XP: Fmt FAT32 on 2nd drive

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Guest

fdisk sees 80GB 2nd hard drive only as 10 GB. I want to format it as FAT32
so I can put GHOST image on it and accesss it in emergency by booting on
floppy. 1st drive is NTFS & only allows NTFS when I use Disk Manager to
create partition on 2nd drive.
 
FrogOnLine said:
fdisk sees 80GB 2nd hard drive only as 10 GB. I want to format it as FAT32
so I can put GHOST image on it and accesss it in emergency by booting on
floppy. 1st drive is NTFS & only allows NTFS when I use Disk Manager to
create partition on 2nd drive.
Click to expand...

Windows XP will not create or format FAT32 partitions larger than 32
gb.

It will, however, use larger FAT32 partitions provided they are
created and formatted by some other means.

Use a Windows 98 or Windows Me startup boot disk (or download an image
to create one from www.bootdisk.com). Boot your computer with that
and use FDISK and FORMAT to prepare your 80 gb drive for use.

When you reboot into Windows XP you should see the full 80 gb disk
available for use.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Ron Martell said:
Windows XP will not create or format FAT32 partitions larger than 32
gb.

It will, however, use larger FAT32 partitions provided they are
created and formatted by some other means.

Use a Windows 98 or Windows Me startup boot disk (or download an image
to create one from www.bootdisk.com). Boot your computer with that
and use FDISK and FORMAT to prepare your 80 gb drive for use.

When you reboot into Windows XP you should see the full 80 gb disk
available for use.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply Ron. However, I did boot from a Win98 floppy (as I've
done in past) but fdisk showed only one partition at 10GB. As a 2nd drv in
XP it saw it as 80GB. I even booted with it as the only drive. Before I
deleted the partitions, it was a functioning Western Digital Caviar 80GB IDE
from same computer. The computer is a Dell Dimension 1.8GHz -not that old.
So I should be able to see the entire hard drive in fdisk, right? And I
should be able to make one or more partitions up to about 80GB shouldn't I?
I'm beginning to question my memory.
I bought a new identical WD 80GB and prepared and loaded it from XP CD and
it works fine.
 
Yes, Win95 and Win98 FDisk gets this bug over 50G or so (40G OK, 60G
not OK). There was a fixed FDisk available from MS, and WinME's FDisk
is OK, but even these fail to accept or properly display capacities
over 99G properly (value text length error). FDisk fails > 137 G too.
Windows XP will not create or format FAT32 partitions larger than 32G
Click to expand...

Yup. Uselesser and uselesser.
It will, however, use larger FAT32 partitions provided they are
created and formatted by some other means.
Click to expand...

www.bootitng.com - don't install to HD as boot manager, just use it as
the compitent partitioner and formatter MS should have provided.
Use a Windows 98 or Windows Me startup boot disk (or download an image
to create one from www.bootdisk.com). Boot your computer with that
and use FDISK and FORMAT to prepare your 80 gb drive for use.
Click to expand...

Unless it's the "fixed" Win98 FDisk, it won't be OK for 80G.


---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
On the 'net, *everyone* can hear you scream
 
FrogOnLine said:
Thanks for your reply Ron. However, I did boot from a Win98 floppy (as I've
done in past) but fdisk showed only one partition at 10GB. As a 2nd drv in
XP it saw it as 80GB. I even booted with it as the only drive. Before I
deleted the partitions, it was a functioning Western Digital Caviar 80GB IDE
from same computer. The computer is a Dell Dimension 1.8GHz -not that old.
So I should be able to see the entire hard drive in fdisk, right? And I
should be able to make one or more partitions up to about 80GB shouldn't I?
I'm beginning to question my memory.
I bought a new identical WD 80GB and prepared and loaded it from XP CD and
it works fine.
Click to expand...

Your Win98 boot disk has the "old" version of FDISK which cannot
handle the larger new drives. You need to get the updated FDISK from
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=263044 or use a WindowsMe Startup
Disk (which has the updated version).

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
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