Converting or formatting NTFS to FAT32

  • Thread starter Thread starter hyperfee
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H

hyperfee

I have a 750GB Iomega Minimax drive and have formatted it to NTFS. I have
then partitioned it into 128GB partitions (for use on a Mac) but want to
convert or reformat it to FAT32 so I can read and write on both the Windows
Vista PC and the Mac. When I go into Computer Management and then Disk
Management and try to format the drive to FAT32 it only gives the option of
NTFS. A CDROM came with the drive with FAT32 converter on but it doesn't load
any of the drives when I load the program up.
 
Once you convert a drive or partition to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it
back to FAT or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or partition which
will erase all data, including programs and personal files, on the
partition.
 
There are multiple programs, such as Partition Magic (and possibly GParted)
that allow you to convert from NTFS to FAT32 (back and forth as much as you
want) without any loss of data or without requiring a format.

It is misleading to tell someone you can't do this simply because Microsoft
does not include the tool.

Converting from NTFS to FAT32 would require that no files are compressed or
encrypted on the NTFS partition, and a cluster size re-adjustment may be
needed after conversion.
It is something I have personally done before without data loss.
 
hyperfee said:
I have a 750GB Iomega Minimax drive and have formatted it to NTFS. I have
then partitioned it into 128GB partitions (for use on a Mac) but want to
convert or reformat it to FAT32 so I can read and write on both the
Windows Vista PC and the Mac. When I go into Computer Management and then
Disk Management and try to format the drive to FAT32 it only gives the
option of NTFS. A CDROM came with the drive with FAT32 converter on but it
doesn't load any of the drives when I load the program up.
Click to expand...

Since people cannot offer you a Windows solution to accomplish what you want
to do, let me suggest an alternative. The Vista Fanboys will attack me for
mentioning it, but here goes anyways, because it is an easy solution.

You can use a Linux liveCD to accomplish what you want to do. Both are
freely available for download. It'll require you to download an ISO file
and then using something like Nero, burn that image to a CD-R. You'd then
boot your computer from the CD you've created and from there you can deal
with reformatting those partitions to FAT32. Of course, you'll lose any
data in those partitions you reformat.

1) Download the Ubuntu liveCD for 32bit 86 systems. Burn the CD, boot the
computer from the CD (a BIOS setting may be required to make your CD/DVD
drive your first bootable device). You'll be running Ubuntu on your
computer but it'll be running in RAM from the liveCD. On the panel bar on
the top of the screen you'll see System. Click that and then
Administration --> Partition Editor. If you have the external USB2 hard
drive hooked up to your box, you'll be able to find it and deal with
reformatting partitions to FAT32.

This option will give you a full Linux Ubuntu that you can then install on
your hard drive permanently if you want to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu.
It'll be a fairly large ISO, occupying a whole CD.

http://www.ubuntu.com

2) Download the SystemRescueCd. This is a really stripped down Linux distro
that only includes basic tools for dealing with problems you may be
experiencing. It also includes the GParted program that comes with the
Ubuntu liveCD but you're talking about an ISO file of 163MB in size. You'd
burn it just like the other ISO to a CD-R and then boot your computer with
it. This CD will also include other utilities like:

ntpass - to edit Windows login passwords
gparted - for dealing with hd partitions
firefox - web browser
Partition Image - for backing up hd partitions to image files, like Acronis
True Image (commercial product)
Midnight Commander - a file browser that will let you get access to files on
your system should the o/s you're using not boot.

and other utilities and apps. You can look at the screenshots on the link
below to see what gparted looks like.

http://www.sysresccd.org

In either case, be careful that you're working with the correct hard drive
and not your internal NTFS hard drive that contains Vista!

HTH

Cheers.


--
Frank's Brain Activity Plotted (watch the red line):
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Astronomy2/PreformanceMonitor.jpg

AlexB: "If it is Business or Ultimate open Command Prompt as administrator
and type lusrmgr.msc."
^^^^^
I must say the developers at Microsoft do have a sense of humour.
 
,;
,;Correct Fat 32 will only recognise 32gb size.
,;
,;Reduce 128gb to 32gb and try that.
Click to expand...

All of you are confusing what can be formatted and what can be read.

Yes there is a 32GB limit to format the drive as Fat32 with MS
operating systems. If one uses a third party program then the 32GB
limit no longer applies and in fact larger partitions can be read by
MS operating systems.

The FAT32 file system is not limited to 32GB.

The OP wants to convert NTFS to FAT32. The MS operating systems will
not do this without losing the data. Third party programs will make
that conversion without losing data. Partition Magic is one for
example. It is wise to back up the data first anytime you are doing
these conversions.
 
NoStop said:
Since people cannot offer you a Windows solution to accomplish what you
want
to do, let me suggest an alternative. The Vista Fanboys will attack me for
mentioning it, but here goes anyways, because it is an easy solution.

You can use a Linux liveCD to accomplish what you want to do. Both are
freely available for download. It'll require you to download an ISO file
and then using something like Nero, burn that image to a CD-R. You'd then
boot your computer from the CD you've created and from there you can deal
with reformatting those partitions to FAT32. Of course, you'll lose any
data in those partitions you reformat.

1) Download the Ubuntu liveCD for 32bit 86 systems. Burn the CD, boot the
computer from the CD (a BIOS setting may be required to make your CD/DVD
drive your first bootable device). You'll be running Ubuntu on your
computer but it'll be running in RAM from the liveCD. On the panel bar on
the top of the screen you'll see System. Click that and then
Administration --> Partition Editor. If you have the external USB2 hard
drive hooked up to your box, you'll be able to find it and deal with
reformatting partitions to FAT32.

This option will give you a full Linux Ubuntu that you can then install on
your hard drive permanently if you want to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu.
It'll be a fairly large ISO, occupying a whole CD.

http://www.ubuntu.com

2) Download the SystemRescueCd. This is a really stripped down Linux
distro
that only includes basic tools for dealing with problems you may be
experiencing. It also includes the GParted program that comes with the
Ubuntu liveCD but you're talking about an ISO file of 163MB in size. You'd
burn it just like the other ISO to a CD-R and then boot your computer with
it. This CD will also include other utilities like:

ntpass - to edit Windows login passwords
gparted - for dealing with hd partitions
firefox - web browser
Partition Image - for backing up hd partitions to image files, like
Acronis
True Image (commercial product)
Midnight Commander - a file browser that will let you get access to files
on
your system should the o/s you're using not boot.

and other utilities and apps. You can look at the screenshots on the link
below to see what gparted looks like.

http://www.sysresccd.org

In either case, be careful that you're working with the correct hard drive
and not your internal NTFS hard drive that contains Vista!

HTH

Cheers.


--
Frank's Brain Activity Plotted (watch the red line):
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Astronomy2/PreformanceMonitor.jpg

AlexB: "If it is Business or Ultimate open Command Prompt as administrator
and type lusrmgr.msc."
^^^^^
I must say the developers at Microsoft do have a sense of humour.
Click to expand...

I used VCOM System Commander 9.04 to partition my 320GB HD (orig. all NTFS)
with a FAT32 partition so that I could install Windows 98 SE to play my
games that would not work in Vista.
 
why said:
So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!
Click to expand...

Not true. Windows XP and Vista will not create a FAT32 partition
larger than 32GB (since NTFS is available and is a MUCH better choice
for such large partitions), but other disk utilities, including the
Win98 version of FDISK, will create much larger FAT32 partitions, and
the later versions of Windows will use those with no problems.

AFAIK, you'll need a third-party tool to convert a partition from NTFS
to FAT32. When you do that, you'll lose some file meta-data that you
see on an NTFS system when you right-click, and choose "Properties".
Some of that data is stored in NTFS named streams (see
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/Streams.html). Since streams don't
exist in FAT32, that data would disappear.
 
cheen said:
http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

this is a specializes live cd for the task! and does much more
Click to expand...
And does "much more" than what? Certainly not more than the 2 suggestions I
made below. (BTW, why do you always top post?) Of course, your suggestion
certainly is another option to accomplish just what the OP needs to
accomplish today. My suggestions can come in far more useful for more
things should he not be able to boot into his o/s or is interested in
trying out a liveCD Linux operating system.

Cheers.

--
Frank's Brain Activity Plotted (watch the red line):
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Astronomy2/PreformanceMonitor.jpg

AlexB: "If it is Business or Ultimate open Command Prompt as administrator
and type lusrmgr.msc."
^^^^^
I must say the developers at Microsoft do have a sense of humour.
 
So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!
Click to expand...


Sorry, that is not correct.

Windows XP and Vista will not *create* a FAT32 partition larger than
32GB, but it will happily use one if created externally.
 
Tim said:
Not true. Windows XP and Vista will not create a FAT32 partition
larger than 32GB (since NTFS is available and is a MUCH better choice
for such large partitions), but other disk utilities, including the
Win98 version of FDISK, will create much larger FAT32 partitions, and
the later versions of Windows will use those with no problems.
Click to expand...
Since I'm suspecting that the drive the OP is using is an external drive,
probably USB2, will Win98 be able to deal with it?

Cheers.

--
Frank's Brain Activity Plotted (watch the red line):
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Astronomy2/PreformanceMonitor.jpg

AlexB: "If it is Business or Ultimate open Command Prompt as administrator
and type lusrmgr.msc."
^^^^^
I must say the developers at Microsoft do have a sense of humour.
 
NoStop said:
Since I'm suspecting that the drive the OP is using is an external drive,
probably USB2, will Win98 be able to deal with it?
Click to expand...

Currently his drive is using NTFS, so Win98 can't deal with it at all.
When and if he switches to FAT32, Win98 will be able to see it. There
may be a problem if the partition is larger than 137GB, I'm not sure
about that.
 
Tim said:
Currently his drive is using NTFS, so Win98 can't deal with it at all.
When and if he switches to FAT32, Win98 will be able to see it. There
may be a problem if the partition is larger than 137GB, I'm not sure
about that.
Click to expand...
Thanks for not answering my question, nor clarifying anything. :-) I thought
you suggested that Win98 can be used to format that drive to FAT32. Hence
my question.

Cheers.

--
Frank's Brain Activity Plotted (watch the red line):
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Astronomy2/PreformanceMonitor.jpg

AlexB: "If it is Business or Ultimate open Command Prompt as administrator
and type lusrmgr.msc."
^^^^^
I must say the developers at Microsoft do have a sense of humour.
 
NoStop said:
Thanks for not answering my question, nor clarifying anything. :-) I thought
you suggested that Win98 can be used to format that drive to FAT32. Hence
my question.
Click to expand...

OK, I didn't understand that. I said that the FDISK utility that came
with Win98 can make FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB. You're right
that a Win98 system wouldn't even see the NTFS partition. But if you
booted from a WIN98 startup disk and ran FDISK, I think it would be
visible. You could then delete the NTFS partition and create a FAT32
one.
 
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