# Format a 64GB+ SD Card  |  Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) will only flash to SD/USB cards formatted with FAT32 or FAT16 formats. These formats are common for flash storages devices less than 64GB.

However, If you have a 64GB, or larger SD/USB, you will need to force format a FAT32 format type. Both Mac and Windows Disk Utilities usually do not give you the option to format a 64GB card to a FAT32 type. As such, you need to force the FAT32 type via the command line. 

## Steps: 

- Open up a terminal and get a list of your mounted storage devices:

```
diskutil list``` 

- Locate your SD/USB and take note of the ```IDENTIFIER```


![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1666576356768/I5beS0Bb9.png align="left")


**NOTE**: This next command will ERASE existing data on your device. 
**Double check you've located the correct device
**


- Run command:
  - change diskname to the name you want
  - change diskidentifier to your disk listed in the step above

```
sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 diskname MBRFormat /dev/diskidentifier```

- If your SD/USB is mounted at /dev/disk2 and you want to rename the removable storage to 'RPI' your command will be: 

```
sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 RPI MBRFormat /dev/disk2
```

Now your storage device is ready to flash the Raspberry Pi OS image to the device.