So is this a fake one? Or do I need special drivers? It seems to work fine so far.
Unfortunately it is formatted in FAT32 which is not good because of the 4GB file size limit. Is this the usual format for Sandisk Flash Drives?
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FAT32 is normal but has a 4GB file limit. Reformat to exFAT or NTFS for bigger files. Use H2testw to check if it’s fake. No drivers needed.
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Hi @Feldheld, as mentioned by @johnjacobb40, FAT32 is the default format on many SanDisk flash drives for compatibility with most devices, but it does have that 4GB file size limit. You can reformat the drive to exFAT—it supports larger files and works well across Windows and macOS without issues.
To check if the drive is genuine, definitely run H2testw (on Windows) or F3 (Fight Flash Fraud) if you’re using Mac/Linux. These tools verify the actual capacity and detect fakes.
No special drivers are needed for genuine SanDisk USBs. Let me know if you want help with reformatting steps!
Yes. SanDisk (and most manufacturers) ship USB drives in FAT32 for maximum compatibility across Windows, macOS, Linux, TVs, and car systems.
Downside: FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit, which is not ideal for video files or disk images.
Recommended Format (if you don’t need compatibility with old systems):
exFAT: Better for large files, supported by Windows/macOS/Linux.
NTFS: Good for Windows-only environments, allows file compression and permissions.
To fix USB not showing up issues on Mac or Windows, check the tutorials.
The SanDisk Dashboard software is primarily designed to work with SanDisk’s internal and external SSDs, not USB flash drives. Even genuine SanDisk flash drives typically do not appear in Dashboard because they don’t support the kind of SMART data reporting or firmware updates that Dashboard is built to handle. So if your USB drive works normally in the operating system (you can read/write to it), but just doesn’t show up in Dashboard, that is expected behavior.
Now let’s talk about the formatting. Yes, most SanDisk (and other brand) USB flash drives come pre-formatted in FAT32 for maximum compatibility across.
If you plan to use the drive mainly between modern computers and want to store large files, you can and should reformat it to exFAT or NTFS.
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