Wipe/Format/Erase/Remove SD Card and USB Flash Drive

Updated by

Tracy King 

Written by

Linda 

Last updated on May 10, 2024

The Difference between Erasing and Formatting a Memory Card/USB Drive

For various reasons, you might need to erase or format an SD card, USB flash drive, external drive, or hard disk. Both operations remove all the data from the device, but they're usually done for different reasons.

You can clean or wipe an SD card/USB flash drive to:

- Get more storage space when your SD card or USB drive is full - Wipe all data from an SD card or USB flash drive before selling it - Remove unknown viruses or malware from an SD card or USB flash drive

You can format the SD card/USB flash drive as:

- Clean up non-working SD cards, USB flash drives, and hard disks, and delete their partitions - Convert RAW to FAT32, NTFS, or other file systems to fix RAW issues - Restore full capacity on an SD card when it's not showing the correct size - Reclaim full capacity on a USB drive when it shows wrong size - Change the file system to use SD cards, USB flash drives, or hard disks on different devices, like formatting a PS4 HDD for PC use

Now that you know the differences between erasing and formatting an SD card/USB drive, you can choose the method that best suits your needs. Here are some free partition software tools for Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista that can help you erase SD cards in the simplest and most efficient way. Connect your SD card or USB drive to the computer and follow the step-by-step tutorials below to format/clear the SD card with ease.

How to Clean, Erase, or Format an SD Card or USB Flash Drive

Here are three methods to clean up your SD card/USB flash drive. You can try the detailed steps as per your need. We've put the easiest method first.

How to Use USB Eraser to Wipe a Flash Drive

Step 1: Connect the external device to your computer, right-click on it, and select “Wipe Disk.”

Select "Wipe disk":

Step 2: Set the number of times you want to overwrite the data (up to 10). Then click "OK".

Step 3: Click Run 1 task, and then click Apply.

Click on the "OK" button.

How to Use Disk Management Tool to Clean Up SD Card/USB Flash Drive?

For users who choose to wipe an SD card with Diskpart, exercise caution when using this method. If you select the wrong disk, your data will be lost permanently.

Step 1: Press Windows + R to open Run, type Diskpart, and hit Enter (Run Diskpart as an administrator).

Step 2. Use the "Wipe SD card" feature to erase your SD card.

1. Type `list disk`, then press {{key|Enter}}. (Your SD card will be listed.)

2. Type select disk * and press Enter. The (*) should be replaced with the disk number of your SD card.

3. Run Factory Reset > Enter

How to Delete an SD Card or USB Flash Drive with Disk Management

For those who don't want to use an SD card/USB eraser or Diskpart, you can try the built-in Windows tool – Disk Management.

Step 1: Press Windows + X, and then choose Disk Management.

Step 2 Format the SD card.

1. Select the partition on the SD card.

2. Right-click the partition and select “Format.”

3. Specify the label, file system, and allocation unit size.

4. Click “OK” to begin erasing/formating your SD card.

How to Format and Partition an SD Card / USB Flash Drive

- Right-click the external drive or USB you want to format, and select "Format". - Set the volume label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and allocation unit size, then click "OK". - Click "Yes" to continue. - Click "Perform 1 task" and hit "Apply" to format the hard drive partition.

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You can refer to this post to learn how to format your SD card/USB flash drive completely: How to Format SD Card Using Windows CMD and Formatter.