One of the most practical upgrades you can perform on a home console is upgrading the storage. Whether you are adding flash memory in place of your DVD drive (Called an ODE mod) or just updating the hard drive attached to the system, it is likely that you will need to have it formatted to FAT32. For example, a Nintendo Switch or a 3DS use the FAT32 file system for SD cards, but Windows will either limit you, or not allow you to format your FAT32 media past 64GB at all. You could manually format the filesystem yourself, or you could follow this tutorial and grab an easy-to-run software that will do the heavy lifting for you!
(Difficulty: – 🌟 Easy)
Tools Required
- SD Card (64GB or bigger)
- SD Reader (Slot in PC, or external USB solution, either works)
- Ridgecorp’s FAT32 Formatting Tool for Windows (Download)
How to Format your FAT32 SD Card beyond 64GB
Now that you’ve downloaded the software required, plug your SD card into your Windows machine. Note: This will not work on Mac based systems, or Linux systems. Open the software, selecting the drive letter associated with the connected SD card. Please be careful when selecting a drive letter, never select your C:\ drive! This tool will allow you to format over your Windows install, which could result in bricking your computer.
Next you will want to shift your focus onto the block size, the dropdown window directly beneath the drive selection. Set this value to 32768. Ensure that all other Windows Explorer windows are closed, otherwise you will be met with an error that says the drive is currently in use by another program, which looks like this:
Once all windows and processes are closed, press “Start”. The format can take some time if you’re using large drives, just be patient and give it time. Once this is complete, you should be able to open the drive in file explorer, loading any CFW, boot images, or homebrew to the card!
Happy Modding!