Format USB stick: how it works

By formatting a USB stick, all data is deleted from the storage device and the stick is made compatible with the FAT file system for common operating systems. You can then copy new data to the removable disk.

How to format a USB stick in Windows

If you would like to format your USB stick in order to use it as a boot stick, for example, read here how you should proceed.

1. Connect the USB stick to your PC / laptop by inserting it into a free USB port.
2. Click the Windows Start icon in the lower left, and then click Computer. Here you can see the connected removable disk.
3. Click with the right mouse button on the USB stick and select "Format ..." with a left mouse click. A new window opens (see screenshot).
4. Here you can select the desired file system. If you would like to use your USB stick in connection with other operating systems, we recommend the standard setting "FAT32".
5. If you only want to pair your stick with Windows systems anyway, you can select the "NTFS" setting. However, this file system can only be used on USB sticks with up to 32 GB.
6. In order to format a data carrier over 32 GByte, you need an additional program, such as FAT32Formatter.
7. You can leave the "storage capacity" and the "size of the allocation units" unchanged.
8. You can define a name for the USB stick after "Volume name". You can change this at any time even after formatting.
9. As a rule, you can leave the check mark in front of "quick formatting", because this type of formatting is completely sufficient in most cases. If you want to be on the safe side when deleting data, you can remove the tick.
10. Click on "Start" and confirm the security question. Then your USB stick will be formatted.

If your USB stick cannot be formatted, we will show you in our following practical tip how you should proceed.