Open Windows Disk Management , locate the unallocated or unrecognized drive, and assign it a temporary drive letter, or format it to FAT32/exFAT first. Modern Alternatives to Consider
If you have a perfectly configured Raspberry Pi setup or a custom bootable drive, you can clone it to your computer as a backup file. Insert the source card or drive into your PC. Open Win32 Disk Imager as an Administrator.
While there is no software officially named Win64 Disk Imager
The most common use case is burning Linux-based operating systems (like Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu on ARM) onto SD cards.
Critical Warning: Double-check the drive letter in Windows File Explorer before proceeding. Selecting your main computer hard drive will destroy your operating system.
When working with single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, creating custom operating system backups, or flashing raw disk images to USB drives, you need a tool that writes data at a low level. For years, the go-to utility for this task has been Win32 Disk Imager.
You will see "Write Successful." Click OK , close the program, and safely eject the drive (right-click the drive in Explorer > Eject).
- The first step is to get the tool. Download the latest version from a trusted source, such as its official project page on SourceForge. Choose the version that matches your system (the -binary.zip file for a portable version, or the installer for a standard setup). Once extracted or installed, launch the program. It is recommended to run it as an administrator to ensure it has the necessary permissions to access your drives directly.