Apr 13, 2020 Sometimes, when you want to format the SD card, you cannot find it in Windows, or we can say, the SD card are not detected, recognized. Free download the best Micro SD card formatter software for PC Although you might meet some unexpected issues when trying to format Micro SD card in Windows, do not panic! If your computer doesn't have an SD card slot, you will need to use an SD card reader that can plug into a USB port. To get started, open File Explorer and locate the drive letter for your SD card. Right-click the drive, select Format and follow the steps. In order to maintain optimal performance over time of microSD cards up to 32GB, it is recommended to use this dedicated SD Card Formatter, available for Mac OS and Windows PC. In case you have issues with your microSD card, we recommend to format it using this software.
Recover an SD Card
Jun 17, 2019 Insert the troublesome SD card into your Mac system’s SD card reader. In case, if your Mac doesn’t feature an in-built SD card reader, you can buy an external card reader that connects into the Firewire or USB port on your Mac. Click the “Go” option in the Mac menu and then select “Applications”. To format a memory card larger than 32GB, you can take help of third-party software like FAT format. Disk Utility is also a reliable source to do the formatting process. Go to the application, select the drive of SD card and click on format button to wipe out all the data from the storage device.
If you deleted photos from a SD card mistakenly, or formatted a card inadvertently, or some pictures on the SD card missed for any reasons, you may need to find a SD Card Recovery software to recover the lost files from the SD card.
CardRecovery software from WinRecovery Software is the leading SD Card Recovery software to recover deleted files from SD card, or files lost due to other reasons. Both Windows and Mac versions are available.
Free Evaluation Version (Trial Version) Download
Windows: https://www.cardrecovery.com
Mac: https://www.cardrescue.com
Other SD card recovery software includes Rescue Pro Software, PhotoRec Software …
Flash an SD Card
When you need to save a system to a Raspberry Pi SD card, or similar device, direct copy does not work. You need a tool to flash the operation system image file to an SD card.
balena Etcher is a software tool to flash OS images to SD cards and flash drives.
Etcher is available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.
Downloads: https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Format an SD Card
To use a new SD card in cameras, phones or other devices, it is better to format it first, otherwise, the SD card may be not supported by the new device, or it does not work in best performance. It is recommended to use the SD Memory Card Formatter to format SD Cards rather than using formatting tools provided with Windows or Mac OS.
SD Memory Card Formatter
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Formatting is the process to create a new file system on the disk, memory card, or flash drives.
Common File Systems:
Check an SD Card
H2Testw
There are fake SD cards in the market, e.g. you bought a 128 GB SD card but actually, it is a 16 GB Card with faked labels. If you use it in a digital camera, the card of course stores much less photos and videos, it may also cause data loss and your valuable photos may be lost. You may need a tool to test and detect fake or counterfeit SD cards, or perhaps you just want to test an older storage device for errors and problems. H2Testw is a freeware tool designed to test the card capacity, read/write speed of an SD card, or scan and check for errors.
H2Testw can be downloaded from
Clone an SD Card
Sometimes, you may need to make a extra copy of an SD Card for backup or other purpose. Win32 Disk Imager is a Windows tool for reading data from an SD card and writing to a image file, also, it can be used to write a image file to a SD card. You may first use it to create a image file from a “Master” SD card, then write the image back to a different SD card to complete the SD card clone.
Download:
Important note: flashing, formatting or some SD card cloning and checking tool will wipe the data on the SD completely. So please use those tools carefully.
How to Format SD Card for Raspberry Pi QuicklyJessica Ward
Yup, you are reading this article because you already have your Raspberry Pi SD card on your table. So we will not discuss on how helpful it can be for your Pi projectsand other daily stuff that you do with your little computing system. Today, I will explain how you can format SD card for Raspberry Pi quickly and easily.
Some reasons make you do the formatting of the SD (Secure Digital) memory card, like;
How to Format SD Card for Raspberry Pi?
Before formatting an SD card, let’s take a look at the things you will need to perform the formatting process. Most of the parts come in a Raspberry Pi starter kit.
First of all, attach all the parts and components with your Raspberry Pi device and turn it into a full-blown computer. I assume that you know the process. So not going into detail for that.
There are a couple of ways to format the Raspberry Pi SD card depending on the capacity of it. If your SD card is less than 32GB storage capacity, then you can format it in a standard way like as FAT32, but if your card has the higher storage capacity than 32GB, then it should be formatted as exFAT. We will take a look at them all.
A. Formatting an SD, SDHC card having less than 32GB storage
For formatting such memory cards, you need not set up the Raspberry Pi. With a laptop or any other desktop system, you can easily format such flash storage devices in FAT (File Allocation Type).
That’s it. You have formatted the SD card for Raspberry Pi board, and it is ready to go with your Pi setup.
The official way to format Pi SD card
The official way means we will use the NOOBS (New Out Of Box Software) to do the formatting. As you may know that the NOOBS is an installation manager which helps to install the Operating System and other compatible apps on the Raspberry Pi board.
Where to get NOOBS?
If you have purchased an official Raspberry Pi SD card, then most probably, it comes with preloaded NOOBS software, so you need to download it separately. But, in case, you don’t have an official card, then you can download NOOBSfrom the official website.
How to format SD card to FAT32 using NOOBS?
For Linux Users
For the Linux systems, a compressed image file of Linux Distributions is used for Raspberry Pi. I will use Ubuntu system which is currently the best Linux Distribution to show you the process.
Formatting an SD card in Linux (Ubuntu)
Step-1: Open the Disk Utility application
Step-2: Select the SD card drive
Step-3: Select the format type as FAT
Step-4: Click on ‘Format’ button
For Windows Users
Formatting an SD card in Windows Operating System is a quick and easy process. There are a couple of ways to do that.
1) Using inbuilt method
This is the most common method used by the Windows PC users to format an SD card or a USB storage device.
After some time, you will see a message that the SD card is formatted and ready to use.
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2) With third-party app
There is some reliable software available for Windows systems too which help to format the SD card reliably. I prefer to use SD Formatter for the FAT32 type of format for the memory card. With the application like this and EaseUS partition tool, you can quickly format the SD memory card into FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and other types.
B. Formatting an SDHC/SDXC card higher than 32GB capacity
As I mentioned before, if your SDHC/SDXC card has a larger size than 32GB, then it will be formatted in an exFAT system, mainly if you use an official way.
But
Does Raspberry Pi support exFAT format?
You will not love to read, but the Raspberry Pi boards don’t support the exFAT formatting type. That is the main reason why you need some different way to format a memory card with above 32GB capacity. If you use a memory card formatted with this type, then your Raspberry Pi will not boot up, and you will think there is a defect in the board. But the culprit is the formatting type you used for your SDHC/SDXC (every memory card above 32GB storage space is an SDXC card) memory device.
Format a 64GB SDXC card for Raspberry Pi
To format a memory card larger than 32GB, you can take help of third-party software like FAT format. Disk Utility is also a reliable source to do the formatting process.
Go to the application, select the drive of SD card and click on format button to wipe out all the data from the storage device.
After formatting an SD cardFree Sd Card Format Software
So, you have formatted the SD card using the methods mentioned as above. What next? You have to make it ready to be used with your Raspberry Pi. Install NOOBS software in it, download the Operating System and install on SD card. Then, attach it to your Raspberry Pi board and start enjoying with your beloved device.
Mac Format Sd Card Fat32
Hope this guide helped you in the way you want. Let me know your thoughts on this. Also if you have any other method in mind to format an SD card for Raspberry Pi or familiar with any other app which can help to do so, then please share it in the comments section below.
RPi rocks!
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December 2020
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