Menu

Format a Flash memory card

Ask a question
Flash memory cards are one of the most commonly used mediums for storing and sharing data. They provide portability as well as being small. Flash memory cards are used on a variety of electronic gadgets like digital cameras, mobile phones or PDAs. Before they can be used on any of these compatible electronic devices one must format the memory cards first. For cards with memory less than 32MB the recommended file system is FAT16. For cards with higher memory the default option is FAT32. The options to format the memory cards can be easily found under control panel.

Flash memory cards must be formatted with the FAT16 file system to be used by devices (camera, PDA, phone, etc..).

However, for memory cards larger than 32MB, Windows XP provides the default FAT32 file system.
  • Thus, to format a memory card, proceed as follows:
  • Open the Control Panel
  • Select Administrative Tools, then go to Computer Management
  • Select Disk Management
  • Click the right mouse button on the player corresponding to the memory card and select "Format FAT" (do not *choose FAT32n unless the card has a capacity of over 2GB).


Thanks to Jeff for this tip
Jean-François Pillou

Jean-François Pillou - Founder of CCM
Better known as Jeff, Jean-François Pillou is the founder of CommentCaMarche.net. He is also CEO of CCM Benchmark and digital director at the Figaro Group.

Learn more about the CCM team

Related