SD Card FAT32 Formatter to Format SD Card FAT32 On Windows/Mac and Android Phone (32GB/64GB/128GB/256GB etc.) - 4 ways

Background

New TF/SD card not recognized by mobile phone? Since some mobile phone only reads fat32 media instead of exfat memory card which mostly applied exfat when its capacity is larger than 32GB, users may want to know how to change the 64/128/256GB memory card to fat32.

There are many chances that a memory card may require fat32 conversion. As many memory cards are set to be exfat file system by the manufacturers when they are over 32GB. Is it safe to change a 64GB sd card to fat32 without losing data? How about changing the 128GB memory card to fat32? 256GB sd/microSD fat32 formatting?

Tips, if your memory card is damaged, unreadable, you may get it repaired here: 7 free tools to repair damaged sd card

This article includes the following parts

1. 4 Free SD Card Formatter to Convert SD/MicroSD to FAT32 in Windows
2. Guide - How to Change Memory Card to FAT32
   1. How to change sd card exfat/ntfs to fat32 in Windows
   2. How to change raw file system sd card to fat32 (plus how to change sd card to fat32 without formatting)
   3. Format sd card fat32 using cmd diskpart
   4. Failed to format sd card - Causes
3. Freeware to Convert/Format Memory Card FAT32 on MAC
4. How to format sd card to fat32 on Android Mobile
   1. New 32GB exfat sd/TF card not recognized in Phone

Top 4 Ways to Format SD Card FAT32 on Windows 10

Way 1 - Change SD Card FAT32 by Free Third Party Fat32 Format Tool

These following two free fat32 format tools can format memory card under/over 32GB to FAT32 when Windows built-in format tools cannot format sd/usb/hdd/ssd fat32.

Tool#1 Freeware IM-Magic Partition Resizer

This free tool provides fat32 formatting for flash drives or memory cards which are over 32GB. What's more, it provides bad blocks repairing for storage drives with its Check Partition operation.

Download Free Now

Tool#2 HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

FAT32 is provided as a file system in HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which is easy to use that the interface resembles the Windows right click media quick format option.

Format sd tf card by HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Also read: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool User Guide, Review and Error Fixings

More tools to format memory card? Here is an option: 8 Free tools to format memory card

Way 2 - Windows Disk Management (Windows 11/10/8/7)

Here in this part, we would show you how to format memory card fat32 by Disk Management.

Preparations: Connect your memory card to your computer (Better with a card reader), Open Disk Management by the following steps:

Right click 'This PC' -> 'Manage' -> 'Disk Management', and it would show up like this.

Open Disk Management

Step 1 - Right click your media under Disk Management -> Format

Format sd tf card under Disk Management

Step 2 - Set the file system to FAT32 for your memory card in the format window.

Format sd card fat32 under Disk Management

Way3 - Format sd card fat32 by right click format in Windows(Less than 32GB)

This is the simpliest work that could be as easy as you start you computer. And here it comes the steps.

Connect sd to computer ->Double clicking 'This PC' ->Right click sd card, 'Format' -> Set it to fat32 in file system -> 'Start'

Right click memory card - Format

Quick format sd card less than 32GB fat32 (Quick Format is optional in this step)

Way 4 - Diskpart CMD to Format sd card fat32 (Even damaged SD Card in RAW File System)

Windows built-in utility Diskpart could convert sd/tf card from whatever file system, including the raw file system to fat32.

When the memory card is damaged?

1. It is showing used space '0 bytes' in property with file system RAW
2. It would report error 'You need to format the drive before you can use it'

No matter the memory card is in healthy state or not, you may get it formatted to fat32 using Windows command prompt with the following steps.

Preparations: Insert your sd/tf/cf card to Windows 11/10/8/7 with a card reader or your device and then launch cmd by using Windows icon + R on your keyboard, type 'diskpart' and enter to launch cmd diskpart.

Steps to format sd card fat32 using cmd from file system exfat/ntfs/fat/raw

This guide applies to memory card of any files system, FAT, EXFAT, NTFS, OR RAW FILE SYSTEM.

1. 1, Type 'list volume' and enter
2. 2, Type 'select volume *' and enter (replace * with your own sd card drive letter that shows in your computer)
3. 3, Type 'format fs=fat32 quick' and enter
4. 4, Type 'exit' and enter

Quick format sd card using cmd diskpart

How to format sd card fat32 using Powershell?

Step1: Start Powershell from Start -> Windows PowerShell with ADMIN privileges

Step2: Type format /FS:FAT32 H: when your sd card shows the drive letter H that you need to replace it with your own drive letter here in this step.

The Question: how do I change sd card to fat32 without formatting?

Solution: When users are concerning about changing the sd card fat32 without formatting, they may have important data on the sd card. Here are the methods.

• SD card still working: If data on the sd card is still accessible, you may backup sd card data to PC or usb flash drive(with an OTG) at first, and then the formatting would be safe to go.
• SD card not working: When the sd card is damaged, not working properly, you may use sd card recovery tool to restore its data and save the data onto another drive, and then format the sd card safely.

Download sd card recovery tool

Unable to Format SD Card FAT32 Causes and Fixing

There are many factors that may lead to a sd card format failure.

1. SD card is write protected. (Can be fixed), See how to remove write protected sd card
2. SD card is set read-only. (Can be fixed), See how to remove read only attribution
3. SD card has bad sectors
4. SD card has raw file system => fix raw sd card

The last two errors(bad sectors, raw sd card) could be fixed here: how to repair damaged memory card

There is one dilemma that you need to know, when your memory card cannot be formatted, it may come to its end of life.

We would recommend you watch the following video when memory card cannot be formatted in Windows.

Freeware to Convert SD Card FAT32 on Mac

If you are converting the sd card on a Macbook or Mac machine, you may use freeware provided by Mac called Disk Utility to get the sd/tf converted to fat32.

Disk Utility to format memory card fat32

Format sd card fat32 on mac? Try this SD card formatter mac

Steps to Format SD Card FAT32 on MAC

• Open Disk Utility, which can be found in Applications -> Utility
• View -> Show all devices
• Select the one you want to erase/format, and then click the Erase button. (The same function that is to perform the function of 'Format')
• Select file system -> MS-DOS(FAT), which represents FAT32 in MAC
• Erase

Also read: 3 free tools to format fat32 on MAC

How to format sd card to fat32 on Android

Is it possible to format sd card fat32 on Android mobile phone? It's simple and easy that could be operated inside of your cellphone to get the memory card formatted when the memory card was FAT32 before the format that only to do a reformatting.

Recommend: How to format sd card on Android phone (The file system remains no change.)

If you are wondering is it possible to change sd card file system on Android? You should know the answer is the following.

NO! If the file system of your memory card was not fat32 and you wanted to change it to fat32 on mobile, the answer would be NO!

Solution: Fomat memory card fat32 in Windows 11/10/8/7 or MAC if you want to change its file system.

New 32GB exfat sd/TF card not recognized in Phone

You may want to know how to fix 32/64/128/256GB SD/TF card not recognized by Android phone like SAMSUNG, HUAWEI, HTC etc., the truth is the memory card which is over 32gb was set to exfat file system that could not be detected/read by many mobile phones.

This could easily be fixed if you change its file system from exfat to fat32, then your mobile would read it without problem.

Other FAQs

Question: Can I format 64gb sd card to fat32 free?

Answer: Yes, you may use free sd card fat32 formatter mentioned above to get your memory card formatted to fat32 for free.

The above sd card formatters may format 128gb sd card fat32, format 256gb sd card to fat32, ie it is regardless of the memory card capacity.

Question: Format 128GB SD card FAT32

You may use free format tool IM-Magic Partition Resizer to format sd card 128gb to fat32 file system.

Last updated on May 14, 2023

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