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<h2>Specifying the filesystem used by your USB drive</h2>
This guide covers how to make sure your local or USB drive is using the correct filesystem, and how to reformat it (change it) to a different filesystem.
<h3>What is a filesystem?</h3>
While when you browse the contents of a disk, CD, or USB, you see files and folders, that information must be <em>encoded</em> into a sequence of zeros and ones in order to be stored on a physical disk. There are a number of different formats that can be used, depending on the purpose and platform - for example, Windows PCs use one format while Macs and iPhones use another.

The two primary filesystems in use in the Windows world are <strong>FAT32</strong> and <strong>NTFS</strong>. While most Windows PCs use NTFS for local disks, a USB drive can be formatted as either of NTFS or FAT32. Almost all bootable software requires that the USB drive be formatted as FAT32 to function correctly.
<h3>Identifying the current filesystem</h3>
Follow the instructions in our companion article to <a href="http://neosmart.net/wiki/identifying-the-filesystem-format-of-a-usb-drive/">find out what filesystem your USB is currently using</a>.
<h2>Formatting a drive to a new filesystem</h2>
To format a drive to a new filesystem such as <strong>FAT32</strong>, <strong>NTFS</strong>, or <strong>exFAT</strong>, simply follow the instruction below. Note that most bootable USB software requires that a USB stick be formatted as <strong>FAT32</strong> to operate correctly.
<ol>
 	<li>Make sure the USB you want to format is securely plugged in and shows up under "My Computer" or "This PC" (depending on the version of Windows you are running):
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-drive-in-This-PC.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5432" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-drive-in-This-PC-300x181.png" alt="" width="300" height="181" /></a></li>
 	<li>Right-click the USB and choose "Format":
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-drive-format-context-menu.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5439" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-drive-format-context-menu-300x221.png" alt="" width="300" height="221" /></a></li>
 	<li>You should see a "Format" dialog pop up:
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/Format-dialog.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5440" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/Format-dialog-169x300.png" alt="" width="169" height="300" /></a></li>
 	<li>Select the filesystem you wish to use for this drive and then click "Start" to continue:
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5441" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format-300x127.png" alt="" width="300" height="127" /></a></li>
 	<li><strong>All data currently on the drive will be lost past this step. Make sure you have backed up your files before continuing. </strong>Once you're ready, press "OK" at the confirmation dialog to begin the process:
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format-confirmation-dialog.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5442" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format-confirmation-dialog-300x112.png" alt="" width="300" height="112" /></a></li>
 	<li>The process shouldn't take long, and once it's done you'll see a dialog letting you know the procedure completed:
<a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format-complete-message.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5443" src="https://neosmart.net/wiki/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/USB-format-complete-message-300x105.png" alt="" width="300" height="105" /></a></li>
</ol>
<h3>Next Steps</h3>
Continue to our guides on <a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/easyre/getting-started/creating-a-bootable-usb/">creating a bootable USB</a> and <a href="https://neosmart.net/wiki/boot-usb-drive/">configuring your PC to boot from USB</a>.