How to Format Raw Micro SD Card [Quick Guide]

Updated by

Sherly 

Updated on Nov 27, 2024

On this page, you can learn why your Micro SD card becomes raw and two methods to format raw Micro SD card:

Are you looking for a quick method to format raw Micro SD cards? Raw format is a common problem with Micro SD cards, HDDs, SSDs, USB flash drives, pen drives, or other data storage devices. Then this article will provide two efficient ways to help you with this issue. Read on to learn more.

Why Micro SD Card Becomes Raw

Micro SD cards are a type of SD card you normally find in a smartphone, GPS devices, and certain types of cameras. But once it becomes in Raw format, it will not work properly. So what usually causes a raw format? Here we list some main reasons for raw Micro SD cards:

• Virus or malware attack
• Partition table corruption
• The file system is structurally corrupted
• Partition access is not configured properly
• Bad sectors in the critical field of the Micro SD card

All the reasons above may cause a raw format to your Micro SD card. If your Micro SD card becomes a RAW format, you will get errors like, The volume doesn't contain a recognized file system" and "You need to format the disk in drive" when you attempt to access it. 

Under this circumstance, you must format the Micro SD card to other file system types. However, how? Continue to learn.

How Do I Format Raw Micro SD Card

You can learn two ways to format a raw Micro SD card in this part. We respectively show how to format a raw Micro SD card with a built-in tool in Windows and a professional third-party tool.

Now, let's start with the easier way first.

Method 1. Format Raw Micro SD Card via EaseUS Partition Master

EaseUS Partition Master Free is a professional formatting tool for Windows users and helps you format a raw Micro SD card with simple clicks. This tool breaks the limitation and can easily format large RAW Micro SD cards to FAT32/ NTFS or any other file systems. Now download the tool and follow the steps below to format a raw Micro SD card in Windows 11/10/8.1/7, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master.

Right-click on the RAW partition or RAW external hard drive/USB/SD card that you need to format and choose "Format".

Step 2. Format RAW Partition and reset the file system.

Assign a new partition label, set the file system to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT, and cluster size to the selected partition, then click "OK".

Step 3. In the Warning window, click "Yes" to continue.

By clicking Yes to allow this program to format the target RAW partition to the selected file system format on your drive.

Step 4. Execute the operations.

Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the lower right corner to view all the changes, then click "Apply" to start formatting your RAW partition/USB/SD/external hard drive.

Do you know what else EaseUS Partition Master can help with? Let's learn more about this tool.

Other features of EaseUS Partition Master:

• Wipe hard drive before selling
• Memory card raw format to FAT32
• Reformat hard drive or external hard drive
• Merge/split/extend/shrink/move partitions
• Format raw SD card, USB, or other external drives
• Format SD card for Switch, camera, and Android phones

If you want to have better management of your SD card, download EaseUS Partition Master to help.

Method 2. Format Raw Micro SD Card via CMD

When Windows was unable to complete the format SD card in Disk Management or File Explorer, you can turn to Diskpart commands. Diskpart can help you format a raw Micro SD card, but you must be careful when you type the commands, or you may suffer data loss. To format a raw Micro SD card, here are the steps:

Step 1. To open CMD (Command Prompt), press the Windows key and R simultaneously.

Step 2. Then type "diskpart" to open a new window.

Step 3. Type one of the following commands, and don't forget to hit "Enter."

• list disk
• Select disk 2 (2 represents the SD card number)
• list volume
• select volume
• select volume 10 (10 represents the RAW partition number)
• format fs=ntfs quick (Change NTFS with the correct file system)
• exit

Then, you can format the raw Micro SD card in this way if you are not familiar with computing or these commands. It's a better choice to turn to EaseUS Partition Master, designed for all users, so whether you are a beginner or not, you will like it. After formatting your Micro SD card, you can turn to EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and recover your data to avoid data loss.

By the way, there are some other problems you may meet when you use a raw SD card. You may also like the following:

To Sum Up

This article elaborates on why your Micro SD card becomes raw and provides two ways to format a raw Micro SD card to fix the problem. It is a common problem among Micro SD card users, so don't worry. You can use EaseUS Partition Master to help you with disk partition issues. If you are an experienced user, you can also use Diskpart, but be careful while using CMD to avoid data loss. 

If you have further questions about formatting raw Micro SD cards, continue to read the next part.

Format Raw Micro SD Card FAQs

Do you know how to format your raw Micro SD card now? This part lists three frequently asked questions about that to help you.

1. How can I format my raw SD card without losing data?

Before you format your SD card, recover the data first. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and recover your data. Then you can use EaseUS Partition Master or Diskpart to format your raw SD card.

2. What does it mean when an SD card is raw?

The raw format means you can't access it as usual. There are several causes for it:

• Bad sectors
• File system errors
• Virus attack

There are other causes, but you can format your raw SD card to try to remove this error.

3. How do I change my raw SD card to FAT32?

You can format your raw SD card to FAT 32 and follow the steps below:

Step 1. Open Command Prompt and type diskpart.

Step 2. Type the following commands:

• list disk
• select disk 1 (Replace 1 with your SD card number)
• list volume
• select volume 2 (Replace 2 with the correct number)
• format fs=fat32 quick

In this way, you can change raw to FAT32.