If you format volume in Windows, you can see the 'Quick Format' option is selected by default. For example, when a disk becomes inaccessible and reports error message like ' The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable', you may want to format it to repair corrupt volume. Many users take formatting as the last resort to errors they encounter. If your drive is infected with virus or malware, you can format the disk to totally get rid of it. so that it can be used on different system platforms. USB drive can be reformatted to FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, EXT4, etc. Formatting process creates a file system to organize data, and it also can change file system format when necessary. A full formatting should be done to the new USB disk so that it can check whether there are bad sectors. Will you perform formatting to the USB flash drive you just bought? The answer should be Yes. If you want to permanently erase data, you can perform a full formatting. Since it causes data loss, be sure files are backed up before formatting. Quick formatting is the best way to wipe data from storage media with ease and speed. This section sums up what formatting can do for you. In fact, some underlying benefits of flash drive formatting are ignored.

In many cases we format a drive in order to prepare it to be used by operating system or erase all data.

Do you really know formatting? Let's take a close look at it now. Many users count on formatting to fix any errors on storage devices. In this guide, you can find multiple methods to format USB disks and you can choose one based on actual situation and needs.įormatting USB drive, volume or HDD is common operation to all computer users. Formatting a USB drive can repair corrupt partition as well as change file system format, thus we may need to format USB flash drive from time to time.

This article mainly talks about how to format / reformat USB flash drive to FAT32, exFAT, NTFS or EXT4 file system in Windows 10/8/7/XP.

How to format usb drive on windows 10