Is FAT32 format gone?

[Lil' Dave]

Ken Blake, MVP added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

OK, thanks for straigtening me out, Ken. Somehow, I had 2.5 gig in
my addled brain but now that you mention it, that IS what Acronis
said - 4 gig. I write my images, which get up into the 5-6 gig
range, to an external HD, then occasionally create a dual-layer DVD
as backup to the backup. It is very problematical to me to envision
True Image being able to fully use even its own multi-part files if
the Windows damage is severe enough. And, with my system being
relatively lightly loaded, I think I will be able to get it all
onto a dual-layer DVD.

Incidently, one of the things I do before I run TI is to delete my
swapfile, clean out all the temp files, move anything off C:\ that
isn't crucial, and most importantly, do the most comprehensive
malware scans I possibly can. It makes absolutely no sense to image
an infected system. The reason I kill the swap file, which is
almost 800MB for me, is that I don't see need for backing up 800
meg of nothing. Am I correct in doing this?

Imaging programs do not backup the swapfile or hiberfil.sys. There's no
need.
Dave

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Lil' Dave added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

Don't use fdisk. There's a partition size reporting problem
with its partition when in excess of its intended maximum
size. 98 - 64gb, downloadable updated version - 128GB.

The hard drive makers provide a more current downloadable
partition/formatting tool for FAT32. May be part of a larger
program (within that program). May be in bootable media, or
work within XP. There's no problem that I'm aware of with
these. Dave

Thanks, Dave. I won't go on as I promised not to extend this debate
as it is now academic, I'm full NTFS now.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Lil' Dave added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

[snip my own testimony]

Imaging programs do not backup the swapfile or hiberfil.sys.
There's no need.

Really?! Thanks again, Dave! I wondered if True Image might be
smart enough not to as I see little/no difference in the image file
sizes whether I do or don't delete my 768 meg pagefile.

I'm not sure I know what hiberfil.sys is, but I think it is the
hibernate thingy, is that right? I'm still in the middle of an XP
Search but I not think I have it, as I have hibernet for all my HW
turned off.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Lil' Dave added these comments in the current discussion du jour
...


Thanks, Dave. I won't go on as I promised not to extend this debate
as it is now academic, I'm full NTFS now.

Be aware that you're not the only one reading this thread, and, may act upon
a recommendation made.
Dave

 

[John McGaw]

Hi,
I'm trying to use my XP laptop to format a drive with FAT32 so it will be
compatible with an Intel Mac.

But when I right-click the drive and choose 'Format', NTFS is the only
choice there, like a default.

Is there something I'm missing? How can I get it to format with FAT32?

I appreciate any assistance on this,....Frank B.

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm has worked
well formatting several 200gB drives I've installed in USB enclosures.
No limitations that I've found or heard of and it works amazingly quickly.

John McGaw
http://johnmcgaw.com

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Lil' Dave added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

Be aware that you're not the only one reading this thread,
and, may act upon a recommendation made.

I understand the value to lurkers, Dave, but some people were
becoming quite vocal about my OT or near-OT comments in this
thread, so /I/ backed off since FAT32 is to ME both academic and
moot. If you want to help others or the discussion evolves in a new
direction, that's fine, but I probably won't tie up everybody's
headers with my inane questions on something no longer of
importance to me personally.

Now, FOR the lurkers: when I first started using my current XP Pro
SP2 box with NTFS everywhere, it used to take 2-3, sometimes more
minutes just to bring up a file/folder tree in Explorer. So, I
reformatted my extended partitions to FAT32, but eventually had to
go back to NTFS because I was saving files larger than its 4 gig
max. Curiously, I've had very little trouble since. Sometimes,
it'll "go away" for 15-20 seconds, but that's fine.

Thanks for all your comments and observations.