For most administrators, formatting the USB drive using CMD is a good choice. Don’t worry if you can’t do it successfully. Following this page, you will learn how to format USB using CMD and software to format Rawal, inaccessible, unreadable USB drives in Windows 10/8/7.
How to format a USB key in CMD? How to format a USB drive using CMD to NTFS? Can I format a USB drive using Command Prompt in Windows 10? Don’t worry if you have the same questions on your mind.
On this page, you will learn how to format a USB drive using CMD or an alternative CMD tool in Windows 10/8/7. Take the software to format a USB drive easily:
Note:
As the formatting process will delete all data saved on the USB drive, back up the files before formatting to ensure that you have backed up or saved valuable USB data to another secure location in advance.
If you prefer a quick and easy way to format USB or need to format to Ext 4/3/2, use CMD alternative formatting software for help.
Let’s start by formatting your USB drive using CMD or its alternative tool and make the inaccessible, unreadable and even corrupted USB flash drive, USB flash drive, RAW flash drive, or even corrupted USB flash drive to work normally again.
Table Of Contents
How to Format USB Flash Drive Using Command Prompt
Applies to: Format USB drive as FAT32 / NTFS, Format USB drive as RAW, Repair corrupt USB drive, etc.
The USB flash drive is used all over the world for storing data and transferring files. However, sometimes the USB drive may get corrupt or become inaccessible due to RAW or invalid file system, bad sector or other errors. A quick way to fix these issues is to format the USB drive using CMD.
The following are two detailed guides, illustrating how to format USB flash drive from Windows Command Prompt which you should strictly follow.
Steps to format USB drive to NTFS or FAT32 with CMD
# 1. Format a USB drive using CMD in Windows 10:
Step 1. Connect the USB stick to your PC and press Windows + R keys.
Step 2. Type cmd in the search box and press Enter to bring up the command prompt.
Step 3. Type the following command lines one by one and press Enter each time:
- diskpart
- list disk
- select disk + number (Replace 2 with the number of your USB key.)
- list volume
- select volume + number (Replace 10 with the volume number of your USB key).
- format fs = ntfs quick (You can also replace NTFS with FAT32 or exFAT.)
- leave
CMD also works to fix “Windows could not format” error on your computer hard drive, USB devices, or other storage devices.
# 2. Format a USB flash drive using Command Prompt in Windows 8/7:
Step 1. Plug the USB drive into your computer and click on the Windows icon and select “Search”.
Step 2. Type Command Prompt in the search box.
Right click on Command Prompt and choose “Run as administrator”.
Step 3. In the command prompt window, type diskpart and press “Enter”.
Step 4. Type list disk and press “Enter”. Check the disk number of your USB drive. For example, disk 2.
Step 5. Now type select disk 2 and press “Enter”. (If the USB key number is not 2, replace it with the correct one).
Step 6. Type format fs = ntfs and press “Enter”.
If you prefer other file system formats, change the NTFS command to the desired one, such as fs = fat32.
Step 7. Type exit and press Enter to close the window.
After that, quit DiskPart and save data to your USB flash drive again. However, since the Linux Ext2 / 3 file system is not compatible with the Windows operating system, you can refer to a UBS formatting tool in part 2 to help you.
Format USB drive with formatting software
Applies to: Format corrupted USB drive, Format USB drive to Ext2, Ext3, Format FAT32 USB to NTFS, Format USB drive to FAT32, etc. on all Windows operating systems.
Although you can format a USB drive from the command prompt, it is not user friendly for most Windows newbies. Additionally, it forces users to remember all command lines when performing operations in Command Prompt.
In addition, any import operation may result in loss of data on other storage devices. Here we would like to recommend you to try free formatting software- EaseUS Partition Master Free.
EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition is a perfect CMD alternative tool for USB formatting. With easy to use interface and precise operation, you can use it to format USB drive easily with just a few clicks.
USB Formatting Via CMD Alternative in Windows 10/8/7 (4 Steps Only)
All level of users can apply this tool and format USB again usable in Windows 10/8/7:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right click on the partition of your external hard drive / USB / SD card that you want to format and choose “Format” option.
Step 2. Assign a new partition label, new file system (NTFS / FAT32 / EXT2 / EXT3) and new cluster size to the selected partition, then click “Confirm”.
Step 3. In the warning window, click “Confirm” to continue.
Step 4. Click “Execute Operation” button in the upper left corner to review the changes, then click “Apply” to start formatting your external hard drive / USB / SD card.