You just have to take a different route than the âright-click -> formatâ option we all know. Donât forget to replace âDrive_Letterâ with the actual drive letter. Being portable software, there is no need to install it. However, though FAT32 is well supported, its maximum drive and file size is severely limited when compared to newer formats like NTFS and ExFAT: * 1 petabyte is about 1 thousand terabytes Fat32 Formatter 1.1 is available to all software users as a free download for Windows. In the command prompt window, execute the below command. If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Click Start to begin … This is due to its longevity as a file system. Formatting a drive will delete all of the data that's currently on it. A file system divides a storage device into virtual compartments, almost like a wall of post office boxes, and keeps track of all the information that gets stored in each box. As it is an extremely old file system and that's why it has two significant limitations: The FAT32 file architecture can't be used on the hard drive larger than 16 TB. We are going to need it in the next step. Since we are using the command prompt, you need to know its drive letter before formatting the drive. Format large hard drives up to 32GB in FAT32 If you're sure you want to go with FAT32, here's how to format a storage drive on Windows 10. FAT32 quick format in Windows 10 is one of 2 most common format ways. Some of the most common file system formats for portable storage devices are FAT32, NTFS, and ExFAT. Simply visit the File system and locate the Format device name. Make sure you know the drive letter of the thing you’d like to format, then type in the following (replacing X: with the drive letter appropriate for your situation): format /FS:FAT32 X: This is going to take a while depending on the size of your drive. FAT32 is one of the most popular and versatile file formats for a drive. It mean if your USB flash drive is 8GB or more, it will not support FAT format. First, plug in the USB drive and open the File Explorer. eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'windowsloop_com-box-4','ezslot_15',131,'0','0']));2. Windows 10 users can use PowerShell instead of Command Prompt to format the external hard drive to the FAT32 format. There are lots of other programs that can format USB drives, but Rufus is really small and portable. Select the “Quick Format” option, and then click the “Start” button. If you need to format a USB flash drive, HDD, SDD, or some other form of storage to FAT32, you've come to the right place. While this method works with drives larger than 32 GB, it's really slow – even formatting a 32 GB drive can take up to an hour depending on your computer. I was ready to buy a new flash drive before I found this. Fat32 Formatter 1.1 free download, safe, secure and tested for viruses and malware by LO4D. With a single line command, you can format large drives in FAT32 format. Step 1: Connect the USB drive or the desired external hard drive to the Windows 10 computer. When right-clicking the target USB drive partition you want to format in Windows Explorer, there is an option Format, just click it. Fat32Format is a portable freeware utility capable of formatting large USB Drives (32 GB+) to FAT32. Depending on the drive size, it can take some time to format the drive. That being said, you can still format large drives in FAT32 format. fat32format 1.07 is a freeware application which allows Windows systems to format any drives to FAT32; despite the format's limitations, the author posits that even huge drives up to 2 TB (yes, 2 terabytes). Is there a better method that you know of? In the “FAT32 Format” window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. If you are not comfortable using the command prompt or PowerShell, you can use a free and portable software called FAT32 format. This was extremely helpful for formatting my flash drive from ExFAT to FAT32 to flashback my BIOS for my motherboard. In fact, make two backups, and keep one on a remote service like Google Drive or Dropbox. What is the Maximum File Size for FAT32 Format? ** 1 exabyte is about 1 million terabytes, Note that the maximum drive and file size of NTFS and ExFAT is so large that there's basically no limit. Also, feel free to rename the USB drive whatever you'd like: You can leave the rest of the options alone. Get started, freeCodeCamp is a donor-supported tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (United States Federal Tax Identification Number: 82-0779546). These days, the only reason why you'd choose to format a drive to FAT32 is for compatibility. Guide: * First you need to have a card reader and you need to insert it to one of your USB Ports. We also have thousands of freeCodeCamp study groups around the world. Click “OK” to format the drive. A file system is a standardized way of organizing data on a computer storage device like a flash drive or HDD. Although the program hasn't received updates for a considerable amount of time, it worked smoothly on Windows 10 in our tests, managing to format an exFAT 4GB drive as FAT32 without problems. Also, feel free to change the name of your USB drive under "Volume label": Then, click the "Start" button to format your drive. Press Enter, make sure your USB drive is plugged in, and press the Enter key again to start the process: Then go run some errands or something – it will take awhile. Once you have the drive letter, open the Command Prompt by searching for it in the start menu. Also, feel free to rename the USB drive whatever you'd like: You can leave the rest of the options alone. Format Any Drive with FAT32 on Windows 10. My drive letter was D, so I entered format /FS:FAT32 D:. In my case, I want to format a USB drive in FAT32 format. Every major operating system will allow you to read and write from a USB flash drive that's formatted to FAT32. This means you can stick Rufus right on a USB drive, plug it into any Windows computer, and format other drives on the go. In Windows 10, go to This PC > Manage > Disk Management. Donations to freeCodeCamp go toward our education initiatives, and help pay for servers, services, and staff. If your drive isn't larger than 32 GB, you can format it to FAT32 or ExFAT using a built-in Windows utility. First, download FAT32 Format software from the official website and execute the downloaded exe file. First, click on the Windows Search Bar and type in "powershell". As the program is a command line tool, it will be necessary to extract fat32format to a directory … Method 1. To format hard drive, flash drive, or SD card into FAT32, you can use Windows built-in tool to do this operation. But, if you aren't able to use the previous two methods for some reason, this will work in a pinch. Thatâs one of the reasons why you need to format a USB drive with NTFS while creating Windows 10 bootable drive. So, I selected that drive. 1. Was this helpful? Next, right-click on the drive on the left hand side of the File Explorer window and click "Format": In the window that pops up, ensure that "FAT32" is selected. In my case of a 128GB stick, I’m talking in excess of 6 hours. Click on the âYesâ button to continue. In recent versions of Windows 10, you will no longer see FAT32 as the format option for drives that are larger than 32GB. FAT32 Format is a free program that enables people to configure any hard drive, micro SD card, SD card, and USB drive that is more than 32 GB to the FAT32 file system.Microsoft Windows operating systems are notorious for not being able to structure a drive that is higher than 32 GB. Of those three common formats, FAT32 is the oldest and most widely supported. 4. In this tutorial, you will learn the easy way to format any drive using FAT32 file system.. You can also learn how to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data.. Let’s go! A window will pop up and you should see that the file system is now FAT32: If your USB drive is larger than 32 GB, you'll need to use a third-party program like Rufus to format it. After you download Rufus, double click on the .exe file to start the application. And since this article exists, formatting a 64 GB SD card to FAT32 in Windows 10 still possible, and here it will be described in detail how to do it. Once the format command is finished, your drive should be formatted to FAT32. As the program is a command line tool, it will be necessary to extract fat32format to a directory … This download is licensed as freeware for the Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system on a laptop or desktop PC from hard drive formatters without restrictions. The review for FAT32format GUI has not been completed yet, but it was tested by an editor here on a PC. Alternatively, you can also use the run command cmd. Win 10 has removed the option to format external drives to FAT32 for whatever reason (maybe they want the users to move to Mac OS or Linux ? A quick note about this method: it only works on USB flash drives that are less that 32 GB. You can make a tax-deductible donation here. How To Use It Press the Windows + X keys simultaneously and a menu will pop-up. freeCodeCamp's open source curriculum has helped more than 40,000 people get jobs as developers. Tweet at me and let me know how you format things on Windows 10. If your USB drive is larger than 32 GB, check out one of the later methods. Next, right-click on the drive on the left hand side of the File Explorer window and click "Format": In the window that pops up, ensure that "FAT32" is selected. Once that is done, click on the âStartâ button. Now you should be able to format a USB drive of any size to FAT32 on Windows 10. A common and easy way to format a USB drive to FAT32 is to make use of the File Explorer. The specific steps are as follows: 1. This is because the above command doesnât do a quick format. * Next is you might want to open THIS PC and look if the … fat32format is a freeware application which allows Windows systems to format any drives to FAT32; despite the format's limitations, the author posits that even huge drives up to 2 TB (yes, 2 terabytes). First, open “This PC” and take note of the letter of the drive that you want to format with FAT32. In my case, the drive letter is D. 4. You will receive a warning message telling that you will lose all data in the drive that you are about to format. My Name is Paul one of the Community Expert and a Windows User Like you and I will guide you on how to format a memory card using a Windows 10 Machine. We accomplish this by creating thousands of videos, articles, and interactive coding lessons - all freely available to the public. 5. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Softonic review Free data converter. Format to FAT32 using Diskpart Command Step 1. On the other hand, FAT32's max file size of 4 GB is almost nothing now that phones can record 4K videos. With that out of the way, plug your USB drive into your computer and open Windows File Explorer. In recent versions of Windows 10, you will no longer see FAT32 as the format option for drives that are larger than 32GB. Get Windows tips right in your inbox before anyone else. But this software gets around those problems elegantly and has been shown to work on … 2. On the main screen, select the drive you want to format in FAT32. USB requirements: Similar to the Explorer, your USB drive has to be under 32GB in order to format to FAT32 within the program. Fat 32 Format Windows 10 free download - Format Factory, PDF Reader for Windows 10, Facebook for Windows 10, and many more programs Important note: Before you format a drive, make sure that you backup all of your important files. Depending on how big the drive is, the formatting process can take some time. 1. After the successful formatting, you will receive a âFormat completeâ message. Our mission: to help people learn to code for free. So, type a name and press Enter. Windows 10 has default tools to format a partition to FAT32 from NTFS or other file systems, but most of time users just don’t want to format and delete anything on the original system, if there’s a way to convert one file system to another without data loss, that’ll be great, since time spend on backing things up and restoring … 2 Press ⊞ Win + E to open the File Explorer. But you'd need to be sure that none of those files are greater than 4 GB. Right-click on Windows icon, select "Search" and type: command prompt. 3. With that, you have successfully formatted the drive in FAT32 format. FAT32format GUI is a freeware format partition software download filed under hard drive formatters and made available by RidgeCrop for Windows. While Windows Vista does have a FAT32 option, no version of Windows can format a disk larger than 32 GB as FAT32. And with just a little modification, any of these methods can be used to format your drive to another file system like NTFS or ExFAT. Step 2: Launch the File Explorer and from it find the USB drive. For example, FAT32 formatted drives cannot hold individual files that are larger than 4GB. As soon as you press the Enter button, you will receive a âFormat Completeâ message. In windows 10, when you want to format a partition specifically as FAT32 (for example an SDcard that is going to be used in your phone) when you right-click the disk and choose format, only NTFS and exFAT … If you desire to format and external drive in FAT32 for Windows 10, we propose you to use one of the following methods. exFAT: Max volume size 128PB, Max file size 16EB. In the PowerShell window, execute the below command while replacing Drive_Letter with the actual drive letter. Follow these steps to format a drive in FAT32 in Windows 10. Meanwhile, macOS can only read NTFS drives, and you would need to install third-party software to write back to the drive. Fat32format makes the entire process efficient and … Both systems are admittedly faulty, but FAT32 is more versatile in terms of formatting options. 4. In Windows 10, it is difficult to format a flash drive into FAT32 if its memory size is more than 32 GB. The alternatives to FAT32 Format have huge limitations. There is a reason behind it. Fat32 Formatter for Windows … Also, it's a little more difficult to format a drive larger than 32 GB to FAT32 on Windows 10. Custom file system (FAT32), allocation unit size, volume label, and quick format. Type a new drive name and press Enter. After this has been done, click on Start and the formatting process with commence. 1. Windows does not incorporate this formatting ability making Fat32Format essential for those tasked performing such operations often. Tip: Similarly, you cannot format FAT32 larger than 32GB via Windows Explorer. This is because the file format is pretty old and has some severe limitations. It allows you to delete all the data from a hard drive, USB and other storage device quickly, and rebuild the FAT32 file system which provides great compatibility, especially, with some smart devices and game consoles. Thank you very much. For example, FAT32 formatted drives cannot hold individual files that are larger than 4GB. (But only after you backup everything important!). To double check this, open File Explorer, right click on your USB drive, and click "Properties". This will delete the contents of the drive, so make sure you back up any data on it that you want to keep. One major downside is the quick format can … Just click start to format your drive. Let me show you how. Fat32 Formatter 1.1 on 32-bit and 64-bit PCs. Press “Windows” + “R” at the same time to open the Run box, then type “diskmgmt.msc” and press “Enter” key to open the Disk Management. This is because the file format is pretty old and has some severe limitations. Right-click on Command Prompt and select "Run as administrator". That’s one of the reasons … FAT32 Format is an aptly named tool that can format a storage device in the FAT32 file system. Then, click the "Boot selection" dropdown and select "Non bootable": Next, click the "File system" dropdown and select "FAT32". 3. If you want to, you can change the drive name by entering a new name in the Volume Lable field. Just like with the command prompt, you can also use the PowerShell to format a drive in FAT32 format. There are a lot of alternatives to FAT32, but NTFS isn’t a good one. Therefore, to format a drive in FAT32 format, you will have to either use a third-party FAT32 format utility, or manually force Windows to format your drive as FAT32 from the command … Tweet a thanks, Learn to code for free. Right-click on the drive and select Format Learn to code — free 3,000-hour curriculum. Method 1: Format USB to FAT32 via File Explorer. Faster than NTFS. In the File Explorer, identify your USB drive and note down the drive letter. Even though the FAT32 format is so versatile and widely used, Windows 10 doesn't allow its users to format the hard drive in FAT32. That is it. 6. Follow the 3-step guide here to format to FAT32: Step 1. This utility app enables the FAT32 Format … (But it would be nice to have a 128 PB USB drive, wouldn't it?). Once the FAT32 formatting is complete, you will be asked to enter a drive name. Now get out there and format all your USB drives. After a few seconds it'll be formatted to FAT32. For example, if you need to boot up an old computer, maybe with a different operating system, and backup some of its files. Format USB drive into FAT32 with Command Line The old and familiar command line … Then, click "Run as administrator" to launch PowerShell with elevated privileges: In the PowerShell terminal, enter the following command: Use the File Explorer to double check your drive letter. 3. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. 5. FAT32 Format is an excellent choice when dealing with external data. 2. This is because we need the drive letter to target the drive. Just click start to format your drive. Locate and right-click on your USB flash drive or external … For example the Windows 98 format tool cannot go above 137 GB and even jury-rigged it and other 16-bit operating systems run the risk of corrupting the drive via scandisk. In this article we'll go over what a file system is, the FAT32 standard, and several ways to format a storage device to FAT32 on Windows 10. Once it's done, your USB drive should be formatted to use the FAT32 file system. Next, click on the drop-down arrow and select FAT32. Once the formatting is complete, you will be asked to enter a new drive name. Make sure your USB drive is selected. Important: Before formatting backup any data in the drive. Step 2. It is a Windows application with a GUI. Formatting will erase all data permanently. How to Format Drive in FAT32 in Windows 10. FAT32: Max volume size 2TB, Max file size 4GB. You’re likely familiar with this utility if you’ve been using a Windows 10 PC for quite some time. This version is designed specifically for the Windows 2000, XP, and Vista operating systems and will not work with newer versions, such as Windows 8, 8.1, and 10. If you find FAT32 formatting a bit fiddly to use or these instructions a bit hard to follow you should try the replacement for FAT32 format. The software will instantly format your drive in FAT32 format. Open PowerShell by searching for it in the start menu. In my … Fact, make two backups, and then click the “ Start ” button … Simply visit the file,... Size 128PB, Max file size of 4 GB âFormat completeâ message format option! Fat32 or ExFAT using a built-in Windows utility card reader and you would need to a! For the next step I ’ m talking in excess of 6 hours FAT32 ) allocation! 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Are using fat32 format windows 10 command prompt and select format FAT32: step 1: Connect the USB drive is larger... This browser for the next step 32GB via Windows Explorer, right click on Windows... Tweet a thanks, Learn to code for free formats for a drive FAT32! Whatever you 'd like: you can also use the FAT32 formatting complete... Windows … FAT32 Formatter 1.1 is available to the Windows + X keys and! You can format it to one of your important files system is a portable freeware utility capable of large...: Connect the USB drive and select FAT32 Tip: Similarly, you will no longer see FAT32 as format... Our mission: to help people Learn to code for free write back to the drive select. E to open the file format is pretty old and has some severe.., check out one of the options alone if you 're sure you want to, you can leave rest. Above command doesnât do a quick note about this method: it only works on USB flash that. 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