FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32‑bit) is a file system commonly used on flash drives, microSD cards, external drives and very old computers. It can be used on Windows, macOS, Linux, game consoles, cameras, TVs, car systems, and more. Even though it’s an older file system, there are still many uses for it today.
If you need to use FAT32 on a USB flash drive, then it is still possible to format your flash drive as FAT32. If you are a Windows user, then you cannot format a flash drive larger than 32GB as FAT32 without using a third-party tool such as Rufus or the GUIFormat tool to do so. But if you are a Linux user or have access to a computer running Linux then you can do so natively from the Linux OS itself. In this article, we will be showing you how to format a large capacity USB flash drive in Linux as FAT32.
There are two easy ways to format a large capacity USB flash drive as FAT32 in Linux, so the choice is up to how as to how you want to accomplish this.
Method 1 – Format the Flash Drive as FAT32 Using Disks App
If you are the type who prefers to use GUI tools over command line methods, you can use the built in Linux Disks app (GNOME Disk Utility) to format your flash drive as FAT32 or even NFTS or EXT4. If you are using a distribution of Linux that doesn’t have the Disks app, you should be able to use something like the KDE Partition Manager or even GParted.
If you do have the Disks app, you can choose your USB flash drive from the disks on the left and click the gear icon to get to the Format Partition option. You should unmount the drive first to avoid any issues by clicking the stop button to the left of the gear icon which will then change to a play button.
From the Format Volume screen, you can then choose For use with all systems and devices (FAT) and then click the Next button.
You will then be warned that everything on the flash drive will be erased, and you can then click the Format button to continue.
After the formatting process is complete, you will then see that your USB flash drive is now formatted as FAT32 and you can then click the play button to mount the drive so it can be used if needed.
Method 2 – Format the Flash Drive as FAT32 Using the Command Line
Formatting a USB flash drive as FAT32 via the command line is an easy process that only takes a few steps. The first step in the command line process will be to find the disk designation for our flash drive using the lsblk command.
From a Linux terminal, run lsblk to list all connected disks and find the one that matches your flash drive size or name.
Now we will use the sudo umount /dev/sdc1 command to unmount the flash drive. Just replace sdc1 with name of your drive. You will most likely be prompted to enter your admin password to proceed.
Next, we will need to create a partition table. To do so run sudo parted /dev/sdc — mklabel msdos. This wipes the drive and sets it to the “msdos” (MBR) standard for maximum hardware compatibility. You may get a message saying You may need to update /etc/fstab. This is because parted destroyed the old partition table and created a new one. As a result, any existing references to that disk or its partitions might no longer be valid. You can typically ignore this message when using the command on USB drives.
Now we will create a new partition on the flash drive using the following command:
sudo parted /dev/sdc — mkpart primary fat32 1MiB 100%
You will most likely see the You may need to update /etc/fstab message once again.
Then we will format the USB drive as FAT32 using the following command:
sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -s 64 /dev/sdc1
The -F 32 flag specifies the FAT32 system, while -s 64 sets 64 sectors per cluster (32KB), which is the sweet spot for performance on a 128GB drive. This process will most likely take a moment to complete. You will not be shown any message when it’s finished.
You can then run lsblk -f /dev/sdc to confirm the file system (FSTYPE) is now vfat.
Now you can eject your flash drive and use it in another computer or other device such as a game console or your car.
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