Then type “diskpart” in the box and press to open Command Prompt.Ģ. Following are detailed steps on formatting USB to FAT32 using CMD. USB made by manufacturers like HP, Kingston, Samsung, etc. It is also a good program to format, for example, SONY Bravia USB or a pen drive, to FAT32 or NTFS. During this process, you have the choice to choose a file system.ĭiskpart.exe is frequently used for advanced users because it offers unattended service as well. Right-click the partition you want to format and select “Format…” and done. #BEST FAT32 FORMATTING TOOL FOR USB STICKS PC#Go Computer/This PC > Manage to open this utility. Disk Management has a graphical user-interface which makes it easy to use for most users. #BEST FAT32 FORMATTING TOOL FOR USB STICKS WINDOWS#Windows actually provides snap-in partition format tools, Disk Management and Command Prompt. Format USB to FAT32 Using Diskpart – Built-in FAT32 USB Formatter Just pay attention to these limitations when dealing with them. FAT32 fails to read single files larger than 4GB and single partitions greater than 2TB. Memory-saving: FAT32 takes up less space on a USB drive and has less disk writing operations, which provides faster speed and less memory usage.Īlthough FAT32 is the better file system used on a USB key, there are several limits to using this file system. So compatibility is quite an important property for the USB drive. As a removable device, being moved around between different operating systems, XBOX, PS3/PS4, Android, etc. Two main factors account for this:Ĭompatibility: Since it was created early, FAT32 is compatible with virtually all operating systems. Old as it is, FAT32 is still a better file system for the USB drive. USB flash drive is organized in clusters and the allocation unit size describes the size of a single cluster like other hard drives. One can change the file system without formatting between FAT32 and NTFS. Open PowerShell with administrative privileges by hitting Windows+X on your keyboard, and then selecting “PowerShell (Admin)” from the Power User menu.FAT32 and NTFS, Which is better for USB Stick?įAT32 and NTFS are different partition file systems that are widely used in Windows operating systems. Still, if you don’t want to-or can’t-download a third-party app, using the format command is pretty straightforward. Aside from the length of time, you also won’t know if formatting failed-unlikely but possible-until the process is done. Formatting our 64GB USB drive took almost over an hour, and we’ve heard some people complain that it can take many hours for bigger drives. The downside to doing this is that it can take a long time. You can format USB drives larger than 32GB with FAT32 by using the format command in PowerShell or Command Prompt-the command uses the same syntax in both tools. Format Large USB Drives with FAT32 by Using PowerShell No need to relaunch the tool or anything. If this happens to you, just close the File Explorer windows and try again. If you don’t, the tool will interpret the drive as being used by another app and formatting will fail. One thing to note here: you’ll need to close any open File Explorer windows before you format the drive. This tool took a few seconds to format our 64GB USB drive that took us over an hour in PowerShell. Click “OK” to format the drive.įormatting with this tool is much quicker than the command line method described in the next section. The truth is that FAT32 has a theoretical volume size limit of 16 TB, with a current practical limit of about 8 TB-plenty for most USB drives.Ī window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. Specifications put out by manufacturers on file systems as they pertain to drive size created the myth that FAT32 can only be used to format drives between 2 GB and 32 GB, and that is likely why native tools on Windows-and other systems-have that limit. Every major operating system and most devices support it, making it great for drives you need to access from different systems. The advantage to using FAT32 is portability. If you do need those larger file sizes, you’ll need to stick with something like NTFS or exFAT. RELATED: What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive?įAT32 is a solid file system for external drives, so long as you don’t plan to use files over 4GB in size. For whatever reason, the option to format USB drives larger than 32GB with the FAT32 file system isn’t present in the regular Windows format tool.
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