For maximum compatibility with other devices, select “FAT” (FAT32). This will work on all computers and virtually any other device that works with USB drives. If you’re just planning on using the drive with Linux, select “ext3. " This will allow you to use Linux’s advanced file permissions.

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=4k && sync This will take a while to process and may appear frozen. On Ubuntu 16. 04 and later: sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=4k status=progress && sync.

Type sudo fdisk /dev/sdb and press ↵ Enter. Press O to create an empty partition table.

sudo mkfs. vfat /dev/sdb1

sudo eject /dev/sdb