How to format SD card using Diskpart on Windows 10/8/7. How to format USB and SD with Windows DiskPart? This tutorial shows you how to format (micro) SD card using Diskpart utility on Windows 10/8/7 and introduces you to a great alternative to Diskpart utility.
SD card is widely used to store or transfer data due to its light weight, cheap price and great performance. In general, you will need to format the (micro) SD card in the following situations:
- The SD card is not allocated and you should format it so that you can save data on it.
- The file system of the SD card is not compatible with the device and must be formatted to the correct file system.
- There is something wrong with the SD card. For example, the SD card does not show capacity correctly; there are messages saying that the SD card is damaged. Try reformatting it.
How to format SD card using Diskpart on Windows 10/8/7
In many cases, you can format the SD card using Diskpart correctly according to the desired file system in File Explorer or Disk Management. However, if you get an error like Windows was unable to complete the format, try using the Diskpart utility, which can help you manage disks and partitions. You can use Diskpart to format SD card even if it is RAW. Now take a look at how it works:
Note that formatting the SD card partition will erase everything on it. You can back up any files you want before this operation.
- Run Diskpart as an administrator. (In the Search box, type “diskpart” and right-click diskpart and choose “Run as administrator.” Or press Windows + R at the same time, enter “diskpart” and click “OK”.
- Enter “list disk” and press “Enter” to view all disks on your computer.
- Execute the command “select disk n”, “n” refers to the disk number of the SD card
- Run the “list partition” command to list the partition on the SD card
- Select partition m, “m” indicates the SD card partition number you need
- Run the “format fs = fat32 quick” command.
PS: "Fat32" can be replaced with "exfat" or "ntfs". You should choose the file system according to your request. For example, you can format the SD card with exFAT, if you need to use it for Mac and Windows PC, and you need to store single large files over 4GB.
After a while, the SD card will be formatted with Diskpart, you can type exit and press “Enter” to exit Diskpart. If your SD card is part of another partition or has unallocated space, run the command presented below:
- list disk
- select disk n
- chub
- create partition primary
- format fs = ntfs quick
- assign drive letter f, "f" can be replaced if you want (assign drive letter f, "f" can be replaced if desired)
Format an SD card via the Diskpart alternative
Diskpart is useful in formatting the SD card, but it has some limitations like:
- If your SD card partition is larger than 32GB, it is not allowed to format it to FAT32 using Diskpart and you will get the error: The volume size is too large.
- If there are two partitions on the SD card and you will not be able to format the second partition on the SD card using Diskpart.
To overcome the above limitations, you can turn to a third party partition manager such as AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, which can overcome the limitation of 32GB and manage the second partition on the SD card. It is specially designed for Windows systems and can work with Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8/7, XP and Vista.
Here are the detailed steps to format SD card using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. (Let's do SD card formatting on Windows 10 as an example).
- Download, install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right click on the SD card partition must be formatted and choose "Format partition".
- In the following pop-up window, determine the file system of the SD card partition according to the specific request. Here you can choose between NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3 and Ext4.
- In the main interface, confirm the operation and click "Apply">"Proceed”To perform it.
It is also available to format external hard drive, USB flash drive and hard disk drive via AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.
Conclusion
If you have read the tutorial, you have realized that it is not difficult to format SD card using Diskpart on Windows 10/8/7 or AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. You can choose your preferred method of formatting an SD card according to what your needs are.
