Formatting a Pen Drive

I am going to introduce you to another command line utility as offered by the Windows Operating System. It is the format utility.
I have in time past tried to format an old removable media using the default format utility in My Computer, but to no avail. Not until a friend introduces me to this method.
Remember how we fire up the command line interface? I case you've forgotten, this is it.
To start with, we'll see how we call up the command line interface on your Windows Operating System.
1. Click Start then select Run. Alternatively, hold down the Windows Key and then press R
2. Type in the space provided "cmd" and press the Enter key.
Congratulations! You have entered the command line interface.
One this interface type format /?. The computer will display for you the function of the format utility as well as the switches you can use with it.
To format the drive, simply type
C:\> format [drive letter]:
f
For example:
C:\> format H:
You can find out the letter for the drive you intend to format by opening My Computer then check the letter assigned to the drive.
Some interesting switches I'll like us to look at are
1. /FS:filesystem - this enables you to specify the file system you want on the drive. For pen drives, flash drives, memory cards, we could use the FAT32 file system which is the default filing system used for formatting.
2. /X - this switch allows the forceful dismount of the drive so that it can be opened for formatting. This switch is what you can use to revive a dead or dying drive.
Put these few into practice and get back to me if you have any issues.