CHANGE EXTERNAL HD BACK TO FAT 32

  • Thread starter Thread starter sue Davies
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sue Davies

Hi there
I have an external Iomega hard drive which is in NFTS format but I need to
put it back to Fat32 so as my machine that runs windows 98 can read it. But
I cannot seem to find out how to do it. I cannot do it on 98 machine as it
does not recognise the hd where as it used to when it was fat32.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help

Sue
 
Since reverting back to FAT32 is destructive, you *MUST* back up all data
before changing it back to FAT32.
BY changing the disk back to FAT32, you *WILL* lose *ALL DATA* on the drive.

Make sure you read the two lines above.

Once you have backed up the drive, open Control Panel, and open
Administrative Tools. Open Computer Management. In the left panel, click
on Disk Management. In the window that opens, select the disk you wish to
revert to FAT 32. Highlight the disk, select format, and in the drop down
list for format choices select FAT32. A warning will pop up telling you
that you are about to format the drive and all data on the drive will be
lost. Click on the appropriate choice to continue formatting your drive.

NOTE: This advice is submitted as is and I will assume no liability for any
data you lose should you fail to heed the warnings given by me and by the
Disk Management Console when you change a disk format from NTFS to FAT32.
If you proceed with these instructions without backing up our data, it is
not my fault. In addition, any programs that you have installed on that
driver will have to be reinstalled.

Bobby
 
sue Davies said:
Hi there
I have an external Iomega hard drive which is in NFTS format but I need to
put it back to Fat32 so as my machine that runs windows 98 can read it.
But I cannot seem to find out how to do it. I cannot do it on 98 machine
as it does not recognise the hd where as it used to when it was fat32.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help

Sue
Click to expand...
If you use Partition magic you can convert from NTFS back to Fat 32 without
losing any data. Although it is wise when making any such changes to backup
as a precaution.

Richard.
 
If this is just a storage device you could simply copy the files on it to a
safe location then repartition and reformat the drive. That can be done from
an XP system.
1) Copy files off the drive
2) right click My Computer and select "Manage" to open the Computer
Management Console
3) in the left pane select "Disk Management"
4) in the right pane right click the drive and select "Delete Partition"
then recreate a FAT32 partition and format it

Caution - if you have stored files on the Iomega that are over 4 GB you
won't be able to store them on the drive once it is formatted as FAT32
 
Hi Harry
Have done as you said but when I delete partition then try to recreate I
only get the choice of NTFS not FAT32

Sue
 
Sue, If the drive is over 137GB, then you need to partition it into smaller
partition. FAT32 has many limitations on it...including the size of the
drive or partition it resides on. If you try to format a large disk as a
single partition, your choice will only be NTFS (as you have discovered).

Bobby
 
In
sue Davies said:
Hi Harry
Have done as you said but when I delete partition then try to
recreate I only get the choice of NTFS not FAT32
Click to expand...


You didn't quote anything, so I'm not sure what this is about,
but if you're trying to create a FAT32 partition larger than
32GB, Windows XP won't let you. You can create one externally
(for example with a Windows 98 boot diskette) and XP will happily
use it, but XP won't create one.
 
If she's using 98 then boot from a 98 boot disk, find the drive in the list
then select delete non dos partition and reformat
 
Ken Blake said:
In


You didn't quote anything, so I'm not sure what this is about,
but if you're trying to create a FAT32 partition larger than
32GB, Windows XP won't let you. You can create one externally
(for example with a Windows 98 boot diskette) and XP will happily
use it, but XP won't create one.
Click to expand...
 
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