You need to format the USB stick that you usually use to carry your files when you are out and about, but being the first time that you find yourself having to do an operation like this you have not the faintest idea how to do it and, above all, of what software to use to do it? If the answer is yes, I am happy to let you know that you have landed on the right guide at the right time.
In the following lines, in fact, you will find some of the best programs to format USB flash drives and the relative instructions for use. These are solutions that, contrary to appearances, are incredibly simple to use, even by the less experienced in the sector.
So? How about putting the gossip aside and going to find out, in detail, what these software are? Yup? Great! Position yourself comfortably, take a few free minutes just for you and focus on the information you find below. I am sure that in the end you will be able to say that you are very happy and satisfied, both with what you have learned and that you have succeeded in your intent. Let it bet?
Index
- Programs to format USB key: Windows
- Disk management
- DiskPart
- Other programs to format USB stick on Windows
- Programs to format USB stick: Mac
- Utility Disco
- discussion tool
- Programs to format write-protected USB stick
- Program to format damaged USB stick
Programs to format USB key: Windows
If you are looking for programs to format USB flash drives on Windows , here are some solutions you might want to turn to.
Disk management
If you are looking for a free USB flash drive format program on Windows, I recommend that you first contact Disk Management . This is the default tool for managing internal and external storage media of Microsoft operating systems. It allows you to format and organize drive partitions quite simply.
To be able to use it, first connect your key to one of the USB ports on your computer, then open File Explorer by clicking on the relative icon (the one with the yellow folder ) on the taskbar .
In the window appears on the desktop, select the item This PC located in the left sidebar, right click with the mouse on the icon of the USB key (or partition ) you want to format and, from the context menu you see appear, select the item Format .
In the new window that is now shown to you, choose the file system you want to use to format the pendrive via the File system drop-down menu , enter the name to give to the drive in the Volume label field and press the Start button .
The time required to complete the operation varies according to the size of the USB key and the amount of data stored on it. If you are in a particularly hurry, before proceeding you can select the Quick Format option and the formatting will be performed in a few moments, but the integrity of the pendrive will not be checked, so any bad sectors will not be identified.
If the pendrive to be formatted does not appear in File Explorer or in any case as an alternative to what I have just explained to you, you can access the complete Disk Management interface by clicking on the Start button (the one with the Windows logo ) on the taskbar, typing “disk management” in the menu that opens and selecting the word Create and format hard disk partitions in the search results.
In the window that you now see on the screen, right- click with the mouse on the icon of the USB key or the partition you wish to act on and choose the Format option from the proposed menu.
At this point, select the file system with which to format the pendrive, type the name you want to assign it in the Volume label field , adjust the settings relating to the allocation unit size using the appropriate drop-down menu and click the OK button .
If what you want to do is delete a single partition, right- click with the mouse on the box related to the latter and select the Delete volume item from the context menu, then press the Yes button to respond to the warning displayed on the desktop. Then, assign the unallocated space to one of the adjacent partitions by right clicking with the mouse on the pane of the partition to extend and choosing the Extend Volume item from the context menu.
DiskPart
Another among the programs to format USB stick that in my opinion you would do well to consider on Windows is DiskPart . Even then, it is a default solution of the operating system, but it works as a command line, so it does not have a graphical interface and can be less intuitive, but still it is not difficult to use. I recommend, however, in this case, pay close attention and scrupulously follow the instructions I am about to give you: an oversight could cause you to completely lose the data on the key.
To be able to use it, connect the pendrive in relation to which you want to act to one of the ports of the PC, then use the key combination Win + R to call up the Run window , type the command diskpart.exe in the appropriate box and press the key Enter on the keyboard, in order to start the utility.
Next, click on the Yes button and, in the window that opens, issue the command list diskfollowed by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard, to view the list of storage media connected to the computer. When you find the pendrive (you can easily recognize it by analyzing its size), take note of the disk number that you find in the leftmost column called Disk No ..
Then issue the command select disk #(replacing # the number found in the previous step), then give the command cleanto delete all the data on the device and that create partition primary, in all cases always press the Enter key on the keyboard.
After completing the above steps, enter the commands select partition 1and active, always following them by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard, in order to create an empty primary partition.
Finally, determine the file system you want to use by issuing the command format FS=FILESYSTEM quick(replacing FILESYSTEM with the file system you want to use) and exit DiskPart by typing the exit command , always pressing the Enter key on the computer keyboard from time to time.
Other programs to format USB stick on Windows
In addition to the programs to format USB stick on Windows that I have already reported to you, you can decide to turn to alternative and third-party solutions in the list below.
- EaseUS Partition Master– is one of the best programs to format USB stick available at no cost. It includes all the functions that one would expect from similar software and in fact allows you to manage the formatting procedure at 360 degrees. Optionally, a paid variant is also available (with prices starting from 19.95 euros / month) which offers a greater number of functions. More info here .
- Paragon Partition Manager Free– it is a free program that allows you to work on all kinds of drives for archiving, formatting them, creating, resizing, moving and deleting partitions, etc. It’s free, but for personal use only.
- MiniTool Partition Wizard– excellent free software to format USB sticks, hard drives and various media, which offers a wide range of functions, including partition alignment, dynamic disk management, wiping and the ability to work with partitions FAT32 large up to 2TB. There is also a paid variant (costs $ 199) that allows you to access various additional functions. More info here .
Programs to format USB stick: Mac
Are you using a Mac and, therefore, would you like to understand which are the programs to format USB stick that can be used in this case? No sooner said than done! Find them right below.
Utility Disco
If you need to format a USB stick on Mac, a great tool to do this is undoubtedly Disk Utility . This is the default macOS tool for formatting and burning discs and for many other operations.
To start Disk Utility, click on the Finder icon (the one with the smiling face ) on the Dock bar , select the Go menu at the top left, then the Utility item in it and, in the window that opens, do double click on the application icon (the one with the hard disk and the stethoscope ).
Once the Disk Utility screen appears on the desktop, click on the name of the USB stick (or partition ) you want to format in the left sidebar (if it is not visible, first click on the View button at the top left and choose the item Show sidebar ), then click on the Initialize button located at the top.
Now select the file system you want to use to format the pendrive indicating it from the Format drop-down menu , type the name you want to assign to the device in the Name field, select the correct option from the Scheme drop-down menu and press the Initialize button to start the operation.
The times to complete the operation vary based on the amount of data on the device. Another factor that significantly affects the duration of the process is the degree of security with which the formatting is performed. Disk Utility allows you to easily adjust this setting, so it can also be considered as an excellent program to format a low-level USB stick , by clicking on the Security Options button beforehand , moving the appropriate adjustment bar and pressing the OK button .
If you need to format a USB stick organized in multiple partitions, select the drive icon from the Disk Utility sidebar, click on the Partition button and use the pie chart to select the partitions to be deleted, by clicking on the (-) button located lower left.
discussion tool
To format your pendrive you can also decide to act from the command line, using the Terminal and the Diskutil tool , specially designed to manage the storage media that are connected to the Mac. Even in this case, I invite you to pay the utmost pay attention to the steps to be taken and the instructions I am about to give you, as a moment of distraction and a small oversight is enough to lose everything saved on the USB stick.
That said, in order to use Diskutil, first connect your USB key to one of the ports on the Mac, then start the Terminal by clicking on the Finder icon (the one with the smiling face ) that you find on the Dock bar , selecting the Go menu at the top left, then the item Utility in it and, in the window that opens, double-click on the application icon (the one with the black window and the line of code ).
In the window you are now viewing, start the utility by issuing the command diskutil listfollowed by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard, then identify the device to be formatted from the list, helping you by observing the size indicated in the SIZE field and bearing in mind that an external device is always indicated the wording external, physical , so take note of its identifier (eg disk1 ).
Finally, proceed with formatting the pendrive, typing the command diskutil erasedisk FileSystem NuovoNome /dev/PercorsoMemoria(instead of FileSystem type the file system you want to use, instead of NewName type the name you want to assign to the pendrive and instead of PathMemory type the correct identifier) and pressing the Enter key on the Mac keyboard.
Then wait for the procedure to start and finish, after which you will see Finished erase on disk1 appear in the Terminal window .
Programs to format write-protected USB stick
Trying to format your pendrive you see a warning appear indicating that it is write protected and then you would like to understand if there are tools to deal with it? The answer is yes. You can succeed in your intent by turning to programs to format write-protected USB stick , the ones I told you about in my guide dedicated specifically to the topic .
Program to format damaged USB stick
When you try to access the contents of your pendrive do you see strange error messages appear or in any case do you encounter difficulties in handling the files stored on it? Most likely it suffered damage. To remedy this, you can try to turn to a program to format damaged USB stick , which I told you about in detail in my guide on the subject .