How to format a flash drive? If you want to remove all data or re-use a flash drive with a different file format, then you have to format the flash drive. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to format a flash drive using your Windows 10 PC.
There are various ways to format a flash drive. It all depends on the circumstances. Here, we will explain to you step-by-step how to format a flash drive through the different methods.
How to format a USB flash drive with file explorer
To format a USB flash drive with the traditional file explorer on Windows 10, follow the steps below :
- Open File Explorer.
- Look for This PC from the left panel and click on it.
- Go to Devices and drives section, right click on the drive that belongs to the flash drive and select
- Now, from the dropdown menu, use NTFS as your file system.
Note: If you want to use the drive on both Windows 10 and macOS, then select the exFAT file system for proper compatibility. If you want to use the flash drive on both Linux and Windows 10, then select FAT32 option. Remember that with FAT32 file system, you will only be able to store files for up to 4 GB.
- Use the default selection for Allocation unit size.
- In the Volume label field, choose a name for your flash drive the way it will appear on the File Explorer. For example- formflash.
- Under Format Options select Quick Format option for formatting the drive quickly.
Note: The Quick format option will only delete the file system table but the data inside may still be recoverable. If you want to delete the recoverable data as well, better to do a full format of the pen drive. The process will take much longer than Quick format.
- Click Start to begin the formatting process.
- Click on
Once the formatting process is complete, the flash drive will be ready to store all files including documents, pictures and videos.
How to format a USB flash drive with Disk Management
A flash drive can also be formatted via the Disk Management interface. Here, we will guide you on how to format a USB flash drive with Disk Management tool.
- Open
- Search for Create and format hard disk partitions and click on the first result to open the Disk Management
- Right-click on the flash drive and select
- Now, from the dropdown menu, use NTFS as your file system.
Note: If you want to use the drive on both Windows 10 and macOS, then select the exFAT file system for proper compatibility. If you want to use the flash drive on both Linux and Windows 10, then select FAT32 option. Remember that with FAT32 file system, you will only be able to store files for up to 4 GB.
- Use the default selection for Allocation unit size.
- In the Volume label field, choose a name for your flash drive the way it will appear on the File Explorer. For example- formflash.
- Under Format Options select Perform a quick format option for formatting the drive quickly.
- (Optional) Check the Enable file and folder compression option to compress all data that is stored in your pen drive.
Clean and format a flash drive
If you are facing errors or any other problems with your flash drive, this procedure will help you clean the flash drive and start again from the ground up with a new partition and file system using the Disk Management interface.
- Open Start
- Search for Create and format hard disk partitions and click the first result that displays as Disk Management
- Right-click on the flash drive and select the Delete Volume
- Click Yes
- Right-click on “unallocated” space and select the New Simple Volume
- Click Next
- Click Next again to use the total available space.
- Select Assign the following drive letter
- From the dropdown menu, select the drive letter option that you want to use.
- Click Next
- Select Format this volume with the following settings
- From File system drop-down, select
- Use the default option in the Allocation unit size
- In the Volume label field, type the label for the flash drive so that it can be recognized through the File Explorer quickly.
- Tick the Perform a quick format If you keep it unticked, then the USB flash drive will be formatted using the Full format option. The time to format will depend upon the size of the flash drive.
- To enable compression, check Enable file and folder compression
- Click Next
- Click the Finish
Your flash drive will be now cleaned and fully formatted.