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In Windows there is a straightforward "Format" option in a flash drive's right-click pop-up menu. Where's that in Ubuntu?

I understand there's always standard partition management command line stuff there and I've googled the question, but isn't there a Windows-like GUI tool for this?

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4 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Go to Places → Computer, right click on flash disk and there should be option Format....

Or you can use Palimpsest Disk Utility (System → Administration → Disk Utility).

alt text

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Thanks.That's it. But one more question comes up. In FS choice it offers just FAT alongside with ext2, ext3 and encrypted FAT. But is this meant to be FAT16, FAT32 or exFAT? In my particular case I'd prefer FAT16 as my flash drive is only 1GB in size. – Ivan Jan 20 '11 at 8:46
It's FAT32. If you want to format it to FAT16, you have to install Gparted (package gparted), but I think it's OK to use FAT32 on 1GB flash disk... – Vojtech Trefny Jan 20 '11 at 8:55
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no you don't have to install gparted just goto System -> Administration -> Disk Utility and format. – Alaukik Jan 20 '11 at 11:07
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I don't think there's any reason to choose FAT16 over FAT32. – loevborg Jan 20 '11 at 12:18
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FAT16 will waste more of your limited space. It should not be used on anything over 256mb or so. – psusi Jan 20 '11 at 15:28
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up vote 6 down vote

gpartedInstall gparted, the only way to go with formatting drives and HD's etc. It's available for download in the Ubuntu Software Center, just search for gParted

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up vote 2 down vote

Here are some instruction :

  • Plug your flash drive into an empty USB port and back up any data on the drive. Open the main menu, move your cursor over "Accessories" and then click on "Terminal." At the terminal prompt, type "sudo apt-get install gparted" (without quotes) and press "Enter."
  • Enter your Ubuntu administrator password when prompted and press "Enter." This will download and install GParted, which is an open-source drive partitioning program
  • Go to the Ubuntu main menu after the installation is complete, move your cursor over "System," select "Administration" and click "Partition Editor." Enter your administrator password when prompted and click "OK."
  • Click on "GParted" in the toolbar. Hover over "Devices" and select your USB flash drive from the list (dev/sdb1, for example). Right-click on the device in the main GParted window and click "Unmount." It may take a few minutes for the device to be unmounted
  • Right-click on the device again after it is unmounted and hover over "Format to." Select the desired file system type -- RiserFS, linux-swap, Ext 2, Ext 3, FAT16 or Fat32, for example -- and click "Apply" in the toolbar. Depending on the size of the flash drive, it will take three to four minutes for GParted to complete the process.
  • Close GParted after the flash drive is formatted. To mount your USB flash drive, unplug it and then plug it back in. The drive is now ready to store data in the file format you selected.
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up vote 1 down vote

in ubuntu there is many method by which you can format your pendrive

1 - by Disk utility see the video // simplest way

2- by Gparted tool see the video

// you can install it from Ubuntu software center or you can install is by typing

sudo apt-get install gparted

3- by using Terminal see the video

go to super mode by typing "su" followed by super mode password

fdisk -l

that will show all the volume in your pc or you can also use the

df

to see the usb flash drive suppose it may be /deb/sdb1

umount /dev/sdb1

that un mount the drive

mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1

to format drive into fat32 format

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