Format a 64GB+ SD Card  |  Raspberry Pi

Format a 64GB+ SD Card | Raspberry Pi

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1 min read

The Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) will only flash to SD/USB cards formatted with FAT32 or FAT16 formats. These formats are common for flash storages devices less than 64GB.

However, If you have a 64GB, or larger SD/USB, you will need to force format a FAT32 format type. Both Mac and Windows Disk Utilities usually do not give you the option to format a 64GB card to a FAT32 type. As such, you need to force the FAT32 type via the command line.

Steps:

  • Open up a terminal and get a list of your mounted storage devices:
diskutil list
  • Locate your SD/USB and take note of the IDENTIFIER

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NOTE: This next command will ERASE existing data on your device. Double check you've located the correct device

  • Run command:
    • change diskname to the name you want
    • change diskidentifier to your disk listed in the step above
sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 diskname MBRFormat /dev/diskidentifier
  • If your SD/USB is mounted at /dev/disk2 and you want to rename the removable storage to 'RPI' your command will be:
sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 RPI MBRFormat /dev/disk2

Now your storage device is ready to flash the Raspberry Pi OS image to the device.