How do you format in Fat32?

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Buggs

I need to format my externall hard drive in fat32 so my xbox 360 can see it
attached. I'm in Vista. How can I format the drive to Fat32? I know the disk
management won't, but I would guess there's some software that can. I have
no clue though what it would be.
 
If you right click the drive icon and select FORMAT, there is an option
there to format in FAT32..


Buggs said:
I need to format my externall hard drive in fat32 so my xbox 360 can see it
attached. I'm in Vista. How can I format the drive to Fat32? I know the
disk management won't, but I would guess there's some software that can. I
have no clue though what it would be.
Click to expand...

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/
 
Buggs said:
no there isn't.
Click to expand...
Yes there is. Right-click on the drive name. Choose Reformat from the menu
that opens. The second option from the top gives you the option of NTFS, FAT
or FAT 32. There is a variety of Kilobyte Allocation unit sizes. Choose the
right one for your xBox.
 
Charles W Davis said:
Yes there is. Right-click on the drive name. Choose Reformat from the menu
that opens. The second option from the top gives you the option of NTFS,
FAT or FAT 32. There is a variety of Kilobyte Allocation unit sizes.
Choose the right one for your xBox.
Click to expand...


As i said no there is not. The only option in the pull down menu is ntfs.
 
Data point.
My external hard disk is 149 GB, no option to format fat32 is available on
right click/format (NTFS default is only selection). Could it be that you
cannot format a 'large' partion in fat32?
Michael
 
Michael said:
Data point.
My external hard disk is 149 GB, no option to format fat32 is available on
right click/format (NTFS default is only selection). Could it be that you
cannot format a 'large' partion in fat32?
Michael
Click to expand...


Well, i bought a 250gb external that came in fat32 for my cousins wife. it
was 200gb or 250gb. i also read from the vista help that fat32 does 32gb
only partitions. that's weird tho cus the drive i got for kate, cousins
wife, it was 200gb or 250gb all fat32 and they use it on their xbox 360.
 
Buggs said:
I need to format my externall hard drive in fat32 so my xbox 360 can see
it attached. I'm in Vista. How can I format the drive to Fat32? I know
the disk management won't, but I would guess there's some software that
can. I have no clue though what it would be.
Click to expand...

If your external HDD is over 32 gigs in size you'll have to create a
partiton of that size or less in order to format in FAT32.
32 gigs is the size limit for FAT32.
Frank
 
Frank said:
If your external HDD is over 32 gigs in size you'll have to create a
partiton of that size or less in order to format in FAT32.
32 gigs is the size limit for FAT32.
Frank
Click to expand...


then why is my cousins drive connected to their xbox 360 and it's 200gb or
bigger? it has only one partition. xbox 360 don't work with ntfs
 
Buggs said:
then why is my cousins drive connected to their xbox 360 and it's 200gb
or bigger? it has only one partition. xbox 360 don't work with ntfs
Click to expand...

You tell me? Have you actually looked at it on the computer? Does it
have an over-laid BIOS?
Frank
 
Frank said:
You tell me? Have you actually looked at it on the computer? Does it have
an over-laid BIOS?
Frank
Click to expand...


The drive was connected to a pc as fat32 while i transferred a ton of music
to it. gave it to my cousin and they use it on their xbox 360. that's all i
know. it is an external usb 2 drive that i think is 250gb acomdata might be
the brand name.
 
Buggs said:
The drive was connected to a pc as fat32 while i transferred a ton of
music to it. gave it to my cousin and they use it on their xbox 360.
that's all i know. it is an external usb 2 drive that i think is 250gb
acomdata might be the brand name.
Click to expand...

The FAT32 file system supports partition sizes of up to 2 terabytes.
Unfortunately, MS decided back in Windows 2000 that you can't *format* a
partition larger than 32GB as FAT32. Windows can *use* FAT32 drives
larger than 32GB, it just can't format them.

One workaround is to use a Windows ME boot disk (I think a Windows 98 SE
boot disk will work too) and the Windows ME format utility. Be really
careful you format the correct partition if you do this - I'd probably
disconnect any drives other than the one I wanted to format, just to be
sure.

Regards,

Dave
 
Frank said:
If your external HDD is over 32 gigs in size you'll have to create a
partiton of that size or less in order to format in FAT32.
32 gigs is the size limit for FAT32.
Frank
Click to expand...

You Wintard! <snort> FAT32 has no such limitation. Microsoft imposed that
artificial limitation starting with XP. The limitation is with the toy
operating system Microsoft sells, not with the FAT32 file system. Linux has
no problem formatting FAT32 drives larger than 32 gigs. It's sad how
Microsoft interferes with how one chooses to use ones computer.

Love and Kisses,
Doris
 
Frank said:
You tell me? Have you actually looked at it on the computer? Does it
have an over-laid BIOS?
Frank
Click to expand...

And Frank shows he can get dumber by the minute. <snort> Please learn a
little about computers before you spew out this kind of garbage.

Love and Kisses,
Doris
 
Dave R. said:
The FAT32 file system supports partition sizes of up to 2 terabytes.
Unfortunately, MS decided back in Windows 2000 that you can't *format* a
partition larger than 32GB as FAT32. Windows can *use* FAT32 drives
larger than 32GB, it just can't format them.

One workaround is to use a Windows ME boot disk (I think a Windows 98 SE
boot disk will work too) and the Windows ME format utility. Be really
careful you format the correct partition if you do this - I'd probably
disconnect any drives other than the one I wanted to format, just to be
sure.

Regards,

Dave
Click to expand...

Here's a better one that costs nothing. Download GParted-Clonezilla livecd
from here ...

http://gparted.free.fr/GParted-Clonezilla/

Burn the ISO to a CD and then boot your computer with the CD. You can then
format the complete drive as FAT32.

Screenshots here ...

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php

Again, Linux to the rescue. :-)

Love and Kisses,
Doris
 
Doris said:
Frank wrote:




And Frank shows he can get dumber by the minute. <snort> Please learn a
little about computers before you spew out this kind of garbage.

Love and Kisses,
Doris
Click to expand...
Oh Doris, you always had trouble reading those scripts the studio sent you.
Nothing has changed has it? Maybe Rock could translate it for you.
(smirk)
Frank
 
I have an 80GB WD USB connected hard drive all formatted in FAT32 --
but I will have either done it in XP using Partition Magic 8 or it came
that way from the factory.

If you have the INIT13 extension you can format up to 137GB -- I
checked that drive in VISTA and it only allowed Format to NTFS.
 
Frank said:
If your external HDD is over 32 gigs in size you'll have to create a
partiton of that size or less in order to format in FAT32.
32 gigs is the size limit for FAT32.
Frank
Click to expand...

MS restrict FAT32 to 32Gb for XP (and Vista?), while Win98SE will handle
bigger disks quite happily. My solution is to use Ghost under DOS 7 to
restore a FAT32 partition and scale it up to the disk size. Then XP (and
presumably Vista) will handle it quite happily.

Note: I do not have Vista, but just preparing myself for the fateful day
when I get told to "upgrade the systems to Vista" :-(

PeeGee
--
The reply address is a spam trap. All mail is reported as spam.
"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be
able to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)
 
Hi, devmyster.

HOW do you format FAT32 volumes in WinXP? Are you using Disk Management?
Or right-clicking on that volume in My Computer? Or...? How large are the
volumes? (Not the whole HDD, but each partition.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000
 
Hi, devmyster.
hp has a nice little tool that worked well for me.
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197
Click to expand...

Oh, so you were using a utility from a third party, "hp"; I suppose that
means Hewlett Packard?

WinXP still does not include such ability, so far as I know, even in SP3.
Win98 always had the native ability to format partitions as large as about
128 GB as FAT32. Several other operating systems also could do this.

Let's see...I haven't had to refer to the documentation in a couple of
years, and the online references have changed. Ah, yes, here it is:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766145.aspx

A partial quote from that page, but it does not specifically mention WinXP:
"In Windows Vista, you can format a FAT32 volume only up to 32 GB."

If you find a copy of WinXP with the NATIVE ability to format a volume
larger than 32 GB as FAT32, please post back.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000
 
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