In this article, TipsMake will cover two top methods for formatting an SD card. Keep in mind that neither method discussed here is the "best" or "fastest"; depending on the situation and requirements, you can choose one of the methods listed below.
How to format an SD card on Windows
As mentioned above, there are many different ways to format your SD card, depending on how you want to use or store the things on it. The most common formats for keeping your SD card organized are exFAT or NTFS (see the FAT32 vs. exFAT comparison for information on where each format is located).
NTFS is more suitable if you want to use drivers, or in this case, the SD card, only within the Windows operating system. On the other hand, exFAT will be more useful if you intend to make your SD card independent of the system.
Now, let's look at the different ways to format your SD card.
Format the SD card on Windows via File Explorer.
After you plug the SD card into your PC, a new driver will appear in File Explorer.
Note that some computers do not have a dedicated slot for an SD card. If that's the case, you'll have to use a card reader. Insert your SD card into the card reader and plug it into a USB slot.
After inserting the SD card, here's how you can begin formatting it on Windows:
1. Right-click on the SD card drive and select Format.
2. In the Format dialog box , set the File system to exFat.
3. Finally, click Start to begin the formatting process.
4. Click OK.
Depending on the size and data on the SD card, it will be wiped clean after a few seconds.
Format a Windows SD card using Command Prompt.
Command Prompt is the default command-line interpreter on Windows that allows you to interact with and control all of your PC from a single place.
You can also use it to easily format your SD card. Here's how:
1. Go to the search bar in the Start menu, type cmd , and launch Command Prompt with administrator privileges .
2. In Command Prompt, type diskpart and press Enter.
3. Next, type 'list disk' and press Enter again. Now you will see the serial number of the SD card.
4. Next, type the following command and press Enter :
select disk 05. In the command above, replace 0 with the drive number allocated to your SD card from the third command. In this example, it's Disk 1. So the command will become as follows:
select disk 16. Finally, type clean and press Enter.
All data on the SD card will be erased.
But formatting is only half the battle. Remember, whenever you format any drive using Command Prompt, you'll have to partition that drive after cleanup. To begin, type the following command and press Enter :
create partition primaryNext, enter one of the following commands (NTFS or exFAT) and press Enter :
'format fs=ntfs' Or:
'format fs=exfat'Depending on your PC's capabilities, the partitioning process will complete in a few minutes.
You can add the drive letter directly from the command prompt if you wish. Replace 'E' with whatever you want to assign to your drive using the following command:
assign letter=EA quick format is all you need to keep using the SD card repeatedly, at least until it fails. If there's actually some problem with the SD card itself, then buying a new one is probably the best option for you.
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