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{{tag>howto windows external usb storage hdd msdos partitiontable partition format filesystem parted mkfs vfat fat32}}
====== Format external USB storage for windows ======
===== Sources =====
  * https://linux.die.net/man/8/parted
  * https://rainbow.chard.org/2013/01/30/how-to-align-partitions-for-best-performance-using-parted/
  * https://linuxhandbook.com/bash-arithmetic-operators/
  * https://www.linuxscrew.com/bash-math-arithmetic
  * https://people.redhat.com/msnitzer/docs/io-limits.txt
  * https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/273-GNU-Parted-Solving-the-dreaded-The-resulting-partition-is-not-properly-aligned-for-best-performance.html
  * https://chris-linux-blog.blogspot.com/2015/11/avoiding-resulting-partition-is-not.html

===== How to do it =====
Display connected block devices:
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
lsblk
</sxh>
  NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
  loop0    7:0    0  65.2M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1519
  loop1    7:1    0  65.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515
  loop2    7:2    0  42.2M  1 loop /snap/snapd/14066
  loop3    7:3    0 162.9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/145
  loop4    7:4    0  61.5M  1 loop /snap/authy/7
  loop5    7:5    0     4K  1 loop /snap/bare/5
  loop6    7:6    0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/2284
  loop7    7:7    0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/2253
  loop8    7:8    0 164.8M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/161
  loop9    7:9    0  61.3M  1 loop /snap/authy/6
  loop10   7:10   0  43.3M  1 loop /snap/snapd/14295
  sda      8:0    0 238.5G  0 disk 
  ├─sda1   8:1    0     8M  0 part 
  ├─sda2   8:2    0 222.9G  0 part /home
  │                                /var
  │                                /usr/local
  │                                /root
  │                                /srv
  │                                /opt
  │                                /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi
  │                                /boot/grub2/i386-pc
  │                                /.snapshots
  │                                /
  └─sda3   8:3    0  15.6G  0 part [SWAP]
  sdb      8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk 
  └─sdb1   8:17   0 465.8G  0 part 
  sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

In my case the connected USB HDD is /dev/sdb.
Verify that sdb is the correct device
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
parted /dev/sdb print
</sxh>
  Model: BUFFALO External HDD (scsi)
  Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
  Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
  Partition Table: msdos
  Disk Flags: 
  
  Number  Start  End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
   1      131kB  500GB  500GB  primary  ext4         type=83

create a fresh msdos partition table
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
parted /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
</sxh>
  Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdb will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
  Yes/No?
  
press <key>y</key>
                                                             
  Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.

create the new partition
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
parted -a optimal /dev/sdb mkpart primary fat32 0% 100%
</sxh>
  Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.

check if the partition is aligned correctly
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
parted /dev/sdb align-check optimal 1
</sxh>
  1 aligned

check the partition
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
parted /dev/sdb print
</sxh>
  Model: BUFFALO External HDD (scsi)
  Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
  Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
  Partition Table: msdos
  Disk Flags: 
  
  Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
   1      1049kB  500GB  500GB  primary               lba, type=0c

now format the partition
<sxh bash; gutter: false>
mkfs.vfat -v /dev/sdb1
</sxh>
  mkfs.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)
  Auto-selecting FAT32 for large filesystem
  /dev/sdb1 has 255 heads and 63 sectors per track,
  hidden sectors 0x0800;
  logical sector size is 512,
  using 0xf8 media descriptor, with 976771026 sectors;
  drive number 0x80;
  filesystem has 2 32-bit FATs and 64 sectors per cluster.
  FAT size is 119232 sectors, and provides 15258320 clusters.
  There are 64 reserved sectors.
  Volume ID is aa1a69ca, no volume label.

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~~DISCUSSION~~