• Free Fat32 Format Tool
• Free Fat32 Format Tool Windows 10
• Best Free Fat32 Format Software

If you need to format a USB flash drive, HDD, SDD, or some other form of storage to FAT32, you've come to the right place.

In this article we'll go over what a file system is, the FAT32 standard, and several ways to format a storage device to FAT32 on Windows 10.

Now, you can free download this FAT32 format tool and follow the tutorial below to format your device with ease. How to Format Larget Storage Device to FAT32 with EaseUS FAT32 Format Tool Works to: Format both small and large storage devices to FAT32, format HDD/SSD, external hard drive, USB, SD card, etc., to FAT32. IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free, the free fat32 format tool is completely freeware that you may use it to format media fat32 for your flash drive, usb disk, hdd, memory card on Windows 10/8/7 etc. Where to download the free fat32 format tool? Here is the download link: Download Free FAT32 Formatter.

What's a file system?

A file system is a standardized way of organizing data on a computer storage device like a flash drive or HDD.

A file system divides a storage device into virtual compartments, almost like a wall of post office boxes, and keeps track of all the information that gets stored in each box.

Some of the most common file system formats for portable storage devices are FAT32, NTFS, and ExFAT.

FAT32 compared to other formats

Of those three common formats, FAT32 is the oldest and most widely supported. Every major operating system will allow you to read and write from a USB flash drive that's formatted to FAT32.

Meanwhile, macOS can only read NTFS drives, and you would need to install third-party software to write back to the drive.

However, though FAT32 is well supported, its maximum drive and file size is severely limited when compared to newer formats like NTFS and ExFAT:

* 1 petabyte is about 1 thousand terabytes
** 1 exabyte is about 1 million terabytes

Note that the maximum drive and file size of NTFS and ExFAT is so large that there's basically no limit. (But it would be nice to have a 128 PB USB drive, wouldn't it?)

On the other hand, FAT32's max file size of 4 GB is almost nothing now that phones can record 4K videos. Also, it's a little more difficult to format a drive larger than 32 GB to FAT32 on Windows 10.

These days, the only reason why you'd choose to format a drive to FAT32 is for compatibility. For example, if you need to boot up an old computer, maybe with a different operating system, and backup some of its files. But you'd need to be sure that none of those files are greater than 4 GB.

If you're sure you want to go with FAT32, here's how to format a storage drive on Windows 10.

Important note: Before you format a drive, make sure that you backup all of your important files. In fact, make two backups, and keep one on a remote service like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Formatting a drive will delete all of the data that's currently on it.

How to use Windows File Explorer to format a USB drive to FAT32

A quick note about this method: it only works on USB flash drives that are less that 32 GB. If your USB drive is larger than 32 GB, check out one of the later methods.

With that out of the way, plug your USB drive into your computer and open Windows File Explorer.

Next, right-click on the drive on the left hand side of the File Explorer window and click 'Format':

In the window that pops up, ensure that 'FAT32' is selected. Also, feel free to rename the USB drive whatever you'd like:

You can leave the rest of the options alone. Just click start to format your drive.

Once it's done, your USB drive should be formatted to use the FAT32 file system.

To double check this, open File Explorer, right click on your USB drive, and click 'Properties'.

A window will pop up and you should see that the file system is now FAT32:

How to use Rufus to format a USB drive to FAT32

If your USB drive is larger than 32 GB, you'll need to use a third-party program like Rufus to format it.

There are lots of other programs that can format USB drives, but Rufus is really small and portable. This means you can stick Rufus right on a USB drive, plug it into any Windows computer, and format other drives on the go.

After you download Rufus, double click on the .exe file to start the application.

Make sure your USB drive is selected. Then, click the 'Boot selection' dropdown and select 'Non bootable':

Next, click the 'File system' dropdown and select 'FAT32'.

Also, feel free to change the name of your USB drive under 'Volume label':

Then, click the 'Start' button to format your drive. After a few seconds it'll be formatted to FAT32.

How to use PowerShell to format a USB drive to FAT32

While this method works with drives larger than 32 GB, it's really slow – even formatting a 32 GB drive can take up to an hour depending on your computer.

But, if you aren't able to use the previous two methods for some reason, this will work in a pinch.

First, click on the Windows Search Bar and type in 'powershell'. Then, click 'Run as administrator' to launch PowerShell with elevated privileges:

In the PowerShell terminal, enter the following command:

format /FS:FAT32 DRIVE_LETTER:

Use the File Explorer to double check your drive letter. My drive letter was D, so I entered format /FS:FAT32 D:.

Press Enter, make sure your USB drive is plugged in, and press the Enter key again to start the process:

Then go run some errands or something – it will take awhile.

Once the format command is finished, your drive should be formatted to FAT32.

In closing

Now you should be able to format a USB drive of any size to FAT32 on Windows 10. And with just a little modification, any of these methods can be used to format your drive to another file system like NTFS or ExFAT.

Now get out there and format all your USB drives. (But only after you backup everything important!)

Was this helpful? Is there a better method that you know of? Tweet at me and let me know how you format things on Windows 10.

Last updated on May 10, 2021

These best free formatters work for all brands and types of usb flash, hard drive, sd memory card. You may use them to force format usb/disk/sd for free.

Format usb flash or memory card on MAC? Be free to visit: Top 3 free formatters for MAC; Flash drive corrupted? Try these usb repair utilities: 8 usb repair tools for Windows

Table of contents

1. A). HP USB Format Tool Download - needs admin privilege
2. B). IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free - can also repair bad blocks for disk/usb before formatting
3. C). Rufus - format disk/usb/sd that won't format

Hard Disk Formatting Software to Format Hard Disk?

'Windows was not able to complete the format when I received drive not formatted error message and performed a formatting there. Really want to format hard disk smoothly and also restore its common use. Thanks!'

'I am searching for best free drive formatting software to wipe everything stored inside before selling this drive online. Do you have any suggestion? Hope the suggested formatting software would help delete data permanently and any erased file will never be restored again. Thanks'

Hello, friends, you are also looking for the related hard drive reformatting utility to fix hard drive problems or remove hard drive viruses, bad sectors and sensitive data, etc? OK! No worry! Here are several tested best hard drive formatting programs for you.

Note: Before any formatting, we would recommend you backup data from your media. If the device is no longer accessible, you may try this tool: how to recover data from not formatted drive/card

Free Disk Drive/Memory Card Data Recovery Tool

Free Download Tool to Recover Data from Damaged Media, inaccessible drive, not formatted disk/usb/memory card.

Tested 5 Best Free Hard Drive/USB/SD Formatting Tool

Here are several common and useful free hard disk formatting utilities for you:

1). HP USB Disk Storage Format tool

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is really a free disk formatting tool which allows people to easily and quickly format a USB flash drive to FAT32, exFAT or NTFS file system. And it can work flawlessly even when Windows was unable to complete the format when your usb pen drive turned raw format.

MUST READ: * It needs you to run it under 'Administator'

With this software, if necessary, you can also make a bootable USB drive by choosing its 'Create a DOS startup disk' option.

Pros:

*It is completely free and easy to grasp and use.
*It works well in formatting USB drive into FAT32, FAT or NTFS.
*It is portable and could be installed on a flash drive to be used on different PCs.
*It allows people to 'Create a DOS startup disk' to help boot up a computer from USB flash drive.
*It supports common Windows operating systems.

Cons:

* It works well on USB flash drive and does not recognize internal hard drives and partitions.
* It needs you to run it under 'Administator'

Also read: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Review and Error Fixing

2). IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free

As a disk formatting tool, Partition Resizer Free Edition also allows people to format the selected hard drive or partition into FAT32/ntfs for free. As a partition managing program, this software also help format, create, wipe, delete, resize, hide and manage partitions effectively for you.

Free USB/Disk Formatter

Download IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free Edition to format disk/usb/memory card totally free of charge.

Format, repair bad blocks totally free of charge.

Must have: it has 'Check Partition' function to check and repair possible errors for your digital devices.

Pros:

*The home edition is free and easy.
*It helps format hard drive or partition into FAT32 as you wish.
*It also help format, wipe, delete, resize, hide and manage computer internal hard drive partitions well.
*A tutorial video will also be automatically popped out and lead you to this software step by step.
*It supports the latest Windows 10/8/7 Vista and XP.

Cons:

*This home edition is free for personal use.

Note: this freeware also provides bootable iso version that you may format disk/usb under WinPE.

Read more details: Partition software bootable iso download

3). Rufus - format device that cannot be formatted

Rufus is an easy to use freeware that is able to format media which cannot be formatted in regular ways.

Rufus download url: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.11/rufus-3.11.exe

Also read: how to format sd card that cannot be formatted, or format usb drive that won't format

4). HDD Low Level Format Tool

HDD Low Level Format Tool is also another completely free disk formatting utility and allows people to easily format internal and external hard disk. With a Low-level format function, it often helps users format a hard drive completely and leave no original drive data there as well as removing some basic hard drive problems.

Pros:

*It is free and user-friendly.
*It support not only external hard drives, and also reads internal hard drives.
*It also offers a low-level format option to help users completely format hard drive and also ease everything inside drive.
*It also supports external memory cards, like SD, MMC, memory stick, CF card and more.

Cons:

*Pay $3.30 to upgrade this free tool to get faster speed and free lifetime updates.
*It recognizes the internal hard drive as one, not separated partitions.
*The speed of this free version is capped at 180GB per hour which is 50MB/s.

5). USB Disk Storage Format Tool

As the second disk formatting tool tested and listed here, USB disk storage format tool is also 100% freeware and allows people to completely format any USB flash drive or memory card with FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system formats.

Pros:

*It is free, fast and safe to format a flash drive or memory card.
*It supports all USB flash drives and memory card, like pen drive, thumb drive, CF, SD, Micro SD, TF, SDXC, SDHC memory card and more storage devices with different bands.
*It supports USB drive and memory card with FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system types.
*It helps formatting storage device and also removes all stored videos, music and files completely.

Cons:

*It also does not read any internal hard disk and partition.
*Upgrade software to pro version to get more features, like creating bootable USB disk, formatting USB disk not recognized by Windows, doing a low-level format or adjusting cluster size for USB disk for faster speed, etc.
*It supports FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system types only.

6). Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter

Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter is also a free disk formatting program which also helps everyone format hard disk and partition into FAT32 for free. With an easy-to-use interface, this software is also able to help delete or initialize a drive or partition smoothly.

Pro:

*It is free and easy to grasp.
*It allows users to delete or initialize hard drive partitions with simple clicks.
*It also reads all computer internal hard drives as separated partitions.
*It also allows user to format drive or partition into FAT32

Cons:

*It is able to format only unallocated space into FAT32 file system type.
*It only allows people to format hard drive or partition into FAT32.
*It supports Windows XP/Vista /2000 /7 only.

Free usb/disk formatting without software

Here are also some free methods that are available for you to operate hard drive formatting or usb format without any software under Windows.

Tool #6: format by right click the disk drive, pen drive or sd card

Tool #7: Format under PC Disk Management

Tool #8: format with cmd, it works when Windows was unable to complete the format

Step 1: open cmd by typing 'cmd' or 'diskpart' in 'Search Programs and Files' under Windows start

Step 2: type the letters inside of the quote 'format F: /fs:fat32' and enter. F must be replaced by the drive you want to format.

If you want to know more solution about why and what to do when Windows was unable to complete the format, you may read this article: Windows failed to format

Or you may see the following video to get a quick fix when it is unable to format your drive/card.

Note: when your flash drive or hard disk is damaged, be free to try these 8 free usb drive repair software for free repairing.

Remove Sensitive Data on Hard Disk/USB Flash by freeware Partition Resizer Free

Some users want to download disk formatting programs with the purpose of removing personal information on their storage media that they do not want to share any byte of the confidential data with another one.

In case of removing sensitive data with the usb format tools, we would recommend this freeware - Partition Resizer Free to you since it is built with a function - 'Wipe Partition' that could wipe the whole disk or usb by writing 0 or 1 into the disk, which makes the old data to be completely overwritten and can not be restored by any data recovery programs.

Free Fat32 Format Tool

Step 1: Download and install Partition Resizer Free and get the usb/card to your PC if you want to remove an external device.

Step 2: Launch Partition Resizer Free and then right click the media you want to remove its privacy.

Step 3: Choose a wiping method. Time consumption depends on how much data on your media. Usually 120GB data would take about 10 minutes.

Conclusion:

Free Fat32 Format Tool Windows 10

No matter why you have to format a hard drive or memory card, there are always five common ways for you to choose, like formatting it in My Computer, performing a formatting process in Disk Management, formatting a hard drive with common line, doing a formatting process with drive partition managing software or disk formatting software. And No matter which way you choose at last, hope you can extract and save important data backups well in advance to avoid any unexpected data loss troubles.

Other articles that you may want to read

Best Free Fat32 Format Software

Hot Articles