SD Clean/Windows: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:09, 13 June 2024

This is an add-on section for completely recreating an SD card's filesystem using diskpart and Disk Management. This should only be done if formatting does not fix your issue or is not possible for some reason.

This page is for Windows users only. If you are not on Windows, see the Mac and/or Linux pages instead.

Instructions

Before beginning these steps, copy all of your SD card's contents to a folder on your computer.

Launch diskpart by searching for diskpart in the Windows search bar
Once diskpart is active in the new Command Prompt window, type list disk
Find your SD card in the list of disks (hint: look for the size of your card), then type select disk #, where # is the disk number of your SD card

Disk 0 will always be your main windows drive, so you'd select any disk after it.
Type list disk again. You should now see a * next to your SD card
Once you are absolutely sure that you have selected the right disk, type clean, then type convert mbr
Close the diskpart window, and search for diskmgmt.msc in the windows search bar
Once the disk management window loads, you should be able to see your SD card as a black 'unallocated' area in the bottom part of the window. You may have to scroll down the bottom part of the window to see it
Right click on the black unallocated area and select new simple volume
Click through all the prompts until the one about formatting - in that prompt, select "FAT32" or "exFAT" as the file system
If FAT32 was not an option in step 9, Reformat the SD card to FAT32.
Copy your data back onto your SD card.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 {{warning|Before beginning these steps, copy all of your SD card's contents to a folder on your computer.}}
-# Launch <code>diskpart</code> by searching for <code>diskpart</code> in the Windows search bar.
+<ol>
-# Once diskpart is active in the new Command Prompt window, type <code>list disk</code>.
+<li>Launch <code>diskpart</code> by searching for <code>diskpart</code> in the Windows search bar</li>
-# Find your SD card in the list of disks (hint: look for the size of your card), then type <code>select disk #</code>, where # is the disk number of your SD card.
+<li>Once diskpart is active in the new Command Prompt window, type <code>list disk</code></li>
-# Type <code>list disk</code> again. You should now see a * next to your SD card.
+<li>Find your SD card in the list of disks (hint: look for the size of your card), then type <code>select disk #</code>, where # is the disk number of your SD card {{info|text=Disk 0 will always be your main windows drive, so you'd select any disk after it.}}</li>
-# Once you are absolutely sure that you have selected the right disk, type <code>clean</code>, then type <code>convert mbr</code>.
+<li>Type <code>list disk</code> again. You should now see a * next to your SD card</li>
-# Close the diskpart window, and search for <code>diskmgmt.msc</code> in the windows search bar.
+<li>Once you are absolutely sure that you have selected the right disk, type <code>clean</code>, then type <code>convert mbr</code></li>
-# Once the disk management window loads, you should be able to see your SD card as a black 'unallocated' area in the bottom part of the window. You may have to scroll down the bottom part of the window to see it.
+<li>Close the diskpart window, and search for <code>diskmgmt.msc</code> in the windows search bar</li>
-# Right click on the black unallocated area and select <code>new simple volume</code>.
+<li>Once the disk management window loads, you should be able to see your SD card as a black 'unallocated' area in the bottom part of the window. You may have to scroll down the bottom part of the window to see it</li>
-# Click through all the prompts until you get to the one about formatting - there, select "FAT32" as the file system.
+<li>Right click on the black unallocated area and select <code>new simple volume</code></li>
-#* If the SD card is over 32GB in size, instead, select exFAT and then [[Formatting an SD card/Windows|format the SD card to FAT32]].
+<li>Click through all the prompts until the one about formatting - in that prompt, select "FAT32" or "exFAT" as the file system</li>
-# Once the format is complete, copy your data back onto the SD card.
+<li>If FAT32 was not an option in step 9, [[Formatting an SD card/Windows|Reformat the SD card to FAT32]].</li>
+<li>Copy your data back onto your SD card.</li>
+</ol>
 [[Category:General guides]]