Formatting a USB Drive with Disk Manager

Like most things with Windows 10, there is more than one way to accomplish a task. In another article we discussed how to use File Explorer to format a USB drive. If you don't want to use Window's File Explorer, another way to format a USB drive is by using Disk Manager. Disk Manager is used for managing the storage space of any device connected to your computer, either internally or externally. While File Explorer, for many, is the fastest way to format a USB, Disk Manager is helpful for brand new drives that your computer may not display in File Explorer.

To format a USB drive with Disk Manager, you need to follow these steps.

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type, without quotes, "diskmgmt.msc" then press Enter. This will open Disk Manager, displaying the drives connected to your machine.
3. In the bottom portion of the window, right-click on the drive you wish to format. This displays a Context menu.
4. Select "New Simple Volume." The New Simple Volume Wizard opens.
5. Click Next to move to the second portion of the New Simple Volume Wizard; this displays the Specify Volume Size section of the Wizard. Using the default values is fine unless you want to partition the drive.
6. Click Next to move to the third portion of the New Simple Volume Wizard; this displays the Assign Drive Letter or Path section of the Wizard. Select the drive letter you want assigned when the drive is formatted and mounted by Windows.
7. Click Next to move to the fourth portion of the New Simple Volume Wizard; this displays the Format Partition section of the Wizard. Select the desired File System, Allocation Unit Size, and name (label) for the drive displayed when the drive is mounted.
8. Click Next to move to the final portion of the New Simple Volume Wizard; this displays the Confirmation section of the Wizard. Click on Finish to begin and finalize the formatting process.

Once formatting is completed, you will be able to see the USB drive In File Explorer. The USB drive will have the drive letter (assigned in step 6) and the name chosen (step 7). Either method of formatting your USB drive will allow you to set up your USB drive to handle your data the way you desire.

 This tip (13888) applies to Windows 10.