Yes, it's likely that formatting a USB drive is an extremely basic task for most of our readers, but let's imagine for a moment that some problem arises (say, the drive loses its drive letter), or you have to explain the exact procedure to someone else. This article will help you save time, and why not, resolve certain technical details when the USB drive refuses to cooperate.
We carry them everywhere, they go through many computers, and sooner or later they end up upside down. If we are more interested in the hardware than the stored information, formatting a USB drive may be the only way to bring it back to normal. In fact, Windows usually suggests a format at the slightest problem, but today we will share four options to achieve the same result:
How to format a USB drive: File Explorer
Connect the USB drive, right-click it, and choose 'Format' from the context menu. This is the traditional way to format any USB drive, memory card, and/or external USB disk. Remember that you can also change the file system using NTFS or exFAT (in addition to FAT32), and experiment with the allocation unit size. Some users swear that a larger unit makes the USB drive faster...
Disk Management
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. The USB drive should appear in the drive list with the label 'Removable'. Another right-click on its partition will give you access to the 'Format' option in the context menu. This menu is more compact, but it has an extra advanced option: file compression for NTFS systems. However, it doesn't make much sense to enable compression on USB drives. Something definitely useful is the ability to change or restore the drive letter, and delete the entire partition.
SD Memory Card Formatter
SD Memory Card Formatter is the official tool from the SD Association to format/normalize SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, but the good news is that it also works with USB drives. The only advanced options are quick or full format (CHS settings are only enabled for drives of 8 GB or smaller). The software prioritizes FAT32 for greater compatibility with cameras and other devices. The sector size is calculated automatically.
Eraser
Eraser was part of our list of software to securely delete files, although this time we are more interested in the 'exercise' for the USB drive. If you try Gutmann or another similar method you will wait a long time (read: hours), but a pseudorandom wipe should be enough to check whether the USB drive is in good condition or not. Make sure you select the correct drive in Eraser's interface: we don't want you to delete anything by mistake...
How to format a USB drive: In summary
For a quick and easy way to format a USB drive, the first option should be all you need, but if it refuses to cooperate... let's say you have other alternatives. Personally, SD Memory Card Formatter has helped me with many stubborn cards, and using Eraser as a 'training ground' is not a bad idea. Good luck!
