---
title: "Formatting SD (Linux)"
---

{% include toc title="Table of Contents" %}

### Required Reading

This is an add-on section for formatting an SD card to work with the 3DS.

If the 3DS already recognizes the SD card, this guide is not required.

Esta página é destinada apenas a usuários do Linux. If you are not on Linux, check out the [Formatting SD (Windows)](formatting-sd-(windows)) or [Formatting SD (Mac)](formatting-sd-(mac)) pages.

### Instructions

1. Make sure your SD card is **not** inserted
1. Launch the Linux Terminal
1. Type `watch "lsblk"`
1. Insert your SD card into your PC
1. Observe the output. It should match something like this:
```
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mmcblk0     179:0    0   3,8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   3,7G  0 part /run/media/user/FFFF-FFFF
```
1. Take note of the device name. In our example above, it was `mmcblk0p1`
  + If `RO` is set to 1, make sure the lock switch is not slid down
1. Hit CTRL + C to exit the menu
1. Type in the following for your SD card:
    - 2GB or lower: `sudo mkfs.fat /dev/(device name from above) -s 64 -F 16` 
	  - This creates a single FAT16 partition with 32 KB cluster size on the SD card
    - 4GB - 128GB: `sudo mkfs.fat /dev/(device name from above) -s 64 -F 32` 
	  - This creates a single FAT32 partition with 32 KB cluster size on the SD card
    - 128GB or higher: `sudo mkfs.fat /dev/(device name from above) -s 128 -F 32`
      - This creates a single FAT32 partition with 64 KB cluster size on the SD card