How to Format an SD Card to NTFS on Android and PC: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2024

Updated by

Tracy King 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

Key Points for Formatting SD Card to NTFS on Android:

• 1. Android does not support the NTFS file system.
• 2. If you format your SD card to NTFS, your Android phone will not recognize the card.
• 3. If your SD card uses the NTFS file system, back up your SD card data first and then format SD card for Android.

Can you format SD card as NTFS on Android?

Can Android use an NTFS formatted SD card? No, the Android operating system does not support the NTFS file system. If you insert an NTFS-formatted SD card into an Android device, you will not be able to view or access its contents. If you want to format the SD card for use with your Android phone, you can follow this tutorial guide:

How to Format SD Card to FAT32

Follow this guide to get a full and easy tutorial to format SD card and other storage devices to FAT32 as easy as 123.

An SD card is a portable storage device widely used in cameras, camcorders, and mobile phones to expand the internal memory. The FAT file system seems compatible with all these electronic gadgets. However, there might be times when you want to format the card from FAT32 to NTFS to use it as a storage device for your Windows laptop or computer rather than your Android phone or tablet.

On this page, we will introduce three most commonly used SD card formatters to format SD card to NTFS on PC without Android system easily. You can choose the one that suits you best.

• Option 1. Format SD Card to NTFS in Windows File Explorer (Default Program)
• Option 2. Format SD Card to NTFS in Windows Disk Management (Default Program)
• Option 3. Convert SD Card to NTFS Using Partition Master Tool (Third-Party, Free, and Data Loss-Free)

Preparation: Backing Up Before Formatting the SD Card

As we know, formatting is the process of preparing a storage device like memory card, USB flash drive, internal/external HDD, and SSD for initial use. In most cases, by formatting an SD card, we can solve most RAW and corrupted issues. However, in the meantime, formatting will completely wipe out data from the SD card to start over.

Thus, if you opt for the default Windows Explorer and Disk Management to format the SD card, you must back up your data (if any) to another drive. For a step-by-step guide, you can refer to this tutorial page for assistance:

How to Backup SD Card Before Formatting

Looking for an effective way to backup SD card data? On this page, you'll learn 4 practical methods to backup everything on your SD card.

Aside from the Windows formatting solution, a third-party partition manager tool can directly convert SD card from FAT32 to NTFS without data loss.

Don't miss: How to Recover Formatted SD Card

How to Format SD Card to NTFS in Windows 10/8/7 (3 Methods)

These three methods are usually easy to use and don't require much knowledge. You can format a microSD card, an SD card, an SDHC card, or an SDHX card from your Android phone, digital camera, camcorder, or Nintendo DS or 3DS.

Option 1: Use a partition master tool to convert the (FAT32) SD card to NTFS format

AOMEI Partition Assistant Free is a free third-party partition manager that can help you with all disk-related issues. Unlike formatting an SD card to NTFS, it allows you to easily and safely convert FAT16/32/exFAT/EXT to NTFS without losing any data and going through complicated procedures.

Step 1. Install and launch Partition Master on your computer.

Step 2. In Partition Manager, right-click on a FAT32 partition and choose "Advanced" -> "Convert to FAT" from the NTFS.

Step 3: Click "Continue" in the dialog box to proceed.

Step 4: Click on the "Convert" button to start the conversion process and wait until it's done.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Free can help you effectively and quickly format your SD card to NTFS or other file systems. Moreover, it is a versatile disk management tool with many other practical features for you to explore, such as:

• Resize/move partitions
• Convert between GPT and MBR
• Migrate an operating system
• Copy partitions, and so on

All in all, it is worth downloading on your computer to regularly manage and optimize your computer's hard drive performance.

Option 2: Format the SD Card to NTFS in Windows File Explorer

Step 1: Press Windows + E keys to open File Explorer in Windows 10/8/7.

Step 2: Right-click on the SD card and select "Format."

Step 3: Select NTFS as the file system for the target, and then perform a quick format. Click “Start.”

When formatting an SD card using the Windows File Explorer, you might encounter an error message stating "Windows was unable to complete the format." This is a common issue that requires further troubleshooting, as outlined in Options 1 and 3.

"Windows was unable to complete the format" error

Option 3: Format the SD card as NTFS via Disk Management

Step 1. On Windows 10/8/7, press the Windows and R keys simultaneously to open the Run box. Type diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter to launch Windows Disk Management.

Step 2. Find your SD card, right-click on it, and choose "Format."

Step 3. In the “Format” dialog, set the “File system” to NTFS. Use the default “Allocation unit size” and quickly format the SD card.

Additional hint:

If Windows warns you that it cannot format the SD card, don't worry. You can use the Partition Master tool with a formatting feature to assist you. Follow this tutorial, and it will successfully fix the SD card formatting error:

In short

On the topic of "how to format SD card to NTFS", we offer you three free and effective methods. All these SD card formatting methods work well for NTFS formatting without noticeable limitations. The difference is, the built-in Windows program will erase data on the SD card for formatting, while the third-party tool Partition Master Free can convert an SD card from one file system to NTFS without affecting the data.

In fact, it's highly unlikely that either Windows Explorer or Disk Management would allow you to format a FAT32 volume the same way you would an NTFS partition, especially when the SD card is larger than 32 GB. This has been an issue for a long time, which is why you need a tool like Partition Assistant to format a 64 GB SD card as FAT32.

Related: Should I format my Android microSD card as NTFS or FAT32?

Android supports the FAT32, EXT3, and EXT4 file systems, but not NTFS. If your SD card or USB drive is formatted with the NTFS file system, it will not work on your Android device. Note that most Micro SD cards 32 GB and smaller come preformatted as FAT32. Cards 64 GB and larger are formatted with the exFAT file system. If you're formatting an SD card for an Android phone, you'll want to format it as FAT32.

Read More: Difference Between FAT32 and NTFS

Frequently Asked Questions About Formatting SD Card to NTFS on Android

If you still have questions on how to format SD card to NTFS, follow and find the answers here.

1. What allocation unit size should I choose when formatting an SD card to NTFS?

For most users, the defaults are probably best. You can delve deeper with an expert's guide.

If you're a “typical user,” according to Microsoft, you should leave the default byte setting alone. Essentially, the allocation unit size is the size of a block on your hard drive when it's formatted with NTFS. If you have a lot of small files, it makes sense to keep the allocation size small so you don't waste space on your drive. If you have a lot of large files, a larger allocation size can boost system performance by reducing the number of blocks the system has to search through.

Given that hard drives are so large these days, choosing the right allocation size will make very little difference. You should probably stick with the default. It's also worth remembering that most files are relatively small, and that big files tend to have lots of small units.

< strong > 2. Can I format my SD card to NTFS?< / strong >

Certainly, you can. To format an SD card to NTFS, you can directly use File Explorer, Disk Management, or a partition assistant tool for help. For advanced users, you can even format the SD card via CMD with the help of this guide: Format SD Card Using Windows CMD and Formatter. Besides, as long as the device supports the file system of the SD card, you can also format it with a camera, phone, and so on.

3. What file system should I use for my Android phone's SD card?

Note that Android supports the FAT32, exFAT, and EXT3/4 file systems. FAT32 and exFAT are the most common file systems for internal or adoptable storage on Android phones. If your SD card is 64GB or larger, format it as exFAT. If your SD card is 32GB or smaller, format it as FAT32.