or you might unplug the drive without safely removing from the computer; moreover, the backup files are out-to-dated when the accident happens.

We have experienced many of the users encountered the same frustrating issue that causes the works to stop, and most of them finally chose to start the work again as they didn’t know how to restore the data. Right now, you’ll be all set if using Bitwar Data Recovery with the steps below:

Step 1: Go toBitwarsoft Download Center to download and install Bitwar Data Recovery.

Step 2: After completing the installation, open the Bitwar data recovery software and then select the formatted USB flash drive.

Step 3: Choose a recovery mode. We strongly recommend you choose the Quick Scan for the first time since this mode scans the whole drive in just a few minutes. However, if this mode can’t work to find your data, try with the Deep Scan mode next time.

Step 4: Choose the File types and then press the Scan button.

Step 5: Double-click on wanted files to preview them. After that, click on Recover to save the files to a safe place.

Note: Please be careful not to save the recovered files to the formatted USB flash drive. The reason is to prevent the data from being overwritten again.

Conclusion

Like many other storage devices, The USB flash drive can be easily failed without any concerns. There are many possible causes behind the happening of this accident, such as the unstable flash chip, disconnect the USB flash drive before safely removing from the computer, virus attack, or Trojan infection. Some of the failures are just logic errors that can be fixed easily by reformatting the drive. Some failures prove that your USB flash drive was physically damaged, and that means you may have to consider buying a new one.

If you purchase a brand-new USB flash drive and want an initial usage or the USB flash drive has encountered any logic errors as told, this article serves you very well, as it tells how to format a USB flash drive with different methods on Windows or Mac. What if there were vital data stored on the USB flash drive, it is suggested to retrieve the data using Bitwar Data Recovery before starting the formatting.

Follow with the steps mentioned above and hope that you can finally reformat the USB flash drive or get back the wanted data.

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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.

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. 1. EaseUS FAT32 formatting software

1. 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

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. 1991 polaris trail boss 250 manual.

Format Large Flash Drive Fat32

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.

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.

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.

Format Fat32 64gb Thumb Drive

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.

Format Thumb Drive Mac Fat32 Iso

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.