Converting or formatting NTFS to FAT32

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.

So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!


"hyperfee" <hyperfee@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:466E1169-8E83-44B3-AA6D-EFCBD4B8FC10@microsoft.com...
>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.

why wrote:
> So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!

Also FAT32 is more vulnerable to disk crashes.

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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.

"hyperfee" <hyperfee@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:466E1169-8E83-44B3-AA6D-EFCBD4B8FC10@microsoft.com...
>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.

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:25:10 +0800, "why" <why198546@gmail.com> wrote:

>,;So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!

This is not true.
>,;
>,;
>,;"hyperfee" <hyperfee@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>,;news:466E1169-8E83-44B3-AA6D-EFCBD4B8FC10@microsoft.com...
>,;>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.

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:30:28 +0800, Man-wai Chang ToDie
<toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

>,;why wrote:
>,;> So far as i know,Fat32 support upto only 32GB!
>,;
>,;Also FAT32 is more vulnerable to disk crashes.

Reference please???

FAT32 is limited to 127 Gigabytes under Windows 9x.

Outside of Win9x, FAT32 partitions can be at least 2 Terabytes.

There is no "32gb" limitation with FAT32.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat32


"silver" <silver.34m491@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:silver.34m491@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> Correct Fat 32 will only recognise 32gb size.
>
> Reduce 128gb to 32gb and try that.
>
>
> --
> silver

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.



"Bob" <nowhere@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:zbudnbo_z_Yhpi3anZ2dnUVZ_hGdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> 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.
>
> "hyperfee" <hyperfee@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:466E1169-8E83-44B3-AA6D-EFCBD4B8FC10@microsoft.com...
>>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.
>

hyperfee wrote:

> 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.

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.


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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.

my god all the stupid responses in here!

Download Gparted and burn it to a disk

boot from that and do anything you can imagine

for free!

http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

this will have no limits on the fat formating...






"hyperfee" <hyperfee@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:466E1169-8E83-44B3-AA6D-EFCBD4B8FC10@microsoft.com...
>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.