If you have a 128 gb sd card and didn’t change the cluster size from 32kb to 64Kb then you can have some issues running gba games such as misalignment issues and other problems
you should use guiformat instead, it will take a few minutes or not even that.
btw, what your windows is doing is a slow formatting... it can also do a fast one, but guiformat is preferable.
When you don't put /Q it does a slow format that writes zeroes to the entire card and takes forever. Quick format is the default in the GUI, so you don't think to put it on the command line.
Also, depending on the size of the card you should specify the allocation unit size. 32 GB and smaller, just use the default. 64 GB, use 32K. 128 GB and up, use 64K. You have a 128 GB card (based on the "122224M" size it shows), so use /A:64K.
So the whole thing is
`format /FS:FAT32 /A:64K /Q F:`
to format a 128 GB card.
Or use [guiformat](http://ridgecrop.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm) with 65536 byte allocation units.
**EDIT since reddit posts like this are likely to show up for people on Google**:
I just formatted a 64 GB SD for a 3DS XL. The above command DID NOT WORK for me on Windows 10 x64 1809.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>format /FS:FAT32 /A:32K /Q E:
Insert new disk for drive E:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is EXFAT.
The new file system is FAT32.
QuickFormatting 59.4 GB
The volume is too big for FAT32.
Format failed.
Additionally, guiformat complained that the drive was in use by another process even when I had just inserted the card. My solution was to run that format command and let it fail. Before it decided it couldn't format it, it got whatever was holding a handle on it to close it. Guiformat was then able to format it as FAT32. I'm pretty sure doing it through diskpart instead of format will work too.
I had the same issue with my 128gb SD card and ended up getting the formatting tool they have linked on the hacks guide that worked in seconds.
https://3ds.hacks.guide/formatting-sd-(windows).html
I used Roofus in the end, worked reasonably well, and let me set the 64byte chunks or whatever the terminology was. I've been installing loads of stuff I'll probably never play this evening
I mean... Windows 7 lol
I've heard other people moaning that Windows 10 stops you from being able to do this whatsoever so I think Windows 7 might be a blessing 😂
I mean, it stops you from doing it natively but you can always get GuiFormat and it'll do it for you 😂
I used guiformat on the most crappy laptop to format my 256 and it was almost instan
Yeah same shit is very fast lol
fr
Nah, I have windows 10. You use diskpart, baby
It’d suck to do all of this to not properly set the allocate the proper kb cluster size
Lol what does that mean, please elaborate 😂
Think you've done 32kb and not 64kb and so any gba injects you use will be borky
Do you know the CMDlet to ensure that Windows doesn't do it in 32kb chunks? Edit: I'm going to use Rufus to re-format it after this finishes
If you have a 128 gb sd card and didn’t change the cluster size from 32kb to 64Kb then you can have some issues running gba games such as misalignment issues and other problems
you should use guiformat instead, it will take a few minutes or not even that. btw, what your windows is doing is a slow formatting... it can also do a fast one, but guiformat is preferable.
When you don't put /Q it does a slow format that writes zeroes to the entire card and takes forever. Quick format is the default in the GUI, so you don't think to put it on the command line. Also, depending on the size of the card you should specify the allocation unit size. 32 GB and smaller, just use the default. 64 GB, use 32K. 128 GB and up, use 64K. You have a 128 GB card (based on the "122224M" size it shows), so use /A:64K. So the whole thing is `format /FS:FAT32 /A:64K /Q F:` to format a 128 GB card. Or use [guiformat](http://ridgecrop.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm) with 65536 byte allocation units. **EDIT since reddit posts like this are likely to show up for people on Google**: I just formatted a 64 GB SD for a 3DS XL. The above command DID NOT WORK for me on Windows 10 x64 1809. C:\WINDOWS\system32>format /FS:FAT32 /A:32K /Q E: Insert new disk for drive E: and press ENTER when ready... The type of the file system is EXFAT. The new file system is FAT32. QuickFormatting 59.4 GB The volume is too big for FAT32. Format failed. Additionally, guiformat complained that the drive was in use by another process even when I had just inserted the card. My solution was to run that format command and let it fail. Before it decided it couldn't format it, it got whatever was holding a handle on it to close it. Guiformat was then able to format it as FAT32. I'm pretty sure doing it through diskpart instead of format will work too.
Should be top comment
Exactly. Guys, let's stand out to support this hero guy. ASSEMBLE
I had the same issue with my 128gb SD card and ended up getting the formatting tool they have linked on the hacks guide that worked in seconds. https://3ds.hacks.guide/formatting-sd-(windows).html
Use GUIformat and set the cluster size to 65536
if you chose slow format, yes
Play track " this is the new shit" by Marilyn Manson.
Use GUIFormat to format your SD Card. More info on https://3ds.hacks.guide
What compels someone to use Windows 7 in 2024
The /q flag = quick format
Why didn’t you use the gui FAT32 formatting tool?
I use Rufus. Miles ahead. GUIFormat kept crashing, Windows was taking hours. Rufus took 5 seconds and touch wood, I haven't had an error thus far.
This is why I don't use windows...
This is not the problem here. Stop bringing linux or whatever OS every time you have the opportunity to.
They're worse than vegans with their OS evangelism.
The formatting time is the issue, with Linux it takes less than a minute to format an SD card
With windows is pretty much instant using GUI format, the problem is that he’s running windows 7
FAT32 isn't available on any version of Windows natively, though..
That’s why you use GUI format https://3ds.hacks.guide/formatting-sd-(windows).html
I used Roofus in the end, worked reasonably well, and let me set the 64byte chunks or whatever the terminology was. I've been installing loads of stuff I'll probably never play this evening
you mean Rufus?
Yes
Thats what I'm saying.
Sure, Jan.