– If you try to format an external USB device smaller than 32 GB, you will see all the options. – If you try to format an internal hard disk that is larger than 32 GB, you will only see the option for NTFS. – If you try to format an internal hard disk that is smaller than 32 GB, you will see the options for NTFS, FAT and FAT32. Before we get into what each format is, let’s talk about the actual options you get when trying to perform a format. You can click on the drop down and choose from a couple of file systems: NTFS, FAT, FAT32, and exFAT.īy default, most people end up just going with FAT and there’s a good reason why it’s set as the default. When you right-click on a USB drive in Windows and choose Format, you get the following format dialog box:īy default, the file system for any external USB device will be set to FAT. So let’s start with the formatting dialog we all have come to know in Windows.
