cmd
as an Administrator.diskpart.exe
. Use ?
if you need help in this program.list disk
select disk n
where n
is the number of the disk. Confirm that you're using the right disk with detail disk
.clean
(Warning: This command erases the disk's partition information. Any data on the disk will no longer be accessible.)create partition primary
. No size is needed if you want to use the whole diskactive
. Optional. Marks the partition as potentially bootable.format fs=fat32 quick
. You can choose NTFS
or exFAT
instead of FAT32
if you want. (Note: Windows 10 limits FAT32 to 4GB. I recommend using exFAT instead, which is essentially a newer version of the same format.)assign
. Assigns the disk a drive letter.exit
to quit.quick
from step 9 to do a full format. That will take a very long time and usually isn't necessary, but may help uncover physical damage to the disk.diskpart.exe
:list disk
select disk n
attributes disk clear readonly
. This command will unset the read-only flag on the disk. You can see the current attributes with attributes disk
or detail disk
.online disk
. Sets the device status to online if it's been disabled.convert mbr
. Converts the disk to MBR format, which will work just fine for most disks. If you've got a USB disk larger than 2 terabytes, however, you'll want to use convert gpt
instead.