Formatting can be done on SD card due to a number of reasons. Mainly when you want to remove data completely from SD card and when its file system gets damaged, or the SD card seems to be corrupted. But in the later cases, you will have to risk losing your important data from the SD memory card if you format it. You can use this method to fix corrupted SD card and salvage all data from it.
Steps to Format SD Card using Command Prompt
There are various methods, which you can opt to format your SD card. The most commonly used method is explained below-
- Go to File Explorer
- Right click on the SD card and click on Format button
- It opens Format window
- By default, it set file system to “FAT32”. If you are using smaller cards, then you can continue with the default settings. If the card is large in terms of size, then you must format with “exFAT” file system.
- Next, hit “Start” button and then Ok
This method will work when you want to remove data from your SD card. But, what if your card is corrupted? Will this method work? Well, in some case it works, but in most of the situation you can’t format your SD card for that you need command prompt. Hence, here I am going to show you how to format SD card using Command prompt.
Steps to Format SD Card using Command Prompt: –
- Attach your SD card to computer
- Open File Explorer and write down drive letter of SD card
- Then, press Windows + R key to open Run
- Type cmd in Run and click OK
- It will open command prompt
- Type format *(drive letter): and hit Enter, ex: format F:
- Affix /fs: specify name of the file system, ex: /fs:FAT32
- Append parameter /q in case you want to quick format your card
Other parameters you can use with this command
/v: volume label (name of the drive)– To specify the drive name,
ex: format F: /v:MYCard
/a: SIZE (size of individual blocks on your hard drive)- To give the size of the volume,
ex: format F: /fs:FAT32 /a:1024
/x: – To close all the open files,
ex: format F: /q /x
After formatting, go to SD card and check whether it is properly formatted or not. If formatted SD card has any important files and you want to get them back, then you can unformat SD card using Remo Recover software.
Note: The same method can be applied to other types of memory cards, such as CF card, XD card, etc.
