how to format usb drive to fat32 in windows 10

File system: Depending on the size of the drive you're formatting, you'll see a few options here, including FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS.Related: How to Format USB Drives Larger Than 32GB With FAT32 on Windows The dropdown shows only the drive you selected, so there's not much to do with this option other than make sure you've got the right drive selected. Capacity: This box shows the capacity of the drive.The 'Format' window offers a number of options: Open File Explorer to the 'This PC' view so that you can see all your drives easily. But if formatting is all you want to do, there's an easier way. You can format a drive-and perform other functions like creating and deleting partitions-using Windows' Disk Management tool. If, however, you need to securely erase the data from a drive-say you're tossing the drive or giving it away-consider a third-party tool like Eraser or DBan.įortunately, Windows makes formatting drives pretty easy.

For practical purposes, you can consider the data gone when you format a drive. So while you could still recover data from drives that have been formatted using the technique we're discussing here, it requires a special utility and some time. Instead, it marks the space your data used as available for writing to. Note: Formatting using most format utilities does not technically erase your drive. Related: How to Wipe (Securely Erase) Your Devices Before Disposing of or Selling Them Related: What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive?

How to format usb drive to fat32 in windows 10