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Prepare Micro SD Card

Introduction​

Before writing an image to a micro SD Card, it is a good idea to prepare the card by cleaning and resetting it. This is done using a tool from the SD Association. This guide is written for Windows.

Clean the Micro SD Card​

Install the micro SD card into your Windows PC and open up Diskpart. You can do this by pressing WIN + x, and then selecting Terminal (Admin). Then type

diskpart

Find the disk number for your micro SD card with

list disk

On my system it was obvious as I have a 16GB card (shows as 14GB)

list-disk

Select the disk

select disk <YOUR DISK NUMBER>
warning

The next step will erase the data on the selected disk. Make absolutely sure it is the right disk. The data will be lost.

Clean the disk with

clean

Now create a primary partition

create partition primary

Reset the SD Card​

Download the SD Memory Card Formatter from the SD Association site. You will need to scroll down a bit and select Windows

sd-card-formatter

On the next page, scroll to the bottom and accept the terms. This will start the download. Once downloaded, extract the file and install the SD Card Formatter. Once installed, open it up

sd-card-formatter-open

Select the appropriate card, and click the "Format" button. It should not take too long, and you should get a pop up stating it was successful

sd-card-formatter-success

The micro SD Card is now prepared.