The Full option tells the command to perform a full format, and the -Force option specifies the override switch. If you do not know and are on Windows 10, you should use NTFS. In the command, replace DRIVE-LETTER with the correct letter reflecting the drive you want to format and FILE-SYSTEM for FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS, depending on the file system you want to use.

(Optional) Type the following command to perform a full format of the USB flash drive and press Enter: Format-Volume -DriveLetter DRIVE-LETTER -FileSystem FILE-SYSTEM -Full -Force.

This example performs a quick format of the 'F' drive with the NTFS file system: Format-Volume -DriveLetter F -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel workUSB In the command, replace DRIVE-LETTER with the correct letter reflecting the drive you want to format, FILE-SYSTEM for FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS, and DRIVE-NAME with the name you want the device to appear in File Explorer.

Type the following command to perform a quick format on the flash drive and press Enter: Format-Volume -DriveLetter DRIVE-LETTER -FileSystem FILE-SYSTEM -NewFileSystemLabel DRIVE-NAME.

Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

To format a USB flash drive using PowerShell commands on Windows 10, use these steps: In addition, the command-line tool can be used to clean and format the storage to resolve corruption and other problems.

PowerShell is another tool that allows you to format a USB flash drive to delete its contents. How to format USB flash drive from PowerShell Once you complete the steps, the process will create a new partition and set up the file system, fixing common problems with the flash drive, including data corruption.

(Optional) Check the 'Enable file and folder compression' option.

As a result, this process can take a long time, depending on the drive size. If you do not check the setting, a full format operation will be performed, and it will scan for bad sectors and write zeros in all sectors deleting the data.

Quick note: The 'Quick format' option only deletes the file system table and the root folder, but the data may still be recoverable.

Under the 'Format options' section, select the Quick format option.

In the 'Volume label' field, confirm a drive name that will appear in File Explorer.

Use the default selection in the 'Allocation unit size' drop-down menu.

However, if you think you might use the device on a Linux machine, 'FAT32' is the best option, even though you will be limited to 4GB file sizes.

Quick tip: If you plan to use the removable storage on Windows 10 and macOS systems, you may want to select the 'exFAT' option for compatibility.Use the 'File system' drop-down menu and select the NTFS option.

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