How to repartition an SDHC card in Windows

partitioningsd card

How do I repartition an SDHC card (4 GB or more)? Do I need third-part tools or Linux (a live CD solution would be OK)?

In Windows' Disk Management the option Delete Partition is dimmed out:

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I can reformat the card as FAT32, copy files to and from the card and even change the file system to NTFS using the command line command CONVERT, but not repartition it.

The article How to Partition an SD Card in Windows XP talks about using "a Windows enabler program" which sound rather dubious to me.

I have tried to change from “Optimize for quick removal” to “Optimize for performance”. The option to format as NTFS appeared, but the Delete Partition option is still dimmed out.

Platform:

I have also tried on different versions of Windows and with different cards with the same result:

  • Kingston 4 GB SDHC card, speed class 4 (the one shown in the screenshot)
  • Transcend 2 GB (not marked as SDHC, but SD)
  • Windows 7 32-bit (albeit with a somewhat an older card reader) and Windows XP 32-bit on an EliteBook 8730w

Best Answer

Here's an article with working link archived version without images. And also a summary of how you do this:

Start DiskPart by opening Start menu and typing in diskpart in the search. After giving DiskPart permission to start with administrative privileges, you will be in a console window with DISKPART> prompt.

Deleting partitions

Type LIST DISK to find out what disk you need to change. Note that you are looking for a disk with the same number as in the Disk Management tool, so in OP's case, it's Disk 1.

Next you need to select the disk you wish to work on. Type SELECT DISK 1. Make sure the correct disk is selected by typing LIST DISK again.

Now, you need to select the partition you wish to remove. Type LIST PARTITION to see a list of all partitions. To select the first one, type SELECT PARTITION 1.

To remove the partition, type DELETE PARTITION.

Creating partitions

To create a partition, you can either proceed by using the Disk Management tool, or type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY. This creates a partition that fills the free space. If you wish to create a partition of specific size, you need to type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=NNN where NNN is the partition size in MB.

You can get more information about the various options by typing HELP CREATE PARTITION and/or HELP CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY.

Exiting DiskPart

Either type EXIT or press Ctrl+C.

Additional notes

While this works for many SD cards (and other media), for SD cards specifcially, it is recommended to use SD formatter from SD Association. It will not remove all partitions, but will ensure that any content security-related parts of the card are left intact.

Although not being asked, this method may not work for USB sticks. I have 'bricked' USB sticks by partitioning them on Linux or writing ISO images to them, and to date, I haven't found a way to fix them.

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