When I venture to format the new drive, it doesnt have a FAT32 option.
It is widely supported by many portable and embedded devices.
If they format the drive in Windows, the system will not display the FAT32 option.
On a hard drive with 512-byte sectors, the real size limit of FAT32 is 2TB.
Nowadays, most hard drives are 512-byte sector or 4 KB sector drives.
Therefore, the real size limit of FAT32 should be 2TB or 16TB.
But to utilize storage space, Microsoft manually limits the max FAT32 size to 32 GB.
A partition is composed of many clusters.
The cluster is the unit for the PC to read and write the file.
The process of writing data will consume clusters.
If the file is 100 KB, it will use up 4 clusters.
And in the last cluster, only 12 KB (16 4) space is wasted.
Obviously, the smaller the cluster, the more fully the disk space is utilized.
Then, what to do if it cant format to FAT32?
you’re free to use the following 2 ways to work around this issue.
Fix 1.
Format the Drive to FAT32 with MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is a professional disk management tool.
It allows you to format a drive larger than 32 GB to FAT32 for free.
If you cant format USB to FAT32 or cant format SD card to FAT32, you could try it.
Right-tap the partition you want to format to FAT32 and chooseFormatfrom the menu.
Step 2:In theFormat Partitionwindow, expand the drop-down menu next toFile Systemand choose FAT32.
Step 3:Click theApplybutton to execute the pending operations.
The Best FAT32 Formatter to Format SD Card/USB Drive
Fix 2.
Here is the guide:
Step 1:Launch this software and go to its main interface again.
Right-go for the FAT32 partition and chooseExtendfrom the menu.
Drag the blue block to determine how much space you want to take.
Step 3:Click theApplybutton to execute pending operations.
As mentioned above, the cluster size is related to space utilization.
MiniTool Partition Wizard can help you check the cluster size of a partition and change it.
Here is the guide:
Step 1:Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard and go to its main interface.
Right-poke the FAT32 partition and chooseProperties.
Step 2:Skip toFile System Infotab.
Then, you’re able to decide whether to change the cluster size.
yo note that this feature is not free.
Step 4:In the pop-up window, expand the drop-down menu and choose a proper cluster size.
Then, click theYesbutton.
c’mon note that a cluster is composed of one or more sectors.
In this window, the value you choose is the number of sectors.
Step 5:Click theApplybutton to execute pending operations.
Here is a post talking about how to work around the FAT32 not an option issue.
We will get back to you as soon as possible.
