Is It Possible to Format a 2 TB Hard Drive to FAT32 in Windows?

I have seen that some users said we are not able to format a 2 TB hard drive to FAT32. Is that true? And what to do if I still want to format my 2 TB hard drive to FAT32? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Best Answered by

Roxanne· Answered on May 16, 2024

Yes, you can format a 2 TB hard drive to FAT32. However, Windows has a capacity limit of 32GB for the FAT32 file format, so if you want to format a 2TB hard disk to FAT32 format, you will need to use a three-party tool to deal with it. Before viewing the step-by-step guide, you'd better back up the whole hard drive since the format will wipe all your data.

Method 1. Third-party Formatting Tool

EaseUS Partition Master is a feature-rich and user-friendly formatting software that allows you to format your hard drive of any size to a file system like NTFS/FAT32/exFAT, which can be done in three easy steps as below:

Free Download 

Windows 11/10/8/7100% Secure

Step 1. Download EaseUS Partition Master and click "Partition Master," locate the 2 TB hard drive, right-click it, and choose "Format."

Step 2. In the settings window, set the Partition label, File system (FAT32), and Cluster Size, then click "OK." (Select "OK" to confirm the warning message.)

Step 3. Last, choose "Execute 1 Task" and "Apply" to apply formatting.

Method 2. CMD

Using CMD to format a hard drive is high-leveled in operation. So, follow the steps below carefully and patiently to format the hard drive with CMD:

Step 1. Connect the 2 TB hard drive to your PC,  press the "Windows + R" keys, and type cmd in the window box.

Step 2. When you enter Command Prompt, input the below command lines and hit "Enter" each:

  • diskpart
  • list disk
  • select disk + drive number
  • list volume
  • select volume + drive number
  • format fs=ntfs quick

Step 3. When all is done, type exit to close CMD.

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