Format External Hd To Fat32

• Format External Hdd To Fat32
• Format External Hd To Fat32
• Format External Hd To Fat32 Drive

On Windows 10/8.1/8/7, there are typically four ways for both average and advanced users to format to FAT32, which has the greatest compatibility compared to other file systems. For small capacity flash drives, pen drives, or SD cards that range from 2GB-32GB, any of the four methods are workable. However, for USB flash drives, HDDs, or external hard drives that exceed 32GB, the applicable tools will be restricted to the third-party USB format tool and the Windows Command Prompt.

The FAT32 file system has some advantages over NTFS in that it is more commonly readable by other operating systems. However, if one attempts to format their external hard drive in this format using the disk management utility you will see the option is not available for the drive (unless it is smaller than 32gb). I have a 4TB GPT external USB hard drive that I need to format as FAT32. (Yes, I know there are better filesystems; I need FAT32.) I have other 4TB external drives already formatted as FAT32 (see.

Can't format to FAT32 in Windows 10 with all given disk formatting tools? Directly jump to the final part to get additional fixes for 'Cannot Format to FAT32' in Windows 10.

What You Need to Know About File Systems

Step 7: From the Volume Format menu, choose Mac OS Extended. Step 8: Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field. Step 9: Click the Erase button. How to Reformat in Windows. Step 1: Plug your external hard drive into your computer. Step 2: If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. Connect your hard drive or external storage device to Windows PC. Double-click This PC/My computer to open File Explorer. Locate and right-click on the USB drive, select 'Format'. Set the FAT32 as the target file system, tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start' to start the formatting.

In computing, a file system controls how data is stored and retrieved. The common Windows file systems include FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS, etc. Users can convert their USB flash drives or external hard drives between different file systems. In the chart below, we have listed features of four common file systems, giving detailed information from max partition size to the compatibility of these file systems.

Solution 1. Format to FAT32 Using FAT32 Formatter Windows 10

USB requirements: none

A professional third-party Windows 10 FAT32 formatting tool can make the formatting process simple and secure. We recommend you try EaseUS Partition Master with its Format feature. Besides FAT32, it also supports format USB to NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, and ReFS.

More Features:

• Adjust a partition to a larger or smaller one for your need.
• Merge partitions into a larger one without losing data.
• Organize and optimize your hard disk.
• Migrate OS to SSD to speed up Windows.

Download this partition magic now, and follow the simple steps to freely format USB to FAT32 in Window 10.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.

Step 2. Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.

Step 3. In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.

Step 4. Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.

Solution 2. Format to FAT32 Windows 10 via File Explorer

USB requirements: no more than 32GB. Otherwise, you can only choose to format USB to NTFS.

To format USB under 32GB to FAT32 in Windows 10 Explorer, follow the three steps:

Step 1. Connect USB or external hard drive to Windows 10 PC.

Step 2. Open File Explorer, locate and right-click on the USB drive, select 'Format'.

Step 3. Set the FAT32 as the target file system, tick 'Quick Format' and click 'Start' to start the formatting.

When the process completes, click 'OK' to confirm. And now your USB is FAT32.

Solution 3. Format USB/External Drive to FAT32 with Disk Management

USB requirements: Similar to the Explorer, your USB drive has to be under 32GB in order to format to FAT32 within the program

Follow the 3-step guide here to format to FAT32:

Step 1. In Windows 10, go to This PC > Manage > Disk Management.

Step 2. Locate and right-click on your USB flash drive or external hard drive, select 'Format'.

Step 3. Set the USB file system to FAT32, tick 'Perform a quick format' and click 'OK' to confirm.

Solution 4. Format to FAT32 Windows 10 Using Command Prompt

USB requirements: none

Some experienced users or administrators prefer to use command lines to execute some operations on Windows PC. It's also an applicable way to format your flash drive or external hard drive to FAT32 in Windows 10.

Note: Be careful while using command lines on your PC to format USB drive. Any improper operations would cause serious issues.

Here are the details of how to use CMD, DiskPart, or PowerShell command lines formatting device:

Option 1. Use CMD - Command Prompt

Step 1. Type command prompt in Windows 10 search bar or right-click on 'Windows icon' > select 'Search', and type cmd.

Step 2. Right-click on 'Command Prompt' and select 'Run as Administrator'.

Step 3. Check the USB label and type Format /FS:FAT32 O: at the prompt and hit 'Enter'. (Replace O: with the drive letter of your USB drive.)

Windows 10 will begin formatting the USB flash drive or external hard drive into FAT32.

Step 4. Type exit when the process has completed.

Option 2. Use DiskPart

Step 1. Type diskpart in Windows search bar and hit Enter.

Step 2. Hit Enter each time when you type the below command lines to quick format hard drive:

• list disk
• select disk 2 (Replace 2 with your USB disk number)
• list volume
• select volume 10 (Replace 10 with the volume number of the USB drive that you want to format)
• format fs=fat32 quick

Step 3. Type exit and hit Enter to close the program when DiskPart reports it has successfully formatted the USB.

Option 3. Use PowerShell

Step 1. Right-click on the Windows icon and select 'Windows PowerShell Admin', click 'Yes' to open it.

Step 2. Check the USB drive label, type Format /FS:FAT32 o: in PowerShell, and hit Enter.

Step 3.Type exit when the formatting process completes.

Additional Fixes for 'Cannot Format to FAT32' in Windows 10

If you met a problem while formatting USB or Windows warns that Windows was unable to complete the format, don't worry. In this part, you'll learn why you can't format to FAT32 in Windows 10 and how to resolve this issue effectively.

Reasons for Why You Can't Format to FAT32

To find the right solution for your case, it's important to find out the causes that stop you from formatting devices to FAT32. Here are the main reasons:

1. 1. File system error, bad sectors exist on USB/external hard drive
2. 2. The USB drive contains 2 partitions or the partition need for formatting to FAT32 is not the first primary partition
3. 3. The partition in USB or external hard drive is larger than 32GB
4. 4. The USB drive or external hard drive is write-protected

So how to resolve these issues, switching your USB drive to FAT32? Follow the quick fixes to troubleshoot the problem of FAT32 format in Windows 10.

Fix 1. Check disk error, fix file system errors or soft bad sectors

To do so, both the third-party partition manager software - EaseUS Partition Master and Windows Disk Check will work.

Method 1. Use EaseUS Partition Master to check and fix disk error

Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose 'Check File System'.

Step 2. In the Check File System window, keep the 'Try to fix errors if found' option selected and click 'Start'.

Step 3. The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

Method 2. Run Disk Check in Windows File Explorer

Step 1. Open File Explorer, locate and right-click the USB or external hard drive, and click 'Properties'.

Step 2. Go to 'Tools' and click 'Check' under Error-checking.

Step 3. Select 'Scan and repair drive'.

Orselect and check both 'Automatically fix file system errors' and 'Scan for and attempt recovery of back sectors', then click 'Start'.

Fix 2. Delete all partitions and create a new FAT32 partition on USB drive

If your Windows system (version before Windows 8.1) or your USB drive doesn't support creating two primary partitions, the computer won't be able to recognize nor format the non-primary partition on the USB drive to FAT32.

The solution to this problem is to delete all existing partitions on USB and create a new FAT32 partition:

Step 1. Connect USB to PC and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Locate and right-click the primary partition on USB and select 'Delete Volume', click 'Yes' to confirm.

Step 3. Right-click on the logical partition on the USB drive, select 'Delete Volume'.

Step 4. Click 'Yes' to confirm.

Step 5. The logical partition will become free space, right-click on it and select 'Delete Partition', click 'Yes' to confirm.

Step 6. When the USB becomes unallocated, right-click on the unallocated space and select 'New Simple Volume' > 'Next'.

Step 7. Follow the on-screen instructions to specify volume size, drive letter, and set file system to FAT32, click 'Next' > 'Finish' to complete.

After this, you've successfully converted your USB or external hard drive to FAT32 and you don't need to format this drive again.

Fix 3. Select NTFS as the file system or split USB larget partition to smaller FAT32 partitions

As shown in the chart at the beginning, the max size of the FAT32 partition is 32GB, which means you can only format devices smaller than 32GB into this file system.

In other words, when your USB drive partition is larger than 32GB, you can't format it into FAT32. There are three solutions to this issue:

• Method 1. Apply EaseUS Partition Master to format USB to FAT32

Unlike Windows built-in tools, EaseUS Partition Master can simply format your USB drive even bigger than 32GB to FAT32 with ease. All you need is to go back to the partition manager to directly format your USB to FAT32 without any limitation.

• Method 2. Set NTFS as the file system of your USB drive

NTFS supports saving a single file that is larger than 4GB and supports creating a partition larger than 32GB.

If you only want to keep one partition on the USB drive, make full use of the drive space, the best choice is to set the NTFS as your USB drive.

Method 3. Divide USB partition into small ones (less than 32GB) with FAT32

The other way is to split the USB partition into small ones and format them into FAT32:

Pre-conditions: Windows system (versions after 8.1) and USB drive both support two or more partitions.

Step 1. Use Disk Management to delete the USB partition.

Step 2. Create two or more partitions smaller than 32GB with the FAT32 file system.

Fix 4. Remove USB write protection and format USB to FAT32

When the USB drive is write-protected or locked with a password, you can't directly format it into FAT32. Here are the detailed steps to resolve this problem:

Step 1. Remove USB write protection and unlock USB

You can refer to this link to remove USB write protection on Windows 10/8/7. Or you can try to use EaseUS M Tool to simply remove the USB lock in 3 steps:

If you are not professional in computing management and not familiar with command lines, don't worry. EaseUS R&D team has promoted a fresh kit for helping you resolve the write-protection issue on your hard drive, external hard drive, USB or SD card, etc., devices.

EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to the command line.

Use this one-click tool to solve the write-protection issues on your own:

Step 1: DOWNLOAD and install EaseUS Tools M for free.

Step 2: Run EaseUS Tools M on your PC, choose the 'Write Protection' mode.

Step 3: Select the device which is now 'Write-Protected' and click 'Disable' to remove the protection.

Step 2. Format USB to FAT32

After removing the USB write protection, you can apply any one of the above-provided solutions in Part 1 to format your USB drive to FAT32.

Final Word

This page tells how to format a USB or external hard drive into FAT32 and resolve the issue of being unable to format USB to FAT32. It also includes helpful solutions in formatting devices bigger than 32GB into FAT32 without data loss.

If you want to convert devices into NTFS without formatting, refer to How to Convert FAT to NTFS for help.

Summary :

Do you know how to convert exFAT to FAT32? Is there an exFAT to FAT32 converter free download? If you don't know how to convert exFAT to FAT32 or you are still looking for a free exFAT to FAT32 converter. You can follow this article to convert exFAT to FAT32.

About exFAT and FAT32 File System

What are exFAT and FAT32 file systems? Are FAT32 and exFAT the same? Of course not! Many of you may be confused about the two file systems and don't know their major differences. So before I show you how to change your device from exFAT to FAT32, I'd like to give you a brief introduction of exFAT and FAT32 file system.

FAT32

FAT stands short for File Allocation Table. FAT32 is the most common version of the FAT file system created back in 1977 by Microsoft. As an older file system, FAT32 has great compatibility. FAT32 is commonly used on USB sticks, SD card, and other solid-state drives, and many portable and embedded devices.

exFAT

exFAT is the abbreviation of Extended File Allocation Table. It was introduced by Microsoft in 2006, exFAT file system can be used on flash memory like USB flash drives and SD cards. It is similar to FAT32 files system, but does not have the limits of FAT32 file system. It is a modern replacement for FAT32.

Many removable devices are formatted with exFAT or FAT32 file system due to their compatibility. Although FAT32 has limits on single file size and partition size, it is compatible with more very old operating systems than exFAT.

So, sometimes users need to change their devices' file system from exFAT to FAT32 due to compatibility reasons. In this case, to learn how to convert exFAT to FAT32 is very important.

Quick Video Guide:

How to Change exFAT to FAT32 File System

After knowing the differences between exFAT to FAT32, some users may wonder: how do I convert exFAT to FAT32?

Actually, it is easy to change exFAT to NTFS. Since you are unable to convert exFAT to NTFS without data loss in Windows 10/8/7, the only way to do it to backup files to another drive and then format exFAT to FAT32. In this way, you can change exFAT to FAT32 without data loss. So firstly, you need to backup important files to another device manually and then format USB flash drive, external hard drive or SD card to FAT32.

Well, how to backup files or backup the whole drive? Is there a simple way to backup partition or backup the whole disk?

Backup Files Before Formatting exFAT to FAT32 File System

To backup important files before formatting exFAT to FAT32 file system, it is recommended to use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is a reputable all-in-one disk partition manager, which can help you not only backup partition and disk but also enable users to format hard drive Windows 10, resize partition, check file system, convert FAT to NTFS without data loss, convert MBR to GPT, copy disk, or migrate Windows OS to an SSD etc.

Now, let's backup important files firstly with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Step 1. Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, install it on your computer and launch it to get the main interface.

Step 2. Select the exFAT partition that you want to backup and choose the Copy Partition from the left action panel to backup partition.

Step 3. Choose an unallocated space on another disk to create the copy of the selected exFAT partition. Then click Next.

Step 4. Now you could set destination partition size by dragging the arrow. After that, click Finish to continue.

Step 5. When you turn to the main interface, you can preview the copied volume with exFAT file system. Click Apply on the top left corner to allow changes.

As you can see, it is very simple to backup partition in this way. If you store too many files on your exFAT partition, you can take this way to make a backup, which is faster than using copy and paste. Get one now to backup partition and disk instantly.

After backing up the files in the exFAT partition, you can follow the three methods to format exFAT to FAT32.

Fix 1. Format exFAT to FAT32 with a Free Drive Formatting Utility

With the user-friendly interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can easily format exFAT to FAT32 file system. Here are detailed steps and screenshots to show you how to format exFAT to FAT32 with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Step 1. Download exFAT to FAT32 converter MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by clicking the following button. Install and launch it to get its main interface.

Step 2. Right-click the exFAT partition from the main interface and then select Format Partition to format exFAT to FAT32 Windows 10.

Step 3. Here you can set partition label, file system as well as cluster size by yourself. Select FAT32 from the drop-down menu and click OK to continue. By formatting the drive, you can convert exFAT to FAT32file system.

Step 4. At last, click Apply on the upper right corner to finish the last step convert exFAT to FAT32 file system.

You see, exFAT to FAT32 conversion with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is very simple as you see from the above steps. If you want to change exFAT to FAT32 by formatting it, try using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Format External Hdd To Fat32

If you don't want to resort to third-party drive formatting software, you can take the next two solutions to change exFAT to FAT32.

Fix 2. Format exFAT to FAT32 via Disk Management

You can use Disk Management to format exFAT to FAT32 file system. Disk Management is a Windows built-in partition manager, which can help you complete simple partitioning operations like create partition, delete partition, extend partition (See: Why Extend Volume Grayed out and How to Quickly Fix It – MiniTool), shrink partition, format partition, etc.

Disk Management is not so powerful as many third-party partition manager, such as MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it is enough for you to format exFAT to FAT32.

Now you can follow the steps as below to format exFAT to FAT32 file system with Disk Management.

Step 1. Right-click the Windows Start menu and select Disk Management to get the main interface.

Step 2. Right-click the partition that formatted with exFAT file system, and then choose Format… from the pop-up window.

Step 3. Then you can set volume label, file system and Allocation unit size and click OK. Remember to change exFAT to FAT32 file system at this page.

With the user-friendly interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can easily format exFAT to FAT32 file system. Here are detailed steps and screenshots to show you how to format exFAT to FAT32 with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Step 1. Download exFAT to FAT32 converter MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by clicking the following button. Install and launch it to get its main interface.

Step 2. Right-click the exFAT partition from the main interface and then select Format Partition to format exFAT to FAT32 Windows 10.

Step 3. Here you can set partition label, file system as well as cluster size by yourself. Select FAT32 from the drop-down menu and click OK to continue. By formatting the drive, you can convert exFAT to FAT32file system.

Step 4. At last, click Apply on the upper right corner to finish the last step convert exFAT to FAT32 file system.

You see, exFAT to FAT32 conversion with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is very simple as you see from the above steps. If you want to change exFAT to FAT32 by formatting it, try using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Format External Hdd To Fat32

If you don't want to resort to third-party drive formatting software, you can take the next two solutions to change exFAT to FAT32.

Fix 2. Format exFAT to FAT32 via Disk Management

You can use Disk Management to format exFAT to FAT32 file system. Disk Management is a Windows built-in partition manager, which can help you complete simple partitioning operations like create partition, delete partition, extend partition (See: Why Extend Volume Grayed out and How to Quickly Fix It – MiniTool), shrink partition, format partition, etc.

Disk Management is not so powerful as many third-party partition manager, such as MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it is enough for you to format exFAT to FAT32.

Now you can follow the steps as below to format exFAT to FAT32 file system with Disk Management.

Step 1. Right-click the Windows Start menu and select Disk Management to get the main interface.

Step 2. Right-click the partition that formatted with exFAT file system, and then choose Format… from the pop-up window.

Step 3. Then you can set volume label, file system and Allocation unit size and click OK. Remember to change exFAT to FAT32 file system at this page.

Step 4. Click OK to make sure you want to format the drive. Once you click OK, the Disk Management will start formatting your drive immediately. Keep in mind that formatting will erase all data on it. So backup any important file before formatting.

Format External Hd To Fat32

Step 5. When the formatting is completed, you can see that the exFAT partition has been changed to FAT32 from the main interface. Then you can close the Disk Management and use the drive again.

Apart from using Windows built-in partitioning utility Disk Management to format exFAT to FAT32, you can also try using commands to change exFAT to FAT32 file system.

Fix 3. Format exFAT to FAT32 with Command Prompt commands

DiskPart is a command-line disk partition management tool built-in all Windows versions including Windows10/8/8.1/7. It is the replacement of its predecessor, FDISK. You can use Diskpart to create partition, delete partition, format partition, and so on.

Although Diskpart can help you format exFAT to FAT32, it is not a common formatting tool. Many people are not familiar with commands. And if you type a wrong command when formatting the drive, you may encounter unexpected data loss. So backing up important files on your computer is vital if you want to use commands to convert exFAT to FAT32.

The following contents will show you how to format exFAT to FAT32 with commands.

Step 1. Right-click Windows 10 start menu and choose Run. You can also press Windows +R key to open Run box.

Step 2. In the pop-up Run window, input diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 3. Type the following commands to format partition from exFAT to FAT32 and press Enter after each one.

• list disk
• select disk * (* represents the disk number.)
• list partition
• select partition x (* represents the partition with exFAT file system.)
• format fs=fat32 quick

Then you can exit the command prompt window. After that, you can check if your exFAT partition has been converted to FAT32 file system in Disk Management.

After seeing the above three methods, you may find that the simplest way to format exFAT to FAT32 is using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition. With the free drive formatting utility, you can format SSD, HDD, USB flash drive, SD card in just a few clicks. And before formatting exFAT to FAT32, you can use this partition manager to backup partition and disk in a time-saving way.

In a word, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is all you need to convert your device from exFAT to FAT32 file system.

Bottom Line

Format External Hd To Fat32 Drive

This post has illustrated 3 methods for you to change exFAT to FAT32. If you don't know how to convert exFAT to FAT32 or format exFAT to FAT32, you can try the three simple methods in this post.

If you have any question about how to change exFAT to FAT32 Windows 10 or how to format exFAT to FAT32 with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can leave a message on the following comment zone. We will reply as soon as possible. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].

exFAT to FAT32 FAQ