How to remove/resize partitions on external USB Hard Drive?

[Guest]

I have had a 60G external hard drive that has worked flawlessly for 2 years
with both my desktop computer running Win98SE, and my newer laptop with
Windows XP. This external drive was formatted with FAT 32 and NO PARTITIONS
for all 60G. Because I have a Lot of music files and digital pictures, I
have filled up the 60G drive, so bought an IOGear 160G external drive. This
drive arrived partitioned into 6 partitions, of 20-32G sizes. This is
completely wrong for how I want to use the drive. All my mp3 programs
requires the library to be all in one volume, so I need 60-80G all in one
volume just for music. IOGear support says that Windows XP does not allow
volumes any larger than 60G in FAT 32. (This seems crazy since my older
drive is all one volume and is FAT 32.) Does anyone know how I can collapse
these volumes onto one larger one (say 80-90 G) and have it in a format that
both my Win98SE system and my WindowsXP laptop can both access?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have had a 60G external hard drive that has worked flawlessly for 2 years
with both my desktop computer running Win98SE, and my newer laptop with
Windows XP. This external drive was formatted with FAT 32 and NO PARTITIONS
for all 60G. Because I have a Lot of music files and digital pictures, I
have filled up the 60G drive, so bought an IOGear 160G external drive. This
drive arrived partitioned into 6 partitions, of 20-32G sizes. This is
completely wrong for how I want to use the drive. All my mp3 programs
requires the library to be all in one volume, so I need 60-80G all in one
volume just for music. IOGear support says that Windows XP does not allow
volumes any larger than 60G in FAT 32. (This seems crazy since my older
drive is all one volume and is FAT 32.) Does anyone know how I can collapse
these volumes onto one larger one (say 80-90 G) and have it in a format that
both my Win98SE system and my WindowsXP laptop can both access?

You can get around the FAT32 size limiation of WinXP by using a third-party
product to partition your disk, e.g. PQMagic.

Incidentally, your statement that you had a FAT32 drive with "NO PARTITIONS"
(your caps) is incorrect. It had exactly one partition: a FAT32 partition.
You cannot
store any data on an unpartitioned disk. The sequence is:
1. Partition your disk.
2. Format each drive.
3. Start using it.

 

[zibby]

Use partition magic 8.0
FAT32 will be limited up to 198Gb (PM8.0 won't let you resize past that
limit)

 

[Guest]

Thanks to both of you for your input! I will check it out.

 

[Test User]

I have had a 60G external hard drive that has worked flawlessly for 2 years
with both my desktop computer running Win98SE, and my newer laptop with
Windows XP. This external drive was formatted with FAT 32 and NO PARTITIONS
for all 60G. Because I have a Lot of music files and digital pictures, I
have filled up the 60G drive, so bought an IOGear 160G external drive. This
drive arrived partitioned into 6 partitions, of 20-32G sizes. This is
completely wrong for how I want to use the drive. All my mp3 programs
requires the library to be all in one volume, so I need 60-80G all in one
volume just for music. IOGear support says that Windows XP does not allow
volumes any larger than 60G in FAT 32. (This seems crazy since my older
drive is all one volume and is FAT 32.) Does anyone know how I can collapse
these volumes onto one larger one (say 80-90 G) and have it in a format that
both my Win98SE system and my WindowsXP laptop can both access?

It is correct, the XP partition utility cannot create FAT32 partions of
this size. However, if you use a w9x boot disk with fdisk, you *can*
create FAT32 partitions the size you want.

So I'll suggest that you simply get a Win98 or ME boot diskette, perhaps one
of the Ultimate Boot Disks or whatever you can download, reboot the system
and run fdisk.

Reboot without the diskette and format in XP. This will be quick and
inexpensive.

Be *very* careful when you select the drive you want to repartition. It's
not usually a positive experience to suddenly realize you just removed the
partition from your XP drive.

HTH
-pk

 

[Art]

It is correct, the XP partition utility cannot create FAT32 partions of
this size. However, if you use a w9x boot disk with fdisk, you *can*
create FAT32 partitions the size you want.

So I'll suggest that you simply get a Win98 or ME boot diskette, perhaps
one
of the Ultimate Boot Disks or whatever you can download, reboot the system
and run fdisk.

Reboot without the diskette and format in XP. This will be quick and
inexpensive.

Be *very* careful when you select the drive you want to repartition.
It's
not usually a positive experience to suddenly realize you just removed
the
partition from your XP drive.

HTH
-pk

Unfortunately, Test User's proposed solution is not viable. The OP is
working with a USB external hard drive. AFAIK, you cannot partition/format a
USB EHD using the FDISK/FORMAT commands. Those DOS commands will simply not
"see" a USB EHD. At least that has been my experience. (I have heard reports
that some users have been able to directly use the FDISK/FORMAT commands to
format a USB EHD, but I've never been able to verify this). As we know, XP's
Disk Management utility will not allow you to partition/format a drive in
FAT32 greater than 32 GB.

Assuming the OP needs a single FAT32 partition on his 160 GB, he could, if
possible, remove the hard drive from the USB external enclosure, connect the
drive to his computer and then using a Win9x/Me startup disk (or other
bootable DOS floppy) use the FDISK/FORMAT commands to create a single FAT32
partition on that drive. Then uninstall the drive and reinstall it in his
USB enclosure. The trouble with this "solution" is that the drive may be in
a sealed unit and thus cannot readily be removed and even if he could remove
and subsequently reinstall the drive, it would surely void whatever warranty
that covers his external drive.

I wonder if there's another way. Using Windows XP Disk Management utility,
format the external HD in NTFS and then use a third-party program, e.g.,
Partition Magic, to convert the partition to FAT32. It would be interesting
to hear from anyone who has done this.
Art