Format NTFS using XP Pro Disk Manager

[Ted D]

I have heard, for the 2nd time, that someone was unable to
format a large HD (120g)to NTFS. My nephew just installed
a USB WD 120 Gig Hard drive and he is losing some large
files. He downloads full concerts and they are very
large. WD told him of a 4.3g file limit with FAT32 and
to reformat to NTFS. He has tried and is unable to with
XP Pro.

My partner had the same problem trying to format an
internal Maxtor 40 gig for NTFS. Is there a problem
formatting NTFS with XP Pro?

 

[Malke]

I have heard, for the 2nd time, that someone was unable to
format a large HD (120g)to NTFS. My nephew just installed
a USB WD 120 Gig Hard drive and he is losing some large
files. He downloads full concerts and they are very
large. WD told him of a 4.3g file limit with FAT32 and
to reformat to NTFS. He has tried and is unable to with
XP Pro.

My partner had the same problem trying to format an
internal Maxtor 40 gig for NTFS. Is there a problem
formatting NTFS with XP Pro?

Not at all. However, you haven't provided enough information to get
specific solutions. Regarding the hard drive, I'm not sure what "he is
losing some large files" means. If he is losing data, then there is a
problem with either his installation or his hardware, but this will not
be related to the file system. There just isn't enough information to
troubleshoot.

Again, there isn't enough information about your partner's difficulties.
If s/he could not format a 40GB drive, perhaps the drive is bad.

If you want help, please repost with details, including the text of any
error messages.

Malke

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have heard, for the 2nd time, that someone was unable to
format a large HD (120g)to NTFS. My nephew just installed
a USB WD 120 Gig Hard drive and he is losing some large
files. He downloads full concerts and they are very
large. WD told him of a 4.3g file limit with FAT32 and
to reformat to NTFS. He has tried and is unable to with
XP Pro.

My partner had the same problem trying to format an
internal Maxtor 40 gig for NTFS. Is there a problem
formatting NTFS with XP Pro?

Not if the device concerned has proper drivers to use it in 'LBA' mode -
and I would find it hard to believe that a modern USB hard drive by
someone like WD failed to provide those. But they may not have been
correctly installed.

BTW the limit on FAT 32 is 32 GB - not 4.3 so I am dubious about the
quality of the support person at WD who may have said that

An internal drive like the Maxtor should give no trouble, using just
drivers that come in the XP system (I have a 40 and an 80 GB one).
But it may have been partitioned and formatted by a Maxtor utility.

More likely he has a FAT 32 partition on it - XP will not format a FAT
32 bigger than 32 GB, and you can't convert it to NTFS simply by
formatting - you have to delete and start a new one. In Disk manager
right click on the existing partition and delete it. Repeat if there is
more than one partition until the whole is free 'Unallocated' space.
Then right click in that and create a new one, to use the lot, and carry
on to format, which will be done as NTFS