Question

How to format flash disk / HDD using cmd

Answer 1

Formatting a flash drive using the Command Prompt (CMD) in Windows is a straightforward process, but it involves careful steps to ensure you don't accidentally erase important data. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

   • Press Win + X and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).
   • Alternatively, press Win + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.

2. Identify the USB Drive:

   • Type diskpart and press Enter. This will open the DiskPart utility.
   • Type list disk and press Enter. This command lists all the disks connected to your computer.
   • Identify your USB drive by its size. For example, if your USB drive is 16 GB, it might be listed as "Disk 1" with a size of 16 GB.

3. Select the USB Drive:

   • Type select disk X and press Enter, replacing X with the number corresponding to your USB drive. For example, if your USB drive is "Disk 1", you would type select disk 1.

4. Clean the USB Drive:

   • Type clean and press Enter. This command will remove all partitions and data from the selected disk.

5. Create a New Partition:

   • Type create partition primary and press Enter. This command creates a new primary partition on the USB drive.

6. Format the USB Drive:

   • Type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter to format the drive with the NTFS file system. If you prefer the FAT32 file system, you can use format fs=fat32 quick instead.
   • The quick parameter speeds up the formatting process. If you want a full format, omit quick, but this will take longer.

7. Assign a Drive Letter:

   • Type assign and press Enter. This command assigns the next available drive letter to the USB drive.
   • Optionally, you can specify a drive letter by typing assign letter=X, replacing X with your desired letter.

8. Exit DiskPart:

   • Type exit and press Enter to leave the DiskPart utility.
   • Type exit again and press Enter to close the Command Prompt.

Example Commands

• diskpart 

• list disk 

• select disk 1 

• clean 

• create partition primary 

• format fs=ntfs quick assign 

• exit 

• exit

Comments

Notes:

• Be very careful when selecting the disk in DiskPart. Selecting the wrong disk can result in data loss on that disk.
• Always back up any important data on your USB drive before formatting, as this process will erase all data on the drive.