How to Format an SD Card on Android

SD card or external memory card is one of the crucial devices to store your data. But due to various reasons, people sometimes want to format it. It may be because they didn't need their stored data anymore or because of a virus attack on their SD card.

Formatting in computing technology is the deletion of all the data on your storage device. Before you start formatting your storage device like an SD card, it is advised to keep a backup of all your essential data that you want to keep for further use.

If you want to format your SD card on an Android device and look for how to do this, you will get all your solution here. There are various techniques or methods available to format your SD card, and one of the simple methods to format it on most Android devices is using the Settings menu.

Note: It is important to note that formatting your SD card will erase all your stored data from your SD card. And this process is irreversible, and you can't retrieve data once the SD card gets formatted.

Some of the everyday situations when you need to format your SD card

Before we illustrate how you can format your SD card on an Android phone, let's see some common reasons why you should format a memory card on Android or other devices.

Low performance: If you are experiencing that, your SD card performance becomes degraded. You may try to format your SD card to improve its performance in such a case.
SD card gets damaged: If your SD card is not working and shows some error message on your Android phone like "SD card is corrupted", you may perform format action on it to resolve such a problem.
Compatibility issues: If compatibility issues exist between your phone and SD card, especially on some older Android that doesn't support the "exFAT" file system. If this is the reason, you can perform format action on your SD card.
Data security: If you are unsure about what kind of data and files are available on your SD card or if a virus attack infects it, you may format your SD card.

Before formatting your SD card on Android or other devices, we ensure to keep a backup of your essential or other data that you want to keep.

Method 1: on Android 8.0 (Oreo) and above

Follow the below-mentioned steps to format your SD card on an Android device running OS version 11.

Step 1: Insert an SD card

The latest smartphones come with an extra slot to place an SD card on the SIM tray. You will find a component on the left side of your smartphone with a pinhole. Insert the pin or SIM tray tool into the pinhole and lightly press to eject it. Place your micro SD card in its slot into the SIM tray and reinsert it. Your Android smartphone automatically detects it.

Step 2: Open the Settings app

Launch the Settings app on your Android smartphone. To do this, tap on the icon that looks like a gear on your home screen. Alternatively, you can also swipe down from the top of the device screen to visit the Quick menu and tap on the gear-looking Settings icon.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap Battery and device care

Scroll down to the Settings screen, look for the Battery and device care (in some devices, it is Battery and storage) option, and tap on it.

Step 4: Tap Storage

From the list of available options on the next screen, tap on the Storage option.

Step 5: Tap the More menu

On the Storage screen, tap on the more menu (three vertical dots) icon at the upper-right of your screen.

Step 6: Tap Advanced

Click on the more menu from the pop-up option, and tap Advanced.

Step 7: Tap SD Card

Now tap on the SD card option at the bottom of the screen that represents your SD card placed in your device.

Step 8: Tap Format

Tap on the Format option.

Step 9: Confirm your action

Finally, confirm your format action by tapping on Format SD card, which formats your SD card.

Method 2: on Android 7.0 (Nougat) and below

The steps to format an SD card on Android running on OS version 7.0 and below are mainly similar to what we illustrated above. The only difference is in the device's structure and UI. Following are the steps to format an SD card on an Android phone running on 7.0 or below:

Step 1: Insert an SD card

Insert the SD card into your Android device's SD card slot. The process may be different based on manufacturers and device models. You may have to remove your Android phone's back cover to find an SD card slot. In some devices, you even need to remove the device's battery for it.

Step 2: Turn the power on of your Android phone

After inserting the SD card into your phone, place the back cover and turn the power on your Android smartphone.

Step 3: Open the Settings app

Launch the Settings app on your Android device. To do this, tap on the gear-looking icon from the App (drawer) list. Alternatively, you can also swipe down from the top of the device screen to visit the Quick menu and tap on the gear-looking Settings icon. You may also find it on the home screen.

Step 4: Tap Storage

Scroll down the Settings screen to the Storage option. Once you find tap on it.

Step 5: Tap SD card

Scroll down the Storage screen and find the SD card option. The option may be varies based on the device you are using, and it may be "Erase SD card" or "Format SD card".

Step 6: Tap Format SD card

Now tap on the "Format SD card" or "Erase SD card", depending on the option available on your phone, to completely delete data from the SD card.

Step 7: Confirm Format SD card

A pop-up screen may warn that you cannot recover data after you format your SD card. Confirm your action by tapping on the Format SD card. The formatting process starts, and your SD card gets formatted after a few moments.

Format your SD card as Internal Storage on your Android phone

If your Android phone's internal memory is less and you run out of apps, you can use an SD card for internal memory storage. To use the SD card as internal memory, you need to format it as Internal Storage.

Here are the steps to format an SD card and use it as Internal Storage on your Android phone. The exact measures and terms used may vary based on the device model you are using, but they mostly follow the similar steps:

Insert the SD card on your Android phone and wait for a few seconds to be detected it.
Now, open the Settings app and scroll down to the Storage & USB section.
Tap on the SD card option.
Tap on the more icon (three dots) present in the upper-right corner of the screen.
From the pop-up screen, select Settings.
Now, tap on the "Format as internal" option.
Now, tap on the Erase & Format button. If the erasing and formatting of the SD card are too slow, you will receive a notification. The android phone may refuse to format slow responding SD card as Internal Storage.
You can move data to new storage by selecting "Move now" or "Move later" according to your need.
Tap "Done" to complete the process.

Format SD card on your computer

There are different ways to format an SD card on a PC. Based on your computer model, you can use either a card reader or an adapter.

Open the File (or Windows) Explorer, connect your external device, and locate the SD card on your computer under the drive list.
Right-click on the SD card drive and click on the Format from the list of options. You will see a pop-up format window that is default set to FAT32 or exFAT. If you wish to change this property with another, select the other you want to.
Now check/uncheck the "Quick Format" option and click on the Start button.
A warning message will pop up displaying that formatting will erase all your data on that disk. Click on the OK button to proceed with the format process.
After a few moments, your SD card gets formatted.