Format Disk using exFat on Command Line
Gregg
You may not always be working on a Linux system using a GUI, like a server or a system with very low resources. Sometimes you may need to format a disk to exFat using the Command Line. It’s not really that difficult.
The first thing you need to do is to know which device is to be formatted so before you connect the disk or USB make sure you run the lsblk command before and after doing so. This way you will be certain not to format the wrong disk by mistake and cause a data loss.
Run lsblk before inserting the disk:
# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 232.9G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 630M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 216.3G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 15.9G 0 part [SWAP]
sdb 8:16 0 1.4T 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 630M 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 0 244.1G 0 part /mnt/lfs
├─sdb3 8:19 0 1.1T 0 part /home
└─sdb4 8:20 0 15.6G 0 part
sdc 8:32 1 0B 0 disk
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
Then insert the disk and run lsblk again:
# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 232.9G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 630M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2 8:2 0 216.3G 0 part /
└─sda3 8:3 0 15.9G 0 part [SWAP]
sdb 8:16 0 1.4T 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 630M 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 0 244.1G 0 part /mnt/lfs
├─sdb3 8:19 0 1.1T 0 part /home
└─sdb4 8:20 0 15.6G 0 part
sdc 8:32 1 0B 0 disk
sdd 8:48 1 979.8M 0 disk <--+
├─sdd1 8:49 1 50M 0 part <--|--New device
└─sdd2 8:50 1 928.8M 0 part <--+
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
Compare the output and you’ll see that in this case, the device inserted was /dev/sdd.
Armed with that information, we can now begin our task. Start by invoking parted with the -a optimal option to specify the optimal alignment type:
root@slacker:~# parted -a optimal /dev/sdd
GNU Parted 3.4
Using /dev/sdd
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
Next, set the partition table to gpt:
(parted) mktable gpt
Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdd will be destroyed and all data on
this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
Yes/No? Yes
Now, create a new partition table of exFAT type:
(parted) mkpart exFAT 0% -1
Set the flag for the first partition to msftdata:
(parted) set 1 msftdata on
(parted) align-check opt 1
1 aligned
(parted) quit
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.
Now you should be done. Let’s print out the partition to make sure everything is OK:
# parted /dev/sdd print
Model: SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 1027MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 1027MB 1026MB fat32 exFAT msftdata
Now we can format it:
# mkfs.exfat -n exFAT /dev/sdd1
exfatprogs version : 1.1.3
Creating exFAT filesystem(/dev/sdd1, cluster size=32768)
Writing volume boot record: done
Writing backup volume boot record: done
Fat table creation: done
Allocation bitmap creation: done
Upcase table creation: done
Writing root directory entry: done
Synchronizing...
exFAT format complete!
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