9 Best Free USB/Disk Formatting Software/Methods - Tested

Last updated on Sept 10, 2024

These top free formatters work for all brands and types of USB flash drives, hard drives (HDD), memory cards, and more. You can use them to force format USB drives/disks/SSDs/SD cards for free.

Formatting a USB flash drive or memory card on Mac? Feel free to visit: Top 3 Free Formatters for Mac. Flash drive corrupted? Try these USB repair utilities: 8 USB Repair Tools for Windows.

Guide: How to Format a Disk from BIOS; Unable to Format Hard Drive Fixes

Tested: 5 Best Free Hard Drive/USB/SD Formatting Tools

Note: Before formatting any HDD/SSD/pen drive/SD card, it’s recommended to back up your data first. If the device is no longer accessible, you may try this tool: How to Recover Data from Not Formatted Drive/Card.

Here are some common and useful free hard disk formatting utilities:

1) IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free

Partition Resizer Free Edition allows you to format a hard drive or partition into FAT32/NTFS for free. As a partition management tool, it also helps with formatting, creating, wiping, deleting, resizing, hiding, and managing partitions effectively.

Must-have: The 'Check Partition' function checks and repairs errors for digital devices.

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Pros:

• The home edition is free and easy to use.
• Formats hard drives or partitions into FAT32.
• Also supports formatting, wiping, deleting, resizing, hiding, and managing partitions.
• Includes a tutorial video for step-by-step guidance.
• Supports Windows 11/10/8/7, Vista, and XP.

Cons:

• The home edition is free for personal use only.

Note: This software also provides a bootable ISO version for formatting disks/SSDs/USBs under WinPE.

Read more details: Partition Software Bootable ISO Download

2) HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a free disk formatting utility that allows you to easily format a USB flash drive to FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS. It works flawlessly even when Windows is unable to complete the format, for example when your USB pen drive turns RAW format.

MUST READ: *Requires running as "Administrator."

With this software, you can also create a bootable USB drive by selecting the "Create a DOS startup disk" option if needed.

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Pros:

• Completely free and easy to use.
• Formats USB drives into FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS.
• Portable; can be installed on a flash drive for use on different PCs.
• Allows creating a DOS startup disk for booting a computer from a USB flash drive.
• Supports common Windows operating systems.

Cons:

• Only works on USB flash drives and does not recognize internal hard drives or partitions.
• Requires running as "Administrator."

Also read: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Review and Error Fixing

3). Rufus - Format Devices That Cannot Be Formatted

Rufus is an easy-to-use freeware that can format media that cannot be formatted using regular methods.

Rufus download URL: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.11/rufus-3.11.exe

Also read: How to Format an SD Card That Cannot Be Formatted, or Format a USB Drive That Won't Format

4). HDD Low Level Format Tool

The HDD Low Level Format Tool is another completely free disk formatting utility that allows users to easily format internal and external hard disks. With its low-level format function, it helps users completely format a hard drive, leaving no original data behind, and can also resolve some basic hard drive issues.

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Pros:

* It is free and user-friendly.
* It supports not only external hard drives but also internal hard drives.
* It offers a low-level format option to completely format hard drives and erase all data.
* It also supports external memory cards such as SD, MMC, memory sticks, CF cards, and more.

Cons:

* You need to pay $3.30 to upgrade for faster speeds and free lifetime updates.
* It recognizes internal hard drives as a single entity, not separate partitions.
* The speed of this free version is capped at 180GB per hour, which is about 50MB/s.

5). USB Disk Storage Format Tool

The USB Disk Storage Format Tool is also a 100% freeware that allows users to completely format any USB flash drive or memory card with FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS file system formats.

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Pros:

* It is free, fast, and safe for formatting a flash drive or memory card.
* It supports all USB flash drives and memory cards, such as pen drives, thumb drives, CF cards, SD cards, Micro SD cards, TF cards, SDXC, SDHC memory cards, and more storage devices.
* It supports USB drives and memory cards with FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS file system types.
* It formats storage devices and removes all stored videos, music, and files completely.

Cons:

* It does not read any internal hard disks or partitions.
* Upgrading to the pro version provides additional features such as creating bootable USB disks, formatting USB disks not recognized by Windows, performing low-level formats, or adjusting cluster sizes for faster speeds.
* It supports only FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS file system types.

6). Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter

Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter is also a free disk formatting program that helps users format hard disks and partitions into FAT32. With an easy-to-use interface, this software also assists in deleting or initializing a drive or partition smoothly.

Pros:

* It is free and easy to use.
* It allows users to delete or initialize hard drive partitions with simple clicks.
* It reads all computer internal hard drives as separate partitions.
* It allows users to format drives or partitions into FAT32.

Cons:

* It can only format unallocated space into FAT32.
* It only allows formatting hard drives or partitions into FAT32.
* It supports only Windows XP, Vista, 2000, and 7.

Free USB/Disk Formatting Without Software

Here are some free methods available for formatting hard drives or USB devices without any additional software under Windows.

Tool #6: Format by Right-Clicking the Disk Drive, Pen Drive, or SD Card

Tool #7: Format Using PC Disk Management

Tool #8: Format with CMD When Windows Unable to Complete the Format

Step 1: Open CMD by typing "cmd" or "diskpart" in the "Search Programs and Files" box under the Windows Start menu.

Step 2: Type the following command: format F: /fs:fat32 and press Enter. Replace F with the drive letter you want to format.

If you want to learn more about solutions for when Windows is unable to complete the format, you may read this article: Windows Failed to Format

Or you can watch the following video for a quick fix if you are unable to format your drive/card.

Note: If your flash drive or hard disk is damaged, feel free to try these 8 Free USB Drive Repair Tools for repair.

Remove Sensitive Data on Hard Disk/USB Flash Using Freeware Partition Resizer Free

Some users may want to download disk formatting programs to remove personal information from their storage media to ensure no confidential data is shared.

To remove sensitive data with USB format tools, we recommend using the freeware Partition Resizer Free. It includes a function called 'Wipe Partition' that can completely erase a disk or USB by writing 0s or 1s, making the old data irretrievable by any data recovery programs.

Step 1: Download and install Partition Resizer Free. Connect the USB/card to your PC if it is an external device.

Step 2: Launch Partition Resizer Free and right-click the media from which you want to remove privacy.

Step 3: Choose a wiping method. The time required depends on the amount of data on your media. Typically, 120GB of data takes about 10 minutes.

Part 3 - USB Format Tool APK/APP for Android Phones

The Question: How do I format a USB drive using a USB format app/APK on an Android mobile without a computer?

Solution: Format a USB drive on an Android phone using OTG with the following steps, which do not require a USB format app/APK.

• Connect the USB flash drive or external HDD to the phone using an OTG cable
• Go to storage settings
• Tap USB storage and format it using the 'Erase USB Storage' option

Note: To format an SD/USB to FAT32 using an Android phone, you need to remove the SD card from the phone (which does not provide a FAT32 formatting option) and connect it to a Windows or Mac computer to format the media card to FAT32.

Also read: How to Format SD to FAT32

FAQs

Question: How do I format a USB to FAT32 on Windows 10/11? Is there a free FAT32 format utility?

Answer: Most methods mentioned on this page can format a USB/disk to FAT32, except for those involving Android phones. For example, to format a USB to FAT32 on a Windows computer, you can right-click the USB in File Explorer and select format, or use Disk Management to select FAT32 as the file system.

Also read: How to Format SD to FAT32; How to Format SD/USB to FAT32 on Mac; or How to Format RAW USB to FAT32

Question: How do I format an SSD for Windows 10? How do I format an SSD with Windows on it?

Answer: If the SSD does not contain the boot volume, you can format it using any method described on this page. If the SSD contains Windows OS, you can format it from BIOS using the following method:

Guide: How to Format a Disk from BIOS

Conclusion

Regardless of why you need to format a hard drive, USB flash drive, or memory card, there are always free methods to choose from, such as formatting via My Computer, using Disk Management, formatting from the command line, or utilizing disk formatting software. Before formatting, be sure to back up your data to avoid unexpected data loss.