Since the most devices only support FAT32, you may need to format micro SD card to FAT32 on Windows 11. This article will share four different methods to format your SD card.
“My friend gave me a 200GB Sandisk Extreme micro SD card and I tried formatting it to FAT32 so I could reuse it in my SWITCH, but I don’t know how to do it. Do you have any idea about formatting this SD card to FAT32? Thank you very much for your help”
FAT32 refers to File Allocation Table 32, it is a stable and compatible file system format. When the file system is FAT32, SD cards will work commonly on most devices. Therefore, many users need to format their SD cards to FAT32, making them more compatible.
Here, with 4 methods, you can format micro SD cards to FAT32 on Windows 11.
For the better compatibility with your devices, FAT32 can be considered as the most suitable choice. Windows 11 gives you three built-in tools that can format micro SD card to FAT32 on Windows 11, including Windows File Explorer, Disk Management, and Diskpart.
Warning: ✍ Since formatting will delete all data in the SD card, please back up your data before formatting. ✍ If the size of your SD card memory is over 32GB, the SD card won’t be formatted on PC. ✍ If the SD card is write-protected, you cannot format it.
File Explorer is a resource management tool provided by the Windows system. We can use it to view all files and folders on this computer more clearly and intuitively. You can use Windows File Explorer to format SD card.
Step 1. Insert the micro SD card into the computer and you can see the added partitions.
Step 2. Right-click the card and select "Format", select "FAT32" in the popped window, then tick "Quick Format" and click "Start" to start formatting.
Disk management is dedicated to helping users solve some disk problems, it can extend, shrink and delete partitions. Besides, it can also be used to format SD card to FAT32, the detailed steps are as follows:
Step 1. Press "Windows+R" and input "diskmgmt.msc" in the pop-up window.
Step 2. Right-click the target drive, click "Format".
Step 3. Select "FAT32" in the menu and tick "Quick Format", then click "OK".
DiskPart is a command-line utility, by entering and executing commands, it helps users to directly manage disks, partitions or volumes on Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. If you need to format SD card to FAT32, please refer to the following steps:
Steps 1. Press "Windows + R", type "Diskpart" and click "OK" to open diskpart.
Step 2. After opening diskpart, type the following commands in turn:
• list disk (All disks in your computer will be listed, you will need to determine which drives need to be formatted based on their size.) • select disk 1 (Select the disk that contains the SD card.) • list partition • select partition 1 • format fs=fat32
Step 3. Wait for a while to complete the commands.
Although you can use Windows File Explorer, Disk Management, and Diskpart format SD cards, they still have limitations. So, how to format micro SD card to FAT32 on Windows 11 successfully? You can try a powerful tool AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.
This tool breaks through the limitations of Windows built-in tools, even if the target drive/SD card is larger than 32GB, it can easily and effectively format it to file system formats such as FAT32, exFAT and NTFS. Besides, whether it’s a write-protected or corrupted SD card, it can also format it.
What's more, this powerful software also provides you with other useful functions , such as deleting partitions on SD card, wiping SD card, etc.
Now, download this freeware to see how to format SD card on Windows 11.
Step1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the drive and select "Format Partition".
Step2. Input partition label if you need and then select "FAT32".
Step 3. You can see the effect of this formation. Click "Apply" to realize this pending operation.
Bonus tip: If the file system of the SD card is NTFS, the "Convert to NTFS/FAT32" feature can help you. It will directly convert the file system between NTFS and FAT32 without losing data.
Formatting an SD card will completely clean all data on it, while "Convert to NTFS/FAT32" help you avoid losing important data.
Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, then right-click the target drive, click "Convert" and “Convert to NTFS/FAT32" in the top interface.
Step 2. Choose "NTFS to FAT32" and click "Next", then please follow the instructions to complete the next steps.
To sum up, when the 3 Windows built-in tools cannot format micro SD card to FAT32 on Windows 11, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard may be a better choice. Because it can not only format the SD card larger than 32GB, but also format the damaged or write-protected SD card.
If you upgrade to the Professional Version, you will enjoy more advanced features such as converting boot disks between MBR and GPT. Besides, if you are a user of Windows Server, you can also try the Server Version.