Kingston Format Utility

Kingston Format Utility is a proprietary utility designed for formatting Kingston USB drives. The program was released specifically for HyperX DTHX30/XXGB series flash drives, and Kingston offers it on the support page of that series. Kingston notes that reformatting these drives with standard Windows tools can reduce their performance, so this utility is the recommended way to format them. It does not have any other significant functions.

The Kingston Format Utility can convert the media file system to FAT32 and NTFS. Both of these file systems have their advantages and disadvantages: FAT32 offers the widest compatibility with other devices and operating systems, while NTFS is better suited for large files. FAT32 drives cannot store files larger than 4 GB, which should be taken into account when selecting a file system before starting the formatting process.

All the necessary controls of the utility are concentrated in one small window, where you can choose the necessary device (if several are connected) and specify the target file system. Formatting starts immediately after you press the Format button, and all data on the drive is erased. The program does not need to be installed: the download is a small self-extracting archive that unpacks the utility, which you then run. The current version, 1.0.3.0, dates from 2011 and is no longer updated.

Formats Kingston HyperX USB drives without the performance loss that standard Windows formatting can cause.