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Wunpk's avatar
Wunpk
Iron Contributor
Jun 18, 2025

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

Hi guys, My first time to use a SD card (from my car dashcam) on my Windows 11 PC, and I need some help reformatting the SD card. It is a 128GB SanDisk SD card (64GB) to use with my car. However, af...
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Bradleyly's avatar
Bradleyly
Iron Contributor
Dec 29, 2025

If your SD card is not showing in Windows File Explorer, it usually means Windows detects the hardware but can’t mount it properly. Below is a practical, safe method on how to reformat the SD card and make it usable again by using the built-in command line utility.

1. Press Win + S, type cmd

2. Right-click Command Prompt → Run as administrator

3. Enter commands carefully:

diskpart
list disk
select disk X    (replace X with your SD card number)
clean
create partition primary
format fs=exfat quick
assign
exit

Warning: Selecting the wrong disk will erase it completely.

If the SD card does not appear in Disk Management, the issue may be hardware or drivers. Try this

  • Insert the SD card into another USB card reader
  • Try another USB port
  • Open Device Manager (Expand disk drives & Universal Serial Bus controllers and update the card reader driver, then reboot

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