NTFS to FAT32 Help please!!

[nintendo]

I just purchased a Lacie 1TB external drive from dells days of deals.

I have a major problem however and that's formatting the drive to fat32. Unfortunately, it comes pre-formatted in the NTFS format and Lacie nowhere in the manual or on their site explains how to format to FAT32.

I have tried using swissknife, the hp format tool, ms dos, the wd format fat32 tool, all without luck.

NTFS is not compatible with my media player so I don't have any other choice.

Can someone please recommend a way I can format this POS to fat32? Thanks in advance

edit: corrected title lol. Thanks rabbit!

[serathe]

FAT32 is pretty limited in size, so hmm... A 1TB drive and I think the max on FAT32 is 2 to 3 GB... Need to do some partitioning heh

[Gee]

Serathe is correct, except for the size limit. Don't blame Lacie

The restrictions is Microsoft.

You only have a 2 Gig limit in FAT

32 Gig for FAT32

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/l.../cc940351.aspx

[teddyb]

Actually, FAT32 can be up to 2TB (I think I heard even 8TB with a gigantic cluster size). It's really just Windows that won't let you format a drive that big, I don't know what the actual limit is. FAT16 can only go to 2GB, Windows 2000/XP limit you to 32GB during Windows Setup, but will go as high as 137GB post-setup if you use the Disk Management utility.

I'd recommend trying out the GParted LiveCD and create the FAT32 partition with it. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

I also came across this http://www.pendrivelinux.com/large-e...ormat-utility/ which links to a utility for Windows. This came up as the first Google result for "fat32 format"

[fbrm]

what media player do you have there?

I think its better to stick to ntfs once hard drive size gets large.

[nintendo]

Hi yes, I know about fat32 limitations. Usually I can just use hp format tool, dos or some other utility like swiss knife to convert a drive from ntfs to fat32.

Unfortunately for some reason the lacie drive (hitachi inside) doesn't give me an option for fat32 under those programs. I only seem to have an option to format to ntfs or linux ext or something under swissknife.

I am using an oppo which accepts fat32 only. If i had a choice, i would use ntfs.

Thanks teddyb I will give it a shot!

ps. I finally managed to get the hp format tool to work, however it says my drive has 700+ gigs used up which is impossible since i did not copy anything onto it


edit: still does not work

[rabbit]

Paragon Partition Manager. Unlike Symantec Partition Magic, Paragon's can create FAT32 partitions >32GB.

Hopefully, you can still get it for free. See
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=654674


I recommend partitioning it and having one in FAT32 and one in NTFS, just in case.


edit// You may want to try this little freeware tool first (200KB)
http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/

[nintendo]

Paragon Partition Manager. Unlike Symantec Partition Magic, Paragon's can create FAT32 partitions >32GB.

Hopefully, you can still get it for free. See
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=654674


I recommend partitioning it and having one in FAT32 and one in NTFS, just in case.


edit// You may want to try this little freeware tool first (200KB)
http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/

THANKS Rabbit! the paragon app worked and so did the japanese utility! However when I try to see the drive in partition magic it gave me some partition sector error. If I try to correct it it renders the drive unreadable and I have to reformat again. Also when formatting to fat32 with paragon it says the 400+ megs is used and the japanese utlity says that only 200 megs is used up (even though i haven't backed up any files yet). Still I'm glad it was able to format to fat32. I'll post back in a week to update anyone following along if any trouble pops up.

Thanks again Rabbit!!

[Fishcake]

Free software to format FAT32 on a drive larger than 32GB.

http://www.compuapps.com/download/Sw...swissknife.htm

[rabbit]

Dude, the guy already wrote that he tried Swissknife in the first post. LOL.


> However when I try to see the drive in partition magic it gave me some partition sector error.

Sorry, no idea about the flakiness you are experiencing.

BTW, your topic title is wrong. S/B NTFS to FAT32 Help please!!

[mr_raider]

You can't convert NTFS to FAT32 without destroying the data.