The truth is that FAT32 has a theoretical volume size limit of 16 TB, with a current practical limit of about 8 TB-plenty for most USB drives. ![]() Specifications put out by manufacturers on file systems as they pertain to drive size created the myth that FAT32 can only be used to format drives between 2 GB and 32 GB, and that is likely why native tools on Windows-and other systems-have that limit. ![]() Every major operating system and most devices support it, making it great for drives you need to access from different systems. Therefore, if you right click a EXT2/3 or FAT32 partition in Windows 11 Disk Management, Shrink Volume option is grayed out. The advantage to using FAT32 is portability. Windows Disk Management can only shrink the partition that are formatted with NTFS file system, FAT32 and any other types of partitions are not supported. If you do need those larger file sizes, you’ll need to stick with something like NTFS or exFAT. Download fat32 formatter software and best disk management software: USB Drive SpeedUp, USB Disk Storage Format Tool, Format USB Or Flash Drive Software. RELATED: What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive?įAT32 is a solid file system for external drives, so long as you don’t plan to use files over 4GB in size. I found that in every single case Ive tested, the limitation. Swap "X:" for the drive letter assigned to your USB drive.įor whatever reason, the option to format USB drives larger than 32GB with the FAT32 file system isn’t present in the regular Windows format tool. Its often youll find SD (or MicroSD) based devices that list compatibility as up to 32GB. ![]() Alternatively, launch PowerShell as an Administrator and run "format /FS:FAT32 X:" in the Window to format the "X:" drive as FAT32. Use a third-party utility, like "FAT32 Format," to format larger USB drives with FAT32.
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