format usb drive to fat 32

[labatyd]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to format NTFS
by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It had been formatted to
NTFS previously.

Thanks

 

[Shenan Stanley]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to
format NTFS by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It
had been formatted to NTFS previously.

If you plan on having LARGE files - you'll want it NTFS.
Also if you want any security.

If you have to do FAT32 - Windows XP is not going to do it natively over
32GB anyway.

Format larger than 32GB FAT32 within Windows XP with this utility:
http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/

Know that you will be stuck with FAT32 limitations.
With different OSes being able to read and even write to NTFS - FAT32 has
lost its sheen for me and I highly recommend using NTFS.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to format NTFS
by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It had been formatted
to NTFS previously.

Open a Cmd prompt and type
format /?
And it will tell you.

 

[labatyd]

Forgot to mention that I need it in FAT 32 because it will be attached to my
laptop which is running Win98.

It was my understanding that it wasn't possible for Win 98 to read NTFS
files.

 

[Tim Slattery]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to format NTFS
by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It had been formatted to
NTFS previously.

Open a command window and type:

format /?

That will get you all the options for the "format" command. One of
those is the /FS: switch, which tells it which file system to use.
Options include FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.

 

[Jonny]

Win98/98SE can't properly handle anything over 128 GB in partition size for
operation sake. If you mean a thumb or flash drive, this is not problem.
USB connected hard drive can be.

Believe Sheenan meant lots of small files, large files are no problem up to
2-4 GB in 98/98SE in FAT32.

There is an application that allow 98/98SE to read NTFS on free basis. The
write capability costs money.
--
Jonny

Forgot to mention that I need it in FAT 32 because it will be attached to
my laptop which is running Win98.

It was my understanding that it wasn't possible for Win 98 to read NTFS
files.

 

[labatyd]

Win98/98SE can't properly handle anything over 128 GB in partition size
for operation sake. If you mean a thumb or flash drive, this is not
problem. USB connected hard drive can be.

Believe Sheenan meant lots of small files, large files are no problem up
to 2-4 GB in 98/98SE in FAT32.

There is an application that allow 98/98SE to read NTFS on free basis.
The write capability costs money.

That would be all that is needed. I don't need to write to disc. The drive
is 160G but wouldn't need the full capacity.

<snip>

 

[Bruce Chambers]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to format NTFS
by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It had been formatted to
NTFS previously.

Thanks

How large is the hard drive/partition in question? By design,
WinXP cannot create and format a new partition greater than 32 Gb. This
is because NTFS is the superior file system, and not nearly as wasteful
of drive space. (If you make a FAT32 partition larger than 8 Gb, you're
"throwing away" significant amounts of storage capacity. However, the
OS has no problems being installed upon or otherwise using FAT32 a
partition larger than 32 GB, as long as that partition has been
created/formatted by another OS, such as Win98.

If you're choosing FAT32 because the drive will be sometimes connected
to a Win98 machine, why not simply use that Win98 computer to format the
drive?


--

Bruce Chambers

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Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Shenan Stanley]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to
format NTFS by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It
had been formatted to NTFS previously.

If you plan on having LARGE files - you'll want it NTFS.
Also if you want any security.

If you have to do FAT32 - Windows XP is not going to do it
natively over 32GB anyway.

Format larger than 32GB FAT32 within Windows XP with this utility:
http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/

Know that you will be stuck with FAT32 limitations.
With different OSes being able to read and even write to NTFS -
FAT32 has lost its sheen for me and I highly recommend using NTFS.

Forgot to mention that I need it in FAT 32 because it will be
attached to my laptop which is running Win98.

It was my understanding that it wasn't possible for Win 98 to read
NTFS files.

You are correct and the utility (web page) I pointed you to will get the job
done nicely...

 

[Shenan Stanley]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to
format NTFS by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It
had been formatted to NTFS previously.

If you plan on having LARGE files - you'll want it NTFS.
Also if you want any security.

If you have to do FAT32 - Windows XP is not going to do it
natively over 32GB anyway.

Format larger than 32GB FAT32 within Windows XP with this utility:
http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/

Know that you will be stuck with FAT32 limitations.
With different OSes being able to read and even write to NTFS -
FAT32 has lost its sheen for me and I highly recommend using NTFS.

Forgot to mention that I need it in FAT 32 because it will be
attached to my laptop which is running Win98.

It was my understanding that it wasn't possible for Win 98 to read
NTFS files.

Win98/98SE can't properly handle anything over 128 GB in partition
size for operation sake. If you mean a thumb or flash drive, this
is not problem. USB connected hard drive can be.

Believe Shenan meant lots of small files, large files are no
problem up to 2-4 GB in 98/98SE in FAT32.

There is an application that allow 98/98SE to read NTFS on free
basis. The write capability costs money.

FAT32 handles just about any size just fine.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463/

"The maximum disk size is approximately 8 terabytes when you take into
account the following variables: The maximum possible number of clusters on
a FAT32 volume is 268,435,445, and there is a maximum of 32 KB per cluster,
along with the space required for the file allocation table (FAT)."

Which is strangely contradicted in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/

"FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size."

The problem is that you lose a lot of the robustness of a File System
designed to handle the larger file system efficiently.

Learn more here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/tips/techrep/filesyst.mspx?mfr=true

In the OPs case - they should go with FAT32 so they can access the external
drive on their Windows 98 machine - but know that they will not be able to
put a file on it larger than 4GB.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to
format NTFS by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It
had been formatted to NTFS previously.

If you plan on having LARGE files - you'll want it NTFS.
Also if you want any security.

If you have to do FAT32 - Windows XP is not going to do it
natively over 32GB anyway.

Format larger than 32GB FAT32 within Windows XP with this utility:
http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/

Know that you will be stuck with FAT32 limitations.
With different OSes being able to read and even write to NTFS -
FAT32 has lost its sheen for me and I highly recommend using NTFS.

Forgot to mention that I need it in FAT 32 because it will be
attached to my laptop which is running Win98.

It was my understanding that it wasn't possible for Win 98 to read
NTFS files.

Win98/98SE can't properly handle anything over 128 GB in partition
size for operation sake. If you mean a thumb or flash drive, this
is not problem. USB connected hard drive can be.

Believe Shenan meant lots of small files, large files are no
problem up to 2-4 GB in 98/98SE in FAT32.

There is an application that allow 98/98SE to read NTFS on free
basis. The write capability costs money.

That would be all that is needed. I don't need to write to disc.
The drive is 160G but wouldn't need the full capacity.

If you do not need to be able to write to the disk using Windows 98 - only
ever READ from it - you might be able to use:
http://www.diskinternals.com/products/ntfs-reader/

Not sure how well this will work on an external (USB connected) drive..
But you are welcome to try it!
Let us know how it works out/what you end up doing!

 

[labatyd]

FAT32 handles just about any size just fine.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463/

"The maximum disk size is approximately 8 terabytes when you take into
account the following variables: The maximum possible number of clusters
on a FAT32 volume is 268,435,445, and there is a maximum of 32 KB per
cluster, along with the space required for the file allocation table
(FAT)."

Which is strangely contradicted in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/

"FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size."

The problem is that you lose a lot of the robustness of a File System
designed to handle the larger file system efficiently.

Learn more here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/tips/techrep/filesyst.mspx?mfr=true

In the OPs case - they should go with FAT32 so they can access the
external drive on their Windows 98 machine - but know that they will not
be able to put a file on it larger than 4GB.

The http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/ utility works great. Formatted to full
size in no time at all.

Also looking at the NTFS readers now. I have one reader installed
(NtfsWindows98.exe) and it works. I did have one lockup just after
installation but now seems fine. With a 200 G USB drive on that machine
(Compaq 366) it does take time.

I intend to check out the http://www.diskinternals.com/products/ntfs-reader/
next.

Lots of great help from this thread.

Many thanks to everyone.

 

[Jonny]

The http://www1.mager.org/mkdosfs/ utility works great. Formatted to full
size in no time at all.

Also looking at the NTFS readers now. I have one reader installed
(NtfsWindows98.exe) and it works. I did have one lockup just after
installation but now seems fine. With a 200 G USB drive on that machine
(Compaq 366) it does take time.

I intend to check out the
http://www.diskinternals.com/products/ntfs-reader/ next.

Lots of great help from this thread.

Many thanks to everyone.

Uh-oh. The 128 GB problem is in reference to how 98/98SE handles things up
to that point. After that, there's an overflow problem. The filenames and
contents become garbled, and unusable. Also, its not the size of the
partition that's actually causing the problem. Its the overall formatted
combined size of all partitions on one physical hard drive AND the total
file data written. If the total combined file data exceeds 128GB of one,
some, or all partitions, the problem will occur. Also occurs in Windows ME.
Not a problem in XP.

Has been a discussion item in 98 group for a long time running.
48bitlba.com was first to provide insight. And observed it firsthand on a
200GB HD.

Haven't figured out why. In some cases 98SE will only allow 2GB max sized
files, in other installations, 4GB. ME seems to do 4GB max always.

 

[Frank]

How do I force XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32. It wants to format
NTFS by default. There doesn't appear to be any option. It had been
formatted to NTFS previously.

Thanks

Not doable in Windows. I downloaded a FAT 32 formatter for my
WD USB Drive. Search your drive manufacturer's site.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Not doable in Windows.

Not at all true. Even if you meant Windows *XP*, it isn't at all true. The
only such issue with Windows XP is that Windows XP can not create a FAT32
partition larger than 32GB. However it will readily use such a FAT32
partition if it is first created externally, for example with FDISK from a
Windows 98 or Me boot diskette.

 

[Frank]

Not at all true. Even if you meant Windows *XP*, it isn't at all true.
The only such issue with Windows XP is that Windows XP can not create
a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB. However it will readily use such a
FAT32 partition if it is first created externally, for example with
FDISK from a Windows 98 or Me boot diskette.

Why did you snip the rest of my post?
The OP stated that the drive was an _external USB drive_.
With my experience I had to use the manufacturer's utility
to format the whole _160GB USB drive to FAT32_, not 37GB.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Why did you snip the rest of my post?
The OP stated that the drive was an _external USB drive_.
With my experience I had to use the manufacturer's utility
to format the whole _160GB USB drive to FAT32_, not 37GB.

External or not, you can not create a 160GB FAT32 partition in Windows XP,
as I said.

Your statement to which I replied was "Not doable in Windows." The statement
that Windows can not XP to format a usb drive to FAT 32 is incorrect, and I
pointed it out. Perhaps if you had said "creating a 160GB FAT32 partition is
not doable in Windows XP," what you meant would have been clear.

No big deal. You apparently understand the issues involved. I don't want to
give you a hard time, but I did want to make it clear to the OP that what
you said was not literally true.

 

[labatyd]

That would be all that is needed. I don't need to write to disc. The drive
is 160G but wouldn't need the full capacity.


<snip>

I found a reader:

NtfsWindows98.exe

It worked with Win98 until it was upgraded to Win 98SE. Can't read the files
anymore on the USB drive. On one USB drive that I have it locks up solid. On
the other USB drive it accesses but everything comes up machine language
characters. :-(

That's the same for two different computers running Win98SE.