Last updated on 1/10/2020
These formatting tools work for all brands and types of usb flash, hard drive, sd memory card. You may use them to force format on your usb/disk/sd for free. The best free formatter we tested for usb flash, disk drive, memory card.
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
- A). HP USB Format Tool Download - needs admin privilege
- B). IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free - can also repair bad blocks for disk/usb before formatting
- C). Rufus - format disk/usb/sd that won't format
HP USB Disk Storage Format tool (HPUSBDisk.exe) is a Windows-based format utility that is designed to format USB hard drive or SD cards to FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file system. It allows users to create a FAT32 volume which is larger than 32 GB. How to format a USB flash drive in Mac OS. The HP USB Format Tool allows you to format the USB flash drive in the Mac OS X. However, for this you need to follow the next steps: Install the Parallels Desktop emulator on your Mac OS; Install Windows on Parallels Desktop; Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool on Mac, install it on emulated Windows.
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 (386)
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 (1386)
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.
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:
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.
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Do You Have Any USB Format Problems?
'When I tried to format my 4 GB SanDisk USB pen drive, I got the message saying the disk is write-protected. Is there any USB format tool that can remove the write protection?'
'I just bought an 8GB Kingston data traveler for backup. But I got the error message saying [cannot format USB drive] when I tried to reformat the USB drive. What can I do?'
'I encountered the disk not formatted error on my 64GB Toshiba flash drive. Windows was unable to complete the format. Is there any way that I can use to format my USB flash drive for reuse successfully?'
'My SanDisk USB drive used to be originally 8GB when I bought it. But now the capacity only shows 250MB. How do I fix my USB drive to restore its original 8GB size back?'
What's a USB Format Tool?
USB format tool, also known as USB formatter, lets you solve many USB format problems. Formatting a flash drive is the best way to prepare the USB drive for use by a computer, plus it ensures the quickest way to troubleshoot many general USB issues. Typically, there are six reasons why you would want to format your USB drive or a pen drive.
- 1. To write files bigger than 4 GB on your USB drive
- 2. To create partitions larger than 32 GB
- 3. To make your USB drive faster when writing mostly large files to it
- 4. To fix a RAW, not accessible, not formatted USB drive
- 5. To restore a USB drive to its full capacity
- 6. To erase data completely from the drive
EaseUS Partition Master - The Best USB Format Tool in 2020
USB cannot format, USB drive is write-protected, USB format error, USB becomes raw, and more are the common issues you might encounter when you use a USB flash drive. At this moment, you have to format your USB flash drive to fix the problem. And it's likely that you can not do it with the Windows built-in disk management tool. That's when you need to find a third-party USB formatting tool for help. Which one is the best?
In fact, there are many formatting tools for USB flash drive like HP USB Disk Storage Formatting Tool, MMC Formatting tool, Panasonic SD Formatting Tool, Urescue Formatting Tool, SD formatting software, etc. But here we would like to recommend you EaseUS partition software for its powerful formatting capacity and easy-to-use features. It allows to format a USB flash drive from Sandisk, Kingston, Panasonic, Lexar, Samsung, Sony, etc easily in all complex cases, for example, to format write-protected USB flash drive, format USB drive back to the original size, format USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS, and more.
What makes it the TOP ONE USB format tool is far from these mentioned highlights. It's the only bootable USB format tool compared with the others.
Pros:
- Format USB with high speed in Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista and Windows Servers
- Format USB drive even when Windows cannot complete the format
- Format USB drive to all possible file systems, including NTFS, FAT16/32, EXT2/3/4
Cons:
- You must download and install it on your PC to be able to use
- No macOS version is available
Now you can try the following guide to format your USB drive in simple steps. (Formatting will delete all data on the USB flash drive, back up all your files before starting the process.)
How to format your USB flash drive with EaseUS USB formatting tool
Step 1: Select the USB drive to format.
Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer. Download and launch EaseUS partition software. Right-click the USB drive you intend to format and choose 'Format'.
Step 2: Set the drive letter and file system.
Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: Check the warning box.
Click 'OK' if you see the Warning window. If you have important data on it, back up the data in advance.
Step 4: Apply the changes.
Click the 'Execute operation' button first, and then click 'Apply' to format the USB drive.
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - Best for Windows XP
The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool was created to format USB drives and desktop computers that were produced prior to 2012 and computers that run Windows XP. The formatting tool will work with newer Windows operating systems but results may vary.
So, to achieve the best USB format result, Windows XP users can consider the USB Disk Storage Format Tool to format a USB drive, flash drive or pen drive.
Pros:
- It is best used on USB drives and it strips and re-formats your drives
- The GUI is very familiar because it looks just like the Windows XP formatting tool
Cons:
- It may cause crashes on modern computers with newer operating systems
- It is not very fast compared to modern formatting tools like EaseUS Partition Master
How to format a USB drive with HP Disk Storage Format Tool
Step 1. Connect the USB drive to your Windows XP computer, click Devices and select the USB drive you want to format.
Step 2. From the File System menu, select a file system and enter a name for the reformatted disk in the Volume Label input box.
Step 3. Click the Quick Format option to enable a quick format. If you leave this option unchecked, a slower, low-level format will be performed.
Step 4. Click Start to begin the USB formatting.
Three Built-in USB Format Tools in Windows 10/8/7
- 1. Windows File Explorer
- 2. Windows Disk Management
- 3. Windows Diskpart Command
Windows has default programs to let users format USB pen drive and a variety of hard drive storage devices as well. It's not designed to solve every USB corruption issues. However, it's good to have the first attempt when your USB drive starts malfunctioning.
1. Windows File Explorer: Format a USB drive to NTFS, FAT32 or exFAT
Windows File Explorer can't be more familiar to us Windows users since it provides the most accessible way to make changes to a local disk drive or a removable drive you connected to the computer, one of which is 'Format'.
To be able to use File Explorer to format a connected USB flash drive, Windows must recognize the drive and assign it a drive letter.
To format a USB flash drive using File Explorer, use these steps:
1. Open File Explorer.
2. Choose 'This PC' from the left pane.
3. Under the 'Devices and drivers' section, right-click the connected USB flash drive and select the 'Format' option.
4. On the format window, select the NTFS option.
5. Click 'Start'.
2. Windows Disk Management - Format a Not Showing USB Drive
Disk Management is the other native Windows program that is available in Windows 10/8/7. It enables users to undertake many more tasks to manage a disk as they want. It comes with the option of 'Format'. Chances are when you need to format a RAW USB drive that is not showing up in the File Explorer, you can dive into the Disk Management to do the format.
Step 1. Right-click on This PC and navigate to Manage > Disk Management.
Step 2. Right-click on the USB drive, and choose 'Format'.
Format Tools Download
Step 3. On the format window, check the box of 'Perform a quick format', and in the same way, you need to choose a file system and allocation unit size.
Step 4. Click 'OK' to start formatting the USB drive.
3. Windows Diskpart Command - Advanced USB Formatter for Professionals
Windows Command Prompt is a built-in tool in Windows that can troubleshoot all kinds of computer problems with various commands. You can use the Diskpart command as the USB formatter to format an external USB drive. This method is somewhat higher-leveled, but so far the most utilized way to tackle some tricky issues.
Step 1. Enter Windows Command Prompt. Press Windows + R keys and type cmd. Run as administrator.
Step 2. On the Command Prompt window, you need to enter the following command lines each by each:
diskpart
list disk
select disk + number (If the USB flash drive is disk 2, then enter disk 2)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs (If you need to format to other file systems, replace ntfs with the target file system like FAT32)
assign
Step 3. Type exit to close the window.
People Also Ask
1. How do I format a USB drive?
- Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer.
- Download and launch EaseUS partition software. Right-click the USB drive you intend to format and choose 'Format'.
- Assign a new partition label, file system, and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'
Windows 10 Usb Format Tool
2. What happens when you format a USB?
Hp Usb Disk Storage Format Tool For Mac
It will erase the data. Do not choose format unless you have back up your important files. But if you choose 'Quick Format' on Disk Management, you can recover data through the third-party software.
Hp Usb Format Tool Windows 10
3. Do you need to format a USB flash drive?
Usb Format Tool
USB Flash drive formatting has its advantages. It helps you to compress files so that more space can be used on your custom USB flash drive. For instance, formatting is good to refresh your USB flash drive.