Although it is true that many cell phone brands no longer include microSD card slots, it does not mean that these storage units have been forgotten. Quite the contrary, since they continue to be used in cameras, action cameras, game consoles, GPS tracking devices, video surveillance equipment, Arduino boards and computers such as the Raspberry Pi. In addition, new versions are released from time to time with better file saving capabilities.
Its main utility is to serve as file storage or internal memory expansion, but it can also function as a storage unit for the operating system, as is the case with the Raspberry Pi mini computer, whose hard drive is simply a microSD card.
In either case, they will most likely need to go through a formatting process before first use, for example, to set up the file system the drive will work with. But also at any time during its useful life, since this procedure allows you to delete all the information stored inside, which is useful for installing it on another device.
In more extreme cases, a formatting process allows solving common file reading and writing problems, storage capacity errors, among others.
That is why we show you all the ways you have to format your microSD card from Windows 11.
Format a microSD from Windows 11 File Explorer
To get started, connect the microSD card to your PC. Then go to your keyboard and press Windows + E keys.
When the file explorer opens, go to This PC, identify the microSD card by its storage capacity. Then, right-click on its name and from the options menu that appears, select the Format option.
In the Format window, select the file system and the parameters that you think are convenient. Then click Start and wait for the process to finish.
Format a microSD from Windows 11 Disk Manager
Right-click on the Windows 11 Start menu and select Disk Management.
On this screen, locate the microSD card. Next, right-click on the letter that identifies it and select the Format option.
Set the parameters according to your needs and click OK. Finally, confirm the requested operation.
Unable to format microSD card or shows as not connected
For this kind of situation, there are a number of tools that can thoroughly scan the file system or drive partitions for errors, but it’s also possible to do it from Windows 11 with the DiskPart command-line tool. Follow these steps.
Click Start and in the search box enter the expression CMD. When the Command Prompt app appears, click Run as administrator. Authorize the execution of the Windows Command Processor and go to the next step.
In the command line interface type Diskpart and press the Enter key. Authorize the execution of DiskPart and in this new screen type the List Disk command. Then press the enter key.
Now, locate the microSD drive and type the command Select Disk X, where X represents the disk number assigned by DiskPart to the microSD card.
Once the microSD card is selected by DiskPart type the command Clean and person the Enter key. In response you will receive the notification that DiskPart has successfully cleaned the disk.
Now, type the command Create Partition Primary and hit the Enter key.
To end this process, type the command Format and press the Enter key. Once finished, the microSD card will have been formatted to its default values.