How to safely format sd card on my windows 11 pc?

Pro tips & troubleshooting on how to reformat SD Card

Write-protect switch: If the Format button is greyed out, flick the tiny lock slider on the card’s edge up (unlocked) and try again.

Hidden partitions:Strange capacities or “RAW” status? Use Disk Management to delete rogue partitions first, then come back to File Explorer.

Cluster-size performance: For 4 K video recording, a larger allocation unit (32–64 KB) can reduce fragmentation; for lots of small text files, stay at 16 KB or below.

Full vs. Quick: After a power failure, virus infection, or if the card acted flaky, uncheck Quick Format once; it forces a surface scan that maps out weak sectors.

Safely eject: Right-click the task-tray USB icon → Eject <drive letter> before removing the card to avoid file-system metadata loss.

P.S. If the previous suggestions fail (e.g., the card stays read-only or shows the wrong capacity), try the free sd card formatter utility from the SD Association or assume the card has reached end-of-life.