How to properly format a flash drive

Formatting a USB drive can be useful in various situations. For example, it may be needed to clean the device from malware, fix errors when data is corrupted, or adapt the device to a file system supported by your platform. Formatting is also useful if you are going to dispose of the drive and want to completely delete personal information. In this guide, we will look at several ways to format a USB drive.

Formatting is the preparation of a device for data storage, whether it is a hard drive, solid-state drive, or flash drive. Formatting creates a file system that structures the data and allows efficient use of the available space. Often, formatting is required when installing a new operating system or when it is necessary to free up space.

There are two types of USB drive formatting:

There are quite a few file formats, but we will consider the most common ones for Windows, as many of them may not be needed.

Formatting a USB drive through File Explorer in Windows 10 is a convenient way to prepare the device for data storage. Follow these steps:

After the process is complete, the flash drive will be ready for storing documents, photos, videos, and other files.

In Windows 10, you can format a USB drive through Disk Management in two ways: you can format the drive to update the file table and delete the contents, or you can delete the partition to resolve issues with the drive.

To use Disk Management to format a flash drive, follow these steps:

After completing these steps, the drive will be cleaned and formatted for further use.

If the USB drive is experiencing problems, it is better to clean it and create a new partition with a file system.

To clean and format a USB drive, follow these steps:

After completing these steps, a new partition will be created and the file system will be set up, which will help resolve common USB drive issues such as data corruption.

PowerShell is a powerful tool that allows you to format USB drives to delete data, as well as resolve file corruption and other drive errors. You can use PowerShell commands for quick or full formatting, as well as for cleaning and restoring the device.

To format a USB drive via PowerShell in Windows 10, follow these steps:

In the command, replace DRIVE-LETTER with the appropriate letter of the drive you want to format, FILE-SYSTEM with FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS, and DRIVE-NAME with the name that will appear in File Explorer.

Example: For quick formatting of drive F with the NTFS file system:

Format-Volume -DriveLetter F -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel workUSB

In the command, replace DRIVE-LETTER with the drive letter and FILE-SYSTEM with FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS. The Full parameter indicates a full format, and the Force parameter executes the command without confirmation.

Example: For full formatting of drive F: Format-Volume -DriveLetter F -FileSystem NTFS -Full -Force

After completing these steps, PowerShell will format the drive according to the specified settings.

To clean and format a USB drive using PowerShell, follow these steps:

After completing these steps, PowerShell will clean the data on the removable USB drive, resolving issues such as data corruption, write protection, and unrecognized devices, and then create a new partition and set up the file system for storing files.

Using Command Prompt on Windows 10 allows you to clean the drive and create a new partition table and file system.

To perform a quick or full format of a USB drive, follow these steps:

After completing these steps, the drive will be formatted with the selected parameters.

To clean and format a USB drive, follow these steps:

After completing these steps, the DiskPart tool will delete all data from the USB drive, create a new partition, and set up the file system for storing files on Windows 10, macOS, or Linux (depending on the configuration).