SD Card Format

[Gerry2013]

HI all,
I'm a student currently playing around with raspberry pi. Just out of curiosity, what file format must my SD card be, in order to install Raspbian OS into it, and what is the maximum size I can go with my SD card?
Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

[DeeJay]

what file format must my SD card be, in order to install Raspbian OS into it,

If you are doing a 'direct' installation using a .img image file it is irrelevant what the previous format of the card is, since the imaging process performs a bit-by-bit transfer process which overwrites the previous partition layout, formatting and content of the card. (Although in order to image the card - with a tool such as Win32diskimager or dd - it must be detectable by the Operating System on which you are performing the imaging task.)

If you are using the NOOBS installer, the card must be formatted as FAT. The documentation in the Quick Start Guide specifies the recommended formatter to use.

[Gerry2013]

what file format must my SD card be, in order to install Raspbian OS into it,

If you are doing a 'direct' installation using a .img image file it is irrelevant what the previous format of the card is, since the imaging process performs a bit-by-bit transfer process which overwrites the previous partition layout, formatting and content of the card. (Although in order to image the card - with a tool such as Win32diskimager or dd - it must be detectable by the Operating System on which you are performing the imaging task.)

If you are using the NOOBS installer, the card must be formatted as FAT. The documentation in the Quick Start Guide specifies the recommended formatter to use.

Awesome, it is just what I needed to know! (:

[s111ppg]

I had to combine a couple of the suggestions on this thread but my card finally seems to be showing it's full capacity - originally it was only showing 55gb.

1) Use the DiskPart tool to clean and recreate the primary partition.
2) Then use SDFormatter 4 to format the card (size adjustment ON and format overwrite worked for me).

[DougieLawson]

I've been really impressed with the Pi being a total linux newbie when I bought it, but I'm really disappointed at how difficult I'm finding it to reclaim my SD card. I'm currently working my way through all the options in this thread but there should be a set way to solve this IMO.

1. Download the SD Formatter and reformat to get a clean card with ALL space available
2. Download Win32DiskImager (to allow you to copy an image to card, if needed)
3. Dowload NOOBS V1.3.2 or NOOBS Lite V1.3.2 (needs a network connection)
4. Follow the instructions here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/u ... e-v2_1.pdf

[skerce]

I have found a solution to clear the partitions on a sd card using CMD (command prompt in windows 7)

1. When in CMD type: diskpart
2. Press enter.
3. Type: list disk
4. Press enter

You will see the a list of drives connected to your machine. Find your SD card in the list (Look at the size column to determine which drive is your SD card) and remember the drive number e.g : Disk 4. It is very important to select the correct disk number in the next step. As you may wipe one of your existing windows
partitions by mistake.

5. Select your SD card by typing: select disk X (replace X by the number of the SD card)
6. Press enter

You should now see : Disk X is now the selected disk. (Again make sure that you have selected your SD card correctly as the next step will wipe the drive.)

7. Type: clean
8. Press enter.

If everything went to plan your SD card should now be clean and ready to be formatted again. SDformatter should now see the full capacity of the card.

[n.marek]

Didn't read all the posts here, but I used Diskpart in Win. command line (run/cmd/diskpart). Easy to use and works. Funny, that the 'easy' formatting way doesn't work the same way

[Khillo81]

To the person who suggested using the digital camera to format the SD card: sir, I salute you! I was going crazy trying to fix my SD card and nothing was working. I had previously installed Rasbmc on an 8-GB Sony SD card and wanted to format it to install OSMC on it. The problem was that it was showing only 67 MB available on both Windows and Ubuntu with no partitions visible. I tried simple formatting, I tried DiskPart, I tired fsck... nothing worked! And then I tried putting the card in my Canon digital camera and voila! It was formatted back to 8 GB. Just like that. In a matter of seconds. So, a big thank you from me!!!!

[CrysKiljoy]

Hi, I got the same problem with 2 SD-cards BUT at least I can solve this partition-problem with SDFormatter OR formatting via CMD.
The biggest problem I have, wether I mount the Image from KIVY or Raspbian linked in our download-section and installed via the Win32diskimager, the 56mb-problem appears everytime and the pi won't start. only Kodi(openelec) and Noobs with the drag'n'drop-installer work.

How can i get KIVY or Raspbian on my pi 2?

[drgeoff]

Hi, I got the same problem with 2 SD-cards BUT at least I can solve this partition-problem with SDFormatter OR formatting via CMD.
The biggest problem I have, wether I mount the Image from KIVY or Raspbian linked in our download-section and installed via the Win32diskimager, the 56mb-problem appears everytime and the pi won't start. only Kodi(openelec) and Noobs with the drag'n'drop-installer work.

How can i get KIVY or Raspbian on my pi 2?

You get Raspbian installed by following the instructions. That you can get Kodi and NOOBS working proves there is nothing amiss with your hardware.

What is the 56 Mbyte problem? It is normal that writing an OS image will result in more than one partition on the card. Windows only recognises that first, small one.

Suggest you read the 'not booting' sticky and the 'common pitfalls' sticky.

[cnollet]

I can confirm that the SD Card Formatter does not work correctly under Windows 10. Using the same USB card reader, same SD Card Formatter installation program and same SD card, I received a FAT mismatch error when the card was formatted and NOOBS was copied under Windows 10. On a Windows 7 machine it worked fine. In addition, the Windows 10 machine had previously had Windows 7 installed on it, and worked fine at that time with the same reader.

On other forums, it appears that if you change the compatibility settings for SD Card Formatter to "Windows 7" it will work. I haven't had the chance to try this yet, however. In addition, not all versions of Windows 10 will allow you to use prior compatibility versions.

[Matsu M Tong]

Windows 7 will also work effectively. The problem is in the partitioning of the device. Someone mentioned that it was only seeing the 56MB FAT16 partition usually mounted on '/boot' and that is exactly correct.

More importantly, it does not see the Linux 'ext4' partition that is created from the RPi OS installation. However, that's not all of the problem -- even if it could recognize this, it may not be the entire capacity of the SD card.

You can use Windows 7 to accomplish the format of the device but you have to run another tool before you can format the disk. From the Windows 7 Start Menu, select and right-click the 'Computer' link. On the pop-up menu, select the Manage option.

All done -- ready for Windows.

In the Computer Management tool, select the option under 'Storage' that says 'Disk Management'. On the right side of the management window, you will see a list of volume names at the top and a list of devices (DIsk 0, Disk 1, CD ROM 0, etc.) at the bottom. Select a partition on the device, right click, and select the 'Delete Volume' option.

Repeat this step for the other allocated volumes on this device. Once you have removed all of the volumes on this device, select the unallocated space, right click, create a volume, and format it.

Genius! I successfully see all 59GB. Before these steps i had some issues with my card reader(usb2.0). My goal was to install retropi and a bunch of games. These are the steps and issues i encountered:

-PC with 2.0 card reader upstairs only showed 100Mb. *FAIL*
-I used a different PC that had a 3.0 card reader which showed 57MB, but when i did Disk Management, i was able to see the full 59GB (57Mb Healthy, 2.GB Healthy, 56Gb Unallocated).
-I used the steps above to format the micro sd card and now show all 59GB Healthy.

But after.... When i used the steps to install retro pie (http://lifehacker.com/how-to-turn-your- ... -498561192) This made my MicroSD Card 57Mb again...

I was planning to use the space to put the rest of my games. How do i install retropie and make use of the space?

[5pints]

I used rufus to install gparted onto a flash drive. I then booted to this drive and could see the full partition on the sd card. I created a Fat32 partition on the drive before rebooting back to windows, which could now see the full drive.

Hope this helps...

[ibx]

No these answers don't help. The SD card only shows 56MB as it's size no matter what I format it with. It's an 8gb card. So obviously something is causing it to be read incorrectly. Any help would be appreciated because as of right now my 8gb SD card is useless.

Had the same problem.

I now use my old Canon PowerShot and do a low level format. Works every time and it's quick.

[thomasdc]

To the person who suggested using the digital camera to format the SD card: sir, I salute you! I was going crazy trying to fix my SD card and nothing was working. I had previously installed Rasbmc on an 8-GB Sony SD card and wanted to format it to install OSMC on it. The problem was that it was showing only 67 MB available on both Windows and Ubuntu with no partitions visible. I tried simple formatting, I tried DiskPart, I tired fsck... nothing worked! And then I tried putting the card in my Canon digital camera and voila! It was formatted back to 8 GB. Just like that. In a matter of seconds. So, a big thank you from me!!!!

This is so easy!!! thanks!!! this worked great and fast!

[Willpiam]

I solved by formatting the SD card in my camera

In Windows it only showed 56MB (even after using SD formatter) after using my camera (Nikon) it showed the 4GB again

I know this is an old discussion but for anyone who may come across this in their own future search I need to say... I tried this it worked. Also Thanks

[MrEngman]

I solved by formatting the SD card in my camera

In Windows it only showed 56MB (even after using SD formatter) after using my camera (Nikon) it showed the 4GB again

I know this is an old discussion but for anyone who may come across this in their own future search I need to say... I tried this it worked. Also Thanks

When using SDFormatter set FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT ON to format the whole SD card otherwise it will just format the first partition, the FAT32 boot partition, and leave the remaining Linux partition unformatted.



MrEngman

[StangPi]

I solved by formatting the SD card in my camera

In Windows it only showed 56MB (even after using SD formatter) after using my camera (Nikon) it showed the 4GB again

I know this is an old discussion but for anyone who may come across this in their own future search I need to say... I tried this it worked. Also Thanks

When using SDFormatter set FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT ON to format the whole SD card otherwise it will just format the first partition, the FAT32 boot partition, and leave the remaining Linux partition unformatted.


Thank you for this information. Was getting frustrated with the formatter until i saw this lol.
MrEngman

[cartpauj]

I had to buy a USB card reader in order for SDFormatter to work. The SD reader in the computer DID NOT work properly!

I ended up buying a USB 3.0 Card Reader made by Transcend similar to this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Transcend-RDF ... o/39751882

[Pi3Jesse]

Thanks so much to Daan for the camera sd card fix I nearly bought a new card after formatting on my windows laptop gave me a tiny card. Brilliant easy fix. Thanks so much

[preetyjess01]

There are many options for formatting sd card in Raspberry Pi. Methods like using inbuilt application, using some third-party applications, etc.
If you want to use the inbuilt program then follow these steps:
Open Windows Explorer-> Locate the SD card & right click-> then choose Format-> Select "FAT32"-> click on quick format box-> Click on Start button-> Finish.
If you want to know more methods click here.

[gkaiseril]

Any digital camera that can use a Micro SD card can reformat the card. You will need to follow the camera's instructions on formatting since they are more restrictive about reformatting the card in the camera.

[drgeoff]

Open Windows Explorer-> Locate the SD card & right click-> then choose Format-> Select "FAT32"-> click on quick format box-> Click on Start button-> Finish.

@preetyjess01
You have completely missed the point!

Windows Explorer will NOT format the whole card if it contains more than one partition.

[Filewalker]

Easy way, just add sd card to your phone. Use the phone internal format command. That's it. no software needed.

[bluestarfish]

The easiest way is to use any modern camera and get the camera to format the card, works and is safe.