How long format fat32

When you're ready, click the execute button in the top right to start. Windows 7 users can also try Fat32Formatter. Balloon tips guide the user through its functions. No other documentation is available. While we could get this tool to work in Windows 10, it was hit or miss.

This tool is almost too simplistic. While you can delete a partition and create new ones, you cannot choose the allocation unit size. If you want to manage your partitions, i. First, create a partition that you want to format with FAT Then, if your partition manager can't do it, use one of the tools above to carry out the FAT32 formatting.

Attention: Several readers have commented that this method failed with a "volume too big for FAT32" error after several hours. To avoid frustration, use a third-party tool or try the quick format option below. Do you still want to try the manual approach? Rather than using the standard Windows formatting tool, switch to the command line.

Then enter the following command at the prompt, while "X" is the drive letter for the external device you with to format:. Alternatively, if you don't want to wait for hours, ran into an error with the command above, or generally want to avoid third-party tools, you can also try the quick format command:. You should note that the quick format will only delete the file table. Provides Suppliers with self-service tools targeted to the needs of their business. Register, access, and manage Lyve Mobile services, subscriptions and projects.

View registered products, register new products, and find product specific support. Twitter Facebook Google Plus Linked in. 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 A file system is a standardized way of organizing data on a computer storage device like a flash drive or HDD.

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. Of those three common formats, FAT32 is the oldest and most widely supported. Meanwhile, macOS can only read NTFS drives, and you would need to install third-party software to write back to the drive.

These days, the only reason why you'd choose to format a drive to FAT32 is for compatibility. For example, if you need to boot up an old computer, maybe with a different operating system, and backup some of its files.

But you'd need to be sure that none of those files are greater than 4 GB. Important note: Before you format a drive, make sure that you backup all of your important files. In fact, make two backups, and keep one on a remote service like Google Drive or Dropbox. 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. Also, feel free to rename the USB drive whatever you'd like:.

There are lots of other programs that can format USB drives, but Rufus is really small and portable. This means you can stick Rufus right on a USB drive, plug it into any Windows computer, and format other drives on the go.