How to Format SD Card to FAT32 with These 3 Methods?

TechsPlace | Have you ever had the problem that your electronic devices, like a camera, PS4, Xbox, can’t recognize an SD card? If “Yes”, you might need to format an SD card to the FAT32 file system to solve the problem.

What is the FAT32 File System?

FAT32 means File Allocation Table 32, which is a file system of using32 bits of data to identify clusters on a storage device.

Microsoft first introduced it in 1996. Now it has remained one of the most commonly used file systems in the world because of its great compatibility with a variety of devices, like PC, cameras, gaming consoles. But FAT32 also has some cons. For instance, it can’t read a file over 4GB in size. And it doesn’t support compression and data protection features that are provided by the NTFS file system.

So when your SD card is not accessible, you can check the file system if the device supports it. If it isn’t, connect the SD card with your PC via an adapter, and refer to the following content, we will demonstrate you three methods of formatting an SD card to the FAT32 file system.

How to Format SD Card to FAT32 File System with 3 Methods?

Note: The first 2 methods can’t work in formatting an SD card that is bigger than 32GB. If your SD is large, please go for method 3.

Method 1. Format SD Card with Disk Management

Step 1. Press “Win + R” to launch Run box.

Step 2. Type “diskmgmt.msc” on the box and press Enter to open Disk Management.

Step 3. In Disk Management, select the SD card by clicking the right mouse. And choose “Format Volume.

Step 4. And choose “FAT32 file system” in the formatting window, and click “OK”

Method 2. Format SD Card to FAT32 via Diskpart

Diskpart is a command-line interpreter application available in most Windows systems. You can format a drive to FAT32 by executing several commands. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Launch Run box, and type “cmd” on the box, and press Enter.

Step 2. Then the Command Prompt window will be opened. And type “diskpart” on the Command Prompt and press Enter.

Step 3. And type and press Enter to execute the following commands:

List volume
select volume n (n represent the SD card number)
format fs-fat32 quick

When the dialog shows “DiskPart successfully formatted the volume”, type “exit” to leave Diskpart.

Method 3. Format SD Card with AOMEI Partition Assistant

As for 32GB+ SD card capacity, the powerful formatter-AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is the best option. It doesn’t have capacity limitations. You can easily format an SD card beyond 32GB to the FAT32 file system in Windows. And besides FAT32, it also supports formatting a drive to NTFS, exFAT, Ex2, Ext3, Ex4 file systems.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant, you will see the information of all connected storage devices showing on the interface. Right-click on SD card, and select “Format Partition”

Step 2. Choose the FAT32 file system, and click “OK”

Step 3. At last, click “Apply” on the main console to commit the operation.

Other Feature of AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant is more than a formatter, and it is an excellent disk management utility abound with lots of helpful features, like “Resize Partition”, “Create Partition”, “Merge Partitions”, “Delete Partition”. These functions enable you to have some basic management of your hard drives and partitions.

Besides, it also offers some advanced functions for special uses and unexpected conditions, such as:

Windows To Go Creator. It installs Windows systems on a USB drive to have a portable system device. That means you can run a certain Windows system, including Windows 10, 8, 7, on any other PC in the world.

Wipe Partition and Wipe Disk: When you want to erase your data permanently, you can’t just delete files and folders on Windows Explorer because those deleted files can be easily restored. AOMEI Partition Assistant wipes a hard drive or partition using zero-filling that can efficiently prevent data recovery.

Make Bootable Media: It creates a Windows PE environment on a USB, CD, or DVD. It enables your computer to boot into AOMEI Partition Assistant. So you can manage your PC and troubleshoot some issues if your PC can’t boot up normally.

Final Words

This is how to format an SD card to the FAT32 file system. You can choose the three methods according to your need. The first 2 methods help you to format an SD card that is smaller than 32GB. If the capacity of your SD is over 32GB, and you want overall management on your storage device, AOMEI Partition Assistant is more suitable.