USB Drive Partition Size

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sid Elbow
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Sid Elbow

Is there a partition-size limit for USB drives?

I have a USB drive with a 250G HD. I was able to create a single
partition using the whole drive space but could not format it (NTFS).
When I created two, roughly equal, partitions I was able to format both.
 
nesredep said:
I have not tried that as I am a partition Jockey - however I am sure that I
would not format it using USB rather than that I should put it into my computer
and format it there. I use 320GB as USB Drives
Click to expand...

In fact, that's how I had it set up originally ... partitioned/formatted
in a computer then transferred to the USB housing. But I got so many
errors that I decided to repartition/reformat in the USB setup. I wanted
a single partition because this is destined for doing system backups and
a single partition is more convenient.

Windows allowed me to create a single partition and appeared to format
it - it took what I judged to be the a normal amount of time while
displaying the "Formatting" message - afterwards it displayed an error
window stating that it was unable to complete the format.

When I formatted it as two partitions, I could format both OK. However,
I'm left with another peculiarity: even when I turn off the computer and
remove the drive, I'm left with two "ghost" drives (the two USB
partitions) on the next reboot. I'm still investigating but it seems
that something has confused the USB drive with a Netgear SAN (Storage
Area Network) device.

Never had problems with USB drives before ... the only difference in
this case is that the drive/usb-case is a SATA setup whereas I'd only
used IDE before.
 
Is there a partition-size limit for USB drives?

I have a USB drive with a 250G HD. I was able to create a single
partition using the whole drive space but could not format it (NTFS).
When I created two, roughly equal, partitions I was able to format both.
Click to expand...

I have not tried that as I am a partition Jockey - however I am sure that I
would not format it using USB rather than that I should put it into my computer
and format it there. I use 320GB as USB Drives

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia
 
In fact, that's how I had it set up originally ... partitioned/formatted
in a computer then transferred to the USB housing. But I got so many
errors that I decided to repartition/reformat in the USB setup. I wanted
a single partition because this is destined for doing system backups and
a single partition is more convenient.

Windows allowed me to create a single partition and appeared to format
it - it took what I judged to be the a normal amount of time while
displaying the "Formatting" message - afterwards it displayed an error
window stating that it was unable to complete the format.

When I formatted it as two partitions, I could format both OK. However,
I'm left with another peculiarity: even when I turn off the computer and
remove the drive, I'm left with two "ghost" drives (the two USB
partitions) on the next reboot. I'm still investigating but it seems
that something has confused the USB drive with a Netgear SAN (Storage
Area Network) device.

Never had problems with USB drives before ... the only difference in
this case is that the drive/usb-case is a SATA setup whereas I'd only
used IDE before.
Click to expand...
Sorry I have only used PATA drives for USB so I cannot give an opinion on the
SATA. So far I have just used them in the Raid format.

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia
 
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