During the format process, only the best suited file systems will be displayed in Windows.įirst, let me say it IS possible for Windows to format a USB flash drive as UDF (Universal Disk Format). Windows provides NTFS as an option for USB flash drives, but as mentioned before, NTFS is not the best file system for a USB drive. The proper file systems for a flash drive is: FAT, FAT32 or exFAT. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.When trying to format a flash drive in Windows (7 or 10) you will see the file system options best suited for the device. Quick format - Files are erased (not overwritten) from the volume that you are formatting, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors.To avoid causing unnecessary on-demand-allocation, you must use the quick format option. In the on-demand scenario, zeros don't have to be written to the whole disk because the volume storage provider initializes the on-demand-allocated data. Problems may occur because the new format behavior prematurely triggers allocation of the backing space. The new format behavior may cause problems for the on-demand allocation modes that a volume storage provider, such as a Storage Area Network (SAN), supports. In Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows, the format command doesn't write zeros to the whole disk when a full format is performed. By default in Windows Vista and later versions, the format command writes zeros to the whole disk when a full format is performed.

The behavior of the format command changed in Windows Vista and later Windows versions. You can select to use a FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, or ReFS file system when formatting. How to Format a Disk or Drive in Windows 10įormat is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive for initial use to accept Windows files.

How to format usb drive on windows 10