Then it will ask if you want to continue the installation. Install GParted utility through the command below: $ sudo apt install gpartedĮnter sudo password. Follow the below-mentioned steps for the formatting procedure:ġ. In this method, we will format the USB drive through the graphical method using the GParted utility. There are two ways to format a USB drive through a graphical interface: using the GParted utility and File Manager. So make sure to unmount the USB drive first before formatting it. Instead it will return the below message. Note: If you do not unmount the USB drive, the command will not format it. Then run the command below to format the USB drive: $ sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1 To unmount it, run the command below: $ sudo umount /dev/sdb1ģ. Before formatting, you will need to unmount the USB. If your USB is not automatically mounted by the system, you can manually mount it.Ģ. In our case, it is /dev/sdb1 listed at the end of the output. This command will list all the partitions along with details as shown below:įrom the list, you can find your USB drive mounted on a directory. Run the command below to find your USB drive name: $ df -h First, you will need to identify your USB drive so that you do not mistakenly format any other drive. In this method, we will format the USB drive using the command line. Method#1Formatting USB through Command Line Make sure to backup important data as formatting will wipe out everything stored in it. In today’s post, we will cover how to format a USB drive in Ubuntu through three different methods. Regardless of the reason, Ubuntu allows you to format your USB drive using the command line and the GUI methods. You may also want to format a USB drive if it contains some malicious data. For instance, the most common reason is to quickly wipe out all data stored in it or to change the file system to make it compatible with a different system. There can be several reasons you may want to format your USB drive.

How to format usb drive ubuntu