- Make sure your SD card is not inserted
- Open a terminal window and type
watch lsblk
- Insert the SD card and watch for a new device appearing in lsblk
- Observe the output for the new device. It should match something like this:
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT mmcblk0 179:0 0 29.7G 0 disk └─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 29.5G 0 part /run/media/user/FFFF-FFFF
- Take note of the name of the device that now appears. In our example above, it was
mmcblk0
, but it could show up assda
orsdb
, if you use a USB adapter- If
RO
is set to 1, make sure the lock switch is not slid down
- If
- Hit CTRL + C to exit the menu
- Type
sudo umount /dev/<device name>*
(do not replace the*
) - Install the
fdisk
anddosfstools
packages using your package manager of choice - Type
sudo fdisk /dev/<device name>
- Enter
o
, this will create a new MBR partition scheme - Enter
n
, then press enter until you're returned to the prompt- The default values will work fine for all consoles
- Enter
t
, then enter0c
- Enter
a
and thenp
- observe the output, and make sure the device is now formatted correctly:Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.72 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x######## Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/<partition name> 8192 62333951 62325760 29.7G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
- If there are no issues, enter
w
- this will save changes and exit the fdisk prompt - Type
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/<partition name> -s 64
to reformat the new partition- If the SD card is over 32GB in size, change
64
to128
- If the SD card is over 32GB in size, change
- Type
sudo eject /dev/<device name>
, then remove and reinsert the SD card - Copy your data back onto the SD card
< Formatting an SD card
Revision as of 01:31, 1 September 2024 by StarlitSkies (talk | contribs) (fix placement of second image in KDE Partition Manager tab)
This is an add-on section for formatting an SD card to FAT32.
This page is for Linux users only. If you are not on Linux, check out the Windows or Mac pages.
Instructions
Before beginning these steps, copy all of your SD card's contents to a folder on your computer. |
The commands in this guide are case-sensitive. Enter them exactly as written, or there may be unintended consequences. |
- Make sure your SD card is not inserted
- Open a terminal window and type
watch lsblk
- Insert the SD card and watch for a new device appearing in lsblk
- Observe the output for the new device. It should match something like this:
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT mmcblk0 179:0 0 29.7G 0 disk └─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 29.5G 0 part /run/media/user/FFFF-FFFF
- Take note of the name of the device that now appears. In our example above, it was
mmcblk0
, but it could show up assda
orsdb
, if you use a USB adapter- If
RO
is set to 1, make sure the lock switch is not slid down
- If
- Hit CTRL + C to exit the menu
- Install the
parted
anddosfstools
packages using your package manager of choice - Type
sudo parted /dev/<device name> mklabel msdos
- Type
sudo parted -a opt /dev/<device name> mkpart primary fat32 0% 100%
- Type
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/<partition name> -s 64
to reformat the new partition- If the SD card is over 32GB in size, change
64
to128
- If the SD card is over 32GB in size, change
- Type
sudo eject /dev/<device name>
, then remove and reinsert the SD card - Copy your data back onto the SD card
- Make sure your SD card is not inserted
- Open KDE Partition Manager, inputting your password as needed
- Insert your SD card and click
Refresh Devices
. The new device that shows up in the left pane is your SD card - Click your SD card, then click the
New Partition Table
button at the top of the window - When asked, choose
Ms-Dos
. Do NOT useGPT
- Right click the
unallocted
space in the right pane and selectNew
- When selecting your filesystem, choose
FAT32
from the drop-down menu. The window should look like this: - Click
OK
, then clickApply
, thenApply Pending Operations
- Eject and reinsert your SD card
- Copy your data back onto the SD card