How to format a flash drive to ntfs
Every modern person has a flash drive. It is needed to store various documents and media files. It is used every day on various devices. This means that a flash drive can be a carrier of a wide variety of viruses and malware, which should be eliminated with an antivirus or Dr.Web CireIt healing utility. For this reason, you should format it from time to time. NTFS is considered the most acceptable format for formatting a flash drive. There are two ways to format a flash drive:
- with data deletion;
- no data loss.
Formatting a FAT32 flash drive into the NTFS file system and deleting data
If the information that is on a FAT32 flash drive, is not needed, then you should format the device and completely delete the data.
To do this, insert the flash drive into the computer. After it is located in the “My Computer” folder, right-click on it and select “Format”.
In the second line of the window, active for changing data, we set the format of the file formatting system to “NTFS”. Then click the button to start the “Start” formatting process.
The system will prudently try to prevent the complete destruction of data and will ask for consent to this action. Without hesitation, click “OK”.
After this, the formatting process will begin, which, however, will not keep you waiting long. When finished, an information window will appear on the screen. It says that formatting is complete. Click the “OK” button.
Now the flash drive is ready for further use.
To verify the format of the device’s file system, go to “My Computer,” right-click on the flash drive and select “Properties.”
Formatting a FAT32 flash drive into the NTFS file system and saving data
In this case, the definition is not to format, but to convert, because this process occurs using a system utility called “convert”.
First, insert the flash drive into the USB connector of the computer. In the “My Computer” folder we wait until it decides.
In order to make sure that the data on the flash drive is intact after conversion, we will take a screenshot of everything that is on it before starting the process.
Now let's launch the command line. I have Windows 8, I find the program in the search. For users with earlier versions of Windows, go to Start, then select All Programs. In the drop-down list, click “Standard” and select “Command Prompt”.
Convert a flash drive with data saving for Windows 7:
- In the line, as shown in the screenshot, we write a command for formatting while saving the data:
1 – letter assigned by the system to the flash drive;
2 – file system during conversion.
Before starting formatting, check the name that the system assigned to the flash drive. Sometimes, instead of "F" it may be called "E".
When everything has been checked, press “Enter”, which will mean starting the conversion.
After the process is completed, we check the file system of the flash drive and whether all the information is in place.
Convert a flash drive with data saving for Windows 8:
The only difference between formatting in Windows 8 is the appearance of the line where you need to enter the formatting command. Therefore, we write the already known command in the line, as shown in the screenshot, and press “ENTER”.
- After conversion, the flash drive may work slightly slower than after regular formatting into the same file system format.
- After conversion to NTFS, formatting back to FAT32 is not possible.
- This conversion method cannot be performed on completely filled media.
