How do you format in Fat32?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Buggs
  • Start date Start date
Hi, devmyster.


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
Click to expand...

By an odd coincidence, I was having the same problem today, and was going
to search for a solution after finishing with the news.

I, for one, am more than happy to use the third-party utility that
devmyster pointed out.
 
R. C. White said:
Hi, devmyster.


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
Click to expand...

MS has recently released a replacement for FAT32 that allows
XP to format partitions larger than 32GB. It's called exFAT, and
is fully compatible with FAT32. ExFAT partitions can be read by
all Windows from Win 95 to Win 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704/
 
Ian D said:
MS has recently released a replacement for FAT32 that allows
XP to format partitions larger than 32GB. It's called exFAT, and
is fully compatible with FAT32. ExFAT partitions can be read by
all Windows from Win 95 to Win 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704/
Click to expand...

According to the article, only Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows CE
can read exFAT, and XP only can if you install the driver they just
released. I also don't see where the article says it is fully
compatible with FAT32. Can you provide additional sources for these two
assertions?

--
Zaphod

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's something
big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the
universe gets that.
 
Hi, Ian.

Thanks for that link! I've seen references to exFAT, but I didn't know
that it has been released - or what it was. A part of that KB955704 article
says, "...Microsoft released the exFAT file system driver for Windows XP on
January 27, 2009."

I haven't run WinXP since late in the Vista beta (Fall 2006) and the exFAT
KB says it applies only to WinXP SP2 and SP3, so I don't think I'll be
needing the exFAT driver, but I'm glad to know about it.

Do you suppose this is what the OP meant by "hp has a nice little tool"?

Hmm... Now I'm wondering if Vista and Win7 also have exFAT. Something else
still ahead of me as I keep climbing the learning curve. ;^}

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
 
Zaphod Beeblebrox said:
According to the article, only Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows CE
can read exFAT, and XP only can if you install the driver they just
released. I also don't see where the article says it is fully compatible
with FAT32. Can you provide additional sources for these two assertions?

--
Zaphod

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's something
big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the
universe gets that.
Click to expand...

I'm beginning to wonder about that myself. This info was in the
message/article that originally led me to the exFAT download. I
downloaded the XP exFAT on Jan 28, the after it was released,
and I can't remember the original source.
 
Ian D said:
I'm beginning to wonder about that myself. This info was in the
message/article that originally led me to the exFAT download. I
downloaded the XP exFAT on Jan 28, the after it was released,
and I can't remember the original source.
Click to expand...


Vista SP1 has exFAT as a formatting option.

--
Live strong and have a nice day, - "Nil carborundum illegitimi"!
Mac H E L P the planet - Don't I D L E ! ! !
Over 1600 Links at Http://MacArthur.Funknstyle.Com
Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur-ii/
 
R. C. White said:
Hi, Ian.

Thanks for that link! I've seen references to exFAT, but I didn't know
that it has been released - or what it was. A part of that KB955704
article says, "...Microsoft released the exFAT file system driver for
Windows XP on January 27, 2009."

I haven't run WinXP since late in the Vista beta (Fall 2006) and the exFAT
KB says it applies only to WinXP SP2 and SP3, so I don't think I'll be
needing the exFAT driver, but I'm glad to know about it.

Do you suppose this is what the OP meant by "hp has a nice little tool"?

Hmm... Now I'm wondering if Vista and Win7 also have exFAT. Something
else still ahead of me as I keep climbing the learning curve. ;^}

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
Click to expand...

Vista SP1 has exFAT, but it's only available for formatting external
drives. I tried an internal HD, and Vista only allowed NTFS formatting.
When I tried a 120GB USB HD both NTFS and exFAT were available.
The lack of internal exFAT drive formatting could be because Vista
will only run on NTFS. I don't know if XP can format internal drives
with exFAT.

Back when I was doing a dual boot with Win98SE and XP Pro, I used
FAT32 for both OS's, and used Win98SE for formatting partitions
greater than 32GB. I used the WinMe fdisk, in Win98, to create large
partitions. It's strange that Win98SE can format FAT32 partitions
larger than 32GB, and XP can't.

ExFAT is also supposed to be available in Win 7. Ignore the part
about FAT32, and Win9x compatibility with exFAT. That was due
to some misinformation I got back in January.
 
Hi, Ian.

After further review... <g>

If you have access to MSDN, you might want to read this article, dated
8/28/08:
Extended FAT File System
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa914353.aspx

"The exFAT file system not only handles large files, such as those used for
media storage, it enables seamless interoperability between desktop PCs and
devices such as portable media devices so that files can easily be copied
between desktop and device."

It also "Handles more than 1000 files in a single directory" and "Removes
the previous file size limit of 4 GB." I didn't need any of these features
and I don't have a PDA or other "portable media device", unless you count my
USB flash drives or SD camera cards, none of them anywhere near 32 GB. So I
wasn't motivated to follow up on any references to exFAT. Even now,
although I do find it interesting, I don't need exFAT and probably won't
investigate it further until I do.

A search for "exfat vista" turns up lots of hits in both Live Search and
Google.

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
 
By an odd coincidence, I was having the same problem today, and was going
to search for a solution after finishing with the news.

I, for one, am more than happy to use the third-party utility that
devmyster pointed out.
Click to expand...

And I did use it successfully. Thanks, devmyster.
 
On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:26:38 -0500, Ian D wrote:

MS has recently released a replacement for FAT32 that allows
XP to format partitions larger than 32GB. It's called exFAT, and
is fully compatible with FAT32. ExFAT partitions can be read by
all Windows from Win 95 to Win 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704/
Click to expand...

One of my concerns would be whether there are drivers (preferably read
*and* write) available for Macintosh/iPod etc. Although even if there
aren't today, there probably *will* be, if exFAT ever becomes popular :-)

My comments elsewhere in this thread about HP's "nice little tool" related
to a problem I had with an old iPod, now solved by that tool (since I don't
have Win 98Se or Win ME available any more); this is why I wondered about
iPod compatilbilty.

I noticed your (and others') correction to your compatibility remark above
- thanks for that info.
 
snowenvy said:
formatting in vista to fat32.....

here is a way it can work
First of all, you have to activate your SUPER ADMINISTRATOR!!!

open your cmd prompt and type in: Net user administrator /active:yes

-note, you have to open your cmd prompt by finding it in your start
menu, right clicking and select run as administrator. or if you didnt
find it, look through your file explorer by searching for accessories
(folder)

anyway, once you have done that, you need to select a password, and
then you can log out of your account, log into the administrator account
and open the command prompt again.



get your drive letter, mine was h:

you have to know the volume name of your drive as it does ask you, and
to find that out type volume at the command prompt and then select 'n'
to NOT change it.

and you type this at the prompt: format h: /FS:FAT32
enter your volume name and it should work great.. I don't know if it
would work on the 360, but I should try it..


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View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/729748.htm

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Click to expand...


Hey hey--

Why would someone want to do this?

CH
 
snowenvy said:
formatting in vista to fat32.....

here is a way it can work
First of all, you have to activate your SUPER ADMINISTRATOR!!!

open your cmd prompt and type in: Net user administrator /active:yes

-note, you have to open your cmd prompt by finding it in your start
menu, right clicking and select run as administrator. or if you didnt
find it, look through your file explorer by searching for accessories
(folder)

anyway, once you have done that, you need to select a password, and
then you can log out of your account, log into the administrator account
and open the command prompt again.



get your drive letter, mine was h:

you have to know the volume name of your drive as it does ask you, and
to find that out type volume at the command prompt and then select 'n'
to NOT change it.

and you type this at the prompt: format h: /FS:FAT32
enter your volume name and it should work great.. I don't know if it
would work on the 360, but I should try it..
Click to expand...


What a COMPLETE load of COBBLERS.
 
Chad Harris said:
Hey hey--

Why would someone want to do this?

CH
Click to expand...

Perhaps they are tying to format an external drive so that they can also use it with Windows 98 computers.
 
Hi, Rick.

Check out my earlier posts (2/25 and 2/26) in this thread. And Ian D's
posts, especially the first one on 2/25. Apparently FAT32 is not quite dead
yet.

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
 
Perhaps they are dual-booting with a Win9x system? Can't think of many other
reasons to. Plus, they'd be limited to a 32GB or less volume as Vista cannot
format in FAT32 anything larger.
Click to expand...

Also for compatibility with Macintosh. OS X can natively read & write
FAT32, but not write to NTFS. Maybe it can't read NTFS either, I forget.
 
ianbong said:
Hi, I have a major problem here.. My pendrive is accidentally formatted
to FAT. Initially it has 4GB but now it displays that it has only 2MB!
Its really frustrating for me because I've tried everything that's said
here including cmd and countless other softwares but the same message
pops up: everytime I try to format it, it says "the volume is too small
for fat32". But my pendrive has 4GB, and suddenly it now becomes 2MB
only! How do I get back my original memory space?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how a drive can accidentally become formatted, but you can
format it from third-party software like Acronis Disk Director or boot with
a Linux Live CD like Knoppix and use gparted to format it to FAT32.

Malke
 
ianbong said:
Hi, I have a major problem here.. My pendrive is accidentally
formatted
to FAT. Initially it has 4GB but now it displays that it has only
2MB!
Its really frustrating for me because I've tried everything that's
said
here including cmd and countless other softwares but the same
message
pops up: everytime I try to format it, it says "the volume is too
small
for fat32". But my pendrive has 4GB, and suddenly it now becomes 2MB
only! How do I get back my original memory space?

Please help.. I'm out of ideas.
Click to expand...
I've had good luck with the HP USB Disk Storage Format Utility
(version 2.18 is available at
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,64963-order,4-c,peripherals/description.html)
 
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