How to format 320GB drive to FAT32

[emil_lam]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS. I think
it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD partition format. Could
someone suggest methods for me to copy data safely from my FAT32
formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

Tks

 

[Ayush]

Replied to [emil_lam]s message :
-----------------------------------------------------------

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32.
Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS.

You can copy files from Fat32 partition to NTFS partition without any loss.

 

[Rock]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS. I think
it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD partition format. Could
someone suggest methods for me to copy data safely from my FAT32
formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

Having the new drive NTFS should not impact copying from a FAT32 drive. Why
couldn't you copy the files? What happened when you tried?

 

[Dave B.]

You are incorrect in your thinking. If a drive with a FAT32 partition is
installed in an XP system with NTFS drives, there are no issues at all
copying the data from the FAT32 drive to the NTFS drive.
How about starting from the beginning with your problem rather than
guessing at a solution.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS &
FAT32 partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to
this new drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to
NTFS. I think it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD
partition format. Could someone suggest methods for me to copy data
safely from my FAT32 formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

NTFS and FAT32 don't really have incompatibilities - it's just that FAT32
has no security and NTFS does - not to mention the other limitations on
FAT32 that NTFS does not have.

You would need to use a third party tool if you want to stick with the older
FAT32 file system.

Also - if one of those partitions you are copying is your boot - you should
just consider an imaging application and let it handle everything for you.

 

[Gordon]

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option.

Because FAT32 will only recognise partitions up to 32 GB in size...hence
FAT "32".....

 

[John John]

Windows XP cannot format FAT32 drives (partitions) larger than 32 GB but
it can mount larger FAT32 drives formated by other operating systems or
disk/partitioning/formating utilities. Formating such large drive FAT32
would be a waste of disk space anyway, there is nothing stopping you
from copying the data from FAT32 drives to NTFS so I would suggest that
you use the NTFS file system.

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible,

No, not at all true. There are no such incompatabilities. Windows XP can
read and use NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12, in any and all
combinations--separately or together-- and regardless of what file system it
itself is installed on.

I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS. I think
it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD partition format.
Could someone suggest methods for me to copy data safely from my FAT32
formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

Make the new drive NTFS and just copy it. There should be no problem.

 

[John John]

Because FAT32 will only recognise partitions up to 32 GB in size...hence
FAT "32".....

Have you never seen a Windows 9x/ME computer using larger
drives/partitions than 32GB? It can see and recognize WAY bigger than
that, up to 127 with the proper motherboard/BIOS and way bigger than
that with a controller card that has support for these operating systems.

John

 

[Dave B.]

Umm, no it won't, XP only allows you to create FAT32 partitions of up to
32GB, they can be created much larger.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154997

--

 

[emil_lam]

Rock ¼g¹D¡G

Having the new drive NTFS should not impact copying from a FAT32 drive. Why
couldn't you copy the files? What happened when you tried?

My PC has 2 IDE bus & 2 SATA slot, My old UDMA-33 disk were already
there, w/ FAT32 partitions & XP installed. I just added one SATA HDD to
the SATA0 slot and use XP to format it. Only NTFS partition creation
allowed by XP. And XP installation at FAT32 partition couldn't
recognize the newly formatted NTFS partition except it's drive letter.

 

[Rock]

Rock ¼g¹D¡G

Having the new drive NTFS should not impact copying from a FAT32 drive.
Why
couldn't you copy the files? What happened when you tried?

My PC has 2 IDE bus & 2 SATA slot, My old UDMA-33 disk were already
there, w/ FAT32 partitions & XP installed. I just added one SATA HDD to
the SATA0 slot and use XP to format it. Only NTFS partition creation
allowed by XP. And XP installation at FAT32 partition couldn't
recognize the newly formatted NTFS partition except it's drive letter.



You have something else going on, but it's not related to NTFS vs. FAT32.

 

[neil]

Hi,
Have a look at disk management and see what the status of the SATA drive is.
Right click on "my computer" and select "manage" then select "disk
management". You should have been prompted to install drivers at some stage
for the SATA drive, did that happen.??

Neil

 

[GTS]

I had a chuckle over that one.
- It's called FAT 32 because the FAT supports 32 bit (4 byte) data entries.
- FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size, but is enormously
wasteful of disk space because of the large cluster size needed.
- Windows XP and 2000 will recognize FAT 32 partitions of any permitted
size, but will not allow formatting a hard drive to greater than 32GB.
--

 

[emil_lam]

Dave B. ¼g¹D¡G

You are incorrect in your thinking. If a drive with a FAT32 partition is
installed in an XP system with NTFS drives, there are no issues at all
copying the data from the FAT32 drive to the NTFS drive.

Oops , probably my previous step missed disk format. When I double
clicked the newly created partition, XP asked if I wanted to format & I
said yes. After formatting, copying from FAT32 to NTFS under the same
PC went smooth.

 

[emil_lam]

Shenan Stanley ¼g¹D¡G

NTFS and FAT32 don't really have incompatibilities - it's just that FAT32
has no security and NTFS does - not to mention the other limitations on
FAT32 that NTFS does not have.

You would need to use a third party tool if you want to stick with the older
FAT32 file system.

I don't mind it's NTFS or FAT32 if this new SATA drive could be
accessed locally from other XP partitions locally or from other PCs
also formatted in FAT32 via LAN.
BTW, if I need to fully utilize the speed of this faster SATA drive, do
I need to move my original XP & applications to this SATA drive ? Or I
just need to move the data e.g. video files, data files to this SATA
drive & keep applications at original slower UDMA drives ?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Because FAT32 will only recognise partitions up to 32 GB in
size...

Nope, not at all true.

hence FAT "32".....

Nope, the 32 refers to the number of bits used in the addressing scheme.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I don't mind it's NTFS or FAT32 if this new SATA drive could be
accessed locally from other XP partitions locally or from other PCs
also formatted in FAT32 via LAN.
BTW, if I need to fully utilize the speed of this faster SATA
drive, do I need to move my original XP & applications to this SATA
drive ? Or I just need to move the data e.g. video files, data
files to this SATA drive & keep applications at original slower
UDMA drives ?

If you plan on gaining something out of it beyond saving your files
(documents, etc) you create faster than maybe your IDE drives would (go go
gadget milliseconds!).. then yes - in order to see the full benefit of the
possibly faster SATA drive you would have to make it the primary drive in
the system and have Windows XP running off of it.

After all - loading your applications is probably the longest thing you do.
Unless - you record a lot of video and mess with a lot of large (1+GB)
files.

 

[Hertz_Donut]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option. Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS. I think
it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD partition format. Could
someone suggest methods for me to copy data safely from my FAT32
formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

Tks

Don't know where you got the information that FAT32 and NTFS are
incompatible...they are *NOT* incompatible and can coexist quite happily in
a single computer.

Honu

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I just bought the mentioned 320GB HDD and intended to copy over 60GB
files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. I
followed KB link
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...y5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1
to format the new SATAII HDD.

Windows XP only gave NTFS as partition type option.

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.

Since NTFS & FAT32
partitions were incompatible, I couldn't copy the files to this new
drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS.

That's completely untrue. WinXP can read FAT12 (the file system used
on 3.5" diskettes), FAT16, FAT32, CDFS (the file system used on most
CDs), and NTFS with equal facility. Further, the file system on any one
disk/partition or diskette has absolutely no affect upon the operating
system's ability to read other compatible file systems on other
disks/partitions, or to transfer files between the partitions.

I think
it's too tedious and risky to change my old HDD partition format.

At any rate, it's completely unnecessary.

Could
someone suggest methods for me to copy data safely from my FAT32
formatted HDD to this SATA HDD ?

Click and Drag, or High-light the desired files and Copy/Paste, etc.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

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