Achieving a FAT32/NTFS partition?

[SteveH]

Hello

A friend of mine has a Win XP laptop and recently bought an external
hard-drive which is Windows and Apple compatible. He wants to store Apple
compatible music files on the external drive and to be able to listen to
those files on his laptop.

The laptop does not appear to 'see' the external hard drive, so he was
advised to format the laptop hard drive so that while he has Win XP in a
NTFS-formatted partition, he ought to have FAT32 for his Apple files/external
drive on another. Whether this initial advice was correct or not I am unsure,
but it seems a lot of trouble just to listen to Amy Whitehouse.

However, if I go to Computer Management and then Disk Management to do this,
it does not offer an option - only NTFS is available from the one-item drop
down menu.

I am not sure if he has tried to format the hard drive previously and that
this has made NTFS the only item available in the drop down menu.

Is there anything he can do to resolve his problem?

Thanks.

Steve

 

[Leonard Grey]

The reason his laptop can't see the external drive is because it needs
the requisite driver.

The characteristic that makes an external hard drive "Windows and Apple
compatible" is that it's formatted in FAT32, which can be read by both
operating systems.

There is no reason to convert any part of the laptop's hard disk to FAT32.

 

[Nepatsfan]

Hello

A friend of mine has a Win XP laptop and recently bought an external
hard-drive which is Windows and Apple compatible. He wants to store Apple
compatible music files on the external drive and to be able to listen to
those files on his laptop.

The laptop does not appear to 'see' the external hard drive, so he was
advised to format the laptop hard drive so that while he has Win XP in a
NTFS-formatted partition, he ought to have FAT32 for his Apple files/external
drive on another. Whether this initial advice was correct or not I am unsure,
but it seems a lot of trouble just to listen to Amy Whitehouse.

However, if I go to Computer Management and then Disk Management to do this,
it does not offer an option - only NTFS is available from the one-item drop
down menu.

I am not sure if he has tried to format the hard drive previously and that
this has made NTFS the only item available in the drop down menu.

Is there anything he can do to resolve his problem?

Thanks.

Steve

The reason why you're not being given the option to format the drive FAT32 is
probably due to the fact Windows XP cannot format a volume greater than 32GB
FAT32. XP can read a FAT32 drive which is greater than 32GB, it just can't
format one. Your options are to partition the external hard drive so each
partition is less than 32GB or connect the drive to a computer running Windows
98 or Windows ME and format it FAT32. Win98/ME does not have the 32GB limitation
for FAT32 drive formatting.

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314463

Another issue that comes with having a FAT32 drive is that none of the files can
be greater than 4GB. While that shouldn't be a problem with music files, it may
come into play if your friend planned to also store video files or files created
by a backup/imaging program.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[SteveH]

Many thanks to you both for your very useful replies.

I think he said he had already loaded the drivers, but I'll check.

In any case how, just as a matter of interest, would I know that the issue
revolved around drivers and not Windows being unable to format a volume
greater than 32GB FAT32? Or, indeed, vice-versa?

Cheers

Steve

 

[David B.]

Everyone forgot the obvious quick fix, partition the drive FAT32 using OSX,
not XP.

 

[Robert Moir]

Everyone forgot the obvious quick fix, partition the drive FAT32
using OSX, not XP.

That's the best solution if you have to partition a drive for this job. It's
rather ironic that apple support a Microsoft disk format better than
Microsoft themselves do.

 

[Bob Harris]

An XP lap top should >>not<< require special drivers to see an external
(USB) hard drive. Win98 might, but not XP.

It is more likely that the drive was not formatted, so Windows Explorer
would not assign it a drive letter, thus not "see" it.

A solution is to format the drive, using the XP disk management tool.

But, as the poster discovered, XP will refuse to partition as FAT32 anything
bigger than 32 Gig. This appears to be a conscious decision by Microsoft to
phase-out the use of FAT32.

However, other programs will happily format such a disk.

I would use Partition Magic, since I happen to have that installed. But, it
is not free.

There are some free programs that can also do this, such as Swissknife:
http://www.compuapps.com/download/Swissknife/swissknife.htm