Learn to format SD card using Diskpart utility on Windows 11/10/8/7, which will be useful when you are unable to format raw or write-protected SD card in File Explorer.
SD card is widely used to store or transfer data due to its lightweight, cheap price, and great performance. In general, you’ll need to format (micro) SD card under the situations listed below: ☞ Your SD card is unallocated and you should format it so that you can save data on it. ☞ The file system of your SD card is not compatible with your device and you need to format it to the proper file system. ☞ There is something wrong with the SD card. For example, SD card not showing capacity correctly; there is messaging saying that the SD card is damaged. Try reformatting it.
In many cases, you can format SD card successfully to the wanted file system within File Explorer or Disk Management. However, if you encounter an error like Windows was unable to complete the format, try to employ Diskpart utility, which can help you to manage disks and partitions. You can use Diskpart to format SD card even it is shows RAW. Now, have a look at how it works:
PS.: Formatting SD card partition will erase everything on it. You can back up the wanted files before this operation.
1. Run Diskpart as administrator.
(In the Search box, type “diskpart” and right-click diskpart, and choose “Run as administrator”.
Or press Windows + R at the same time, input “diskpart” and click “OK”.
2. Input “list disk” and hit “Enter” to display all disks on your machine.
3. Run “select disk n” command, “n’ refers to the disk number of the SD card
4. Run “list partition” command to list the partition on SD card
5. Select partition m, “m” refers the SD card partition number that you need to
6. Run “format fs=fat32 quick” command.
PS.: "fat32" can be replaced with "exfat" or "ntfs". You should choose file system according to your demand. For example, you can format SD card to exFAT, if you need to use it for Mac and Windows PC and need to store individual large file beyond 4GB.
After a while, the SD card will be formatted with Diskpart, you can type exit and hit “Enter” to leave Diskpart.
If the SD card is with one more partitions or have unallocated space, run command presented below:
▪ list disk
▪ select disk n
▪ clean
▪ create partition primary
▪ format fs=ntfs quick
▪ assign drive letter f, “f” can be replaced if you want
Diskpart is useful in formatting SD card, but it is with some limitations like:
▪ If the SD card partition is over 32GB, you are not allowed to format it to FAT32 using Diskpart and you'll receive the error – The volume size is too big. ▪ If there are two partitions on SD card and you’ll be unable to format the second partition on SD Card using Diskpart.
To break the limitations aforementioned, you can turn to third-party partition manager like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, which can break the limitation of 32GB and manage the second partition on SD card. It is specially designed for Windows systems and can work with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, XP, and Vista.
Here are detailed steps to format SD card using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. (Take formatting SD card on Windows 10 as an example).
Step 1. Free download, install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click SD card partition need formatting and choose “Format Partition”.
Step 2. In the following pop-up window, determine the file system of your SD card partition based on specific demand. Here you can choose from NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4.
Step 3. In the main interface, confirm operation and click “Apply”>“Proceed” to perform it.
From all the above, we can realize that it is not a difficult task to format SD card using Diskpart utility or AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. You can choose one way to format it according to your specific demand.