To format the USB flash drive, you must first confirm the device name to avoid misoperation. 1. After inserting the USB drive, run lsblk or fdisk -l to identify the device name (such as /dev/sdb). Be careful not to select the system disk (such as /dev/sda) or existing partitions (such as /dev/sdb1). 2. If the USB flash drive is automatically mounted, use mount | grep /dev/sdX to find the mount point and perform umount uninstallation. 3. Select the file system according to the purpose: FAT32 has good compatibility, exFAT supports large files, NTFS is suitable for Windows, ext4 is suitable for Linux, and format it with commands such as mkfs.vfat or mkfs.exfat. 4. Finally, use lsblk or blkid to check whether the file system changes successfully and test whether it can be mounted and accessed normally.

Go directly to the theme. It is not difficult to format the USB flash drive under Linux, but the key is to confirm that the operation object is correct and avoid accidentally deleting data. The main steps include identifying the device, uninstalling the mount point, selecting the file system, and performing formatting.

Confirm the USB device name

Before starting, you must confirm the device name of the USB drive , otherwise the system disk or other important partitions may be misformatted. After inserting the USB drive, run it in the terminal:

 lsblk

Or use:

 fdisk -l

You should be able to see device names like /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc (usually not /dev/sda , that's the system disk). Be careful not to make the partition number wrong. For example, /dev/sdb1 is an existing partition, and what you want to operate is the entire device /dev/sdb .

Uninstall the USB drive (if it is automatically mounted)

Many desktop environments will automatically mount USB drives. If it is already mounted, it needs to be uninstalled before formatting. You can use the following command to view the mount point:

 mount | grep /dev/sdX

Replace sdX with your device name. Then execute:

 umount /dev/sdX1

If you have multiple partitions, you may need to uninstall each partition in turn.

Select the file system and format it

Choose the appropriate file system according to your purpose. Common options include:

• FAT32 : The best compatibility, suitable for cross-platform use
• exFAT : Supports large files and is suitable for large-capacity USB drives
• NTFS : Windows compatible, but Linux read and write support is not as stable as the previous two
• ext4 : Linux-specific, suitable for backup or system use

Taking formatting as FAT32 as an example, execute:

 mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX

If it is exFAT, use:

 mkfs.exfat /dev/sdX

Note: Format will clear all data, please confirm in advance.

Check if the format is successful

After the formatting is completed, you can run lsblk or blkid again to view the device information to confirm whether the file system type has been changed successfully. You can also reinsert the USB drive to see if it can be mounted and accessed normally.

Basically all this is it. Although the process is simple, choosing the right device and file system is very important, otherwise problems will occur.

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