Formatting an SD card to FAT16

Could someone tell me how to format an SD Card to a FAT16 format. I am using Windows Vista x64 bit OS. My goal is to download a .bmp to an arduino shield device. Any help would be appreciated.

Are you sure you want fat16. It only supports partitions up to 2 gig.

http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] -US;118335

You would be better off using fat32. You should be able to right-click the drive and select format. You will be restricted on how large a partition to make using the vista formatter. You can use a utility called fat32formatter that will allow larger partitions. I've used this before and it worked fine.

http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/

Yes. FAT16 is all I need for a microSD Card. So my question is how do you format an microSD card? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

I've been able to format my microSD card using a card reader.

Hi nerdgirly -

I'm going to proceed on the assumption you want to know what you asked rather than advice on how and why to do something different...

That said,
1. open a dos window (run CMD or search and double click CMD) and type format <D>: /FS:FAT (replace <D> with the drive letter of the SD and no < >'s) - this should work for any version of windows released in the last decade.

or 2. Run DISKMGMT.MSC in Windows7, Vista, or XP, scroll down until you see the SD drive (probably the last one in the list), right click on the drive letter ( or anywhere on or under its blue bar), right or left click format from the list and select FAT for file system and click OK