Beyond Kingston Format Utility: Similar Free Formatting Tool Download

Kingston is a well-known computer technology company which develops, manufactures, sells and supports flash memory products, such as SD cards, SSD drives, USB flash drives, etc. Kingston Format Utility is one of the products developed by Kingston. It is an easy-to-use tool which enables you to format Kingston USB flash drives to FAT32 and aims to improve the performance across multiple platforms.

Why Need Kingston Format Utility?

If your Kingston DataTraveler is not recognized or you receive error messages when trying to access the stored data, for example, Kingston USB write protected. You should try to format it with the Kingston Format Utility before purchasing a new USB drive.

Another reason for formatting a Kingston USB is to choose a file system which is best suited for your drive and desired usages. In Windows, the three most common-used file systems are NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT. Then, which one should you choose when formatting a USB? To better understand the major differences among the three file systems, please refer to the following table:

	FAT32	exFAT	NTFS
Platforms & Devices Compatibility
Windows XP
Windows 10/8/7/Vista
Mac OS Leopard			read-only
Mac OS X 10.6.5 and later			read-only
Ubuntu Linux
PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Xbox 360
Xbox One
File & Volume Size Limit
Individual File Size	smaller than 4GB	up to 16EB or more	up to 16TB or more
Single Partition Size	smaller than 32GB (2TB for some OS)	up to 128PB or more	up to 16EB or more

How to Install and Use Kingston Format Utility?

Notes:

• All data on Kingston USB drive will be erased after formatting. If there is important data on it, please make a backup before continuing the following steps.

• Kingston Format Utility only works with the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 (DTHX30) series USB flash drive and only supports the computer running Windows 7 (SP1), Vista (SP1, SP2) and Windows XP (SP2, SP3).

Step 1: Plug your DTHX30 USB flash drive into your computer and make sure it can be detected by Windows.

Step 2: Download the installation from Kingston website and then double-click on the kingston_format_utility.exe to run the setup. In the pop-up window, click "Browse" to specify a location to install Kingston Format Utility. At last, click "Unzip" to extract the file.

Step 3: As soon as Kingston Format Utility was started up, your Kingston USB drive will be automatically listed under the "Device". Under the "File system", there is no other file system available to choose except the FAT32. In other words, this tool only supports to format USB to FAT32. Click "Format" to continue.

Step 4: When the formatting operation is completed, click "OK" -> "Exit". It will change the name of the USB drive from what it was before formatting to Kingston.

Format Kingston USB with Free AOMEI Partition Assistant

As Kingston Format Utility alternative, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a free partition manager software and disk management tool, which supports a large range of storage devices and provides more features. The process to format a USB flash drive is very easy and quick, just follow the steps below.

Step 1: Plug your USB into your PC and make sure it can be detected by Windows. If there is data on the USB drive, please make a backup first.

Step 2: Download, install, and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right click on the USB (here is G: drive with NTFS file system) and select "Format Partition" in the drop-down menu. 

Step 3: In the pop-up window, you can edit your default USB name in the "Partition Label". To format USB from NTFS to FAT32, please choose FAT32 in the "File System". Then, click "OK" to continue.

Step 4: Now you can preview the USB drive is FAT32. To save the change, you need to click "Apply" to perform the "Pending Operations".

If your USB drive is FAT32 or exFAT and you want to format it to NTFS, the steps are the same as above. Formatting between FAT32 and NTFS will delete all data on USB drive. Then, is there any way to convert NTFS to FAT32, and vice versa without data loss? Yes, you can try to upgrade AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard to Pro version.

How to Convert NTFS to FAT32 without Losing Data?

Step 1: Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro. On the main window, click "Convert"> "Convert to NTFS/FAT32".

Step 2: In the pop-up window, choose "NTFS to FAT32" and click "Next". If you want to convert FAT32 to NTFS, please choose another.

Step 3: Choose the USB drive and click "Next". There may be other NTFS partitions in your computer, please make sure you choose the right partition that you need to convert to FAT32.

Step4: If you confirm the operation, please click "Proceed" to start converting NTFS to FAT32.

AOMEI Partition Assistant vs. Kingston Format Utility

To learn why AOMEI Partition Assistant is better than Kingston Format Utility, please take a look at the following chart:

	AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard	Kingston Format Utility
License	Freeware	Freeware
Supported OS and Devices
Windows 7, Vista, XP
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Kingston DTHX30 USB
Other Types of Kingston USB
Other Brands of USB
All Brands of SD Card, External Hard Drive, SSD, HDD, etc.
Main Features
Format to FAT32
Format to NTFS
Convert NTFS to FAT32 without Losing Data
Convert FAT32 to NTFS without Losing Data
Change Label When Formatting
Resize, Move, Merge, Split, Create, Delete, Wipe, Recover and Copy Partition
Windows To Go Creator
More Features

AOMEI Partition Assistant not only supports Kingston USB drive, but also supports other brands like SanDisk, PNY, Corsair, Lexar, etc. Apart from USB drive, AOMEI Partition Assistant also supports HDD, external hard drives, SSD drives, SD Cards and so on. Last but not least, AOMEI Partition Assistant is a reliable, easy, multifunction partition software and disk manager which works well on both 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8.1/8, Windows 7, Vista, and XP. Do not hesitate to download this freewareand have a try.