No Choice to use FAT32?

[Guest]

im trying to install windows here, and when i go to format the partion, it
only allows me to use NTFS, which is strange, its only a 40g HD, i want to
use FAT32, but no FAT options to format come up at all.

 

[Anna]

im trying to install windows here, and when i go to format the partion, it
only allows me to use NTFS, which is strange, its only a 40g HD, i want to
use FAT32, but no FAT options to format come up at all.

semicomatose:
It's really not so "strange" as you will soon be hearing from responders to
your posting. XP has a 32 GB FAT32 partition/formatting limitation. When it
detects that the drive is greater than the 32 GB, it will not give the user
an option to format the drive FAT32. You could, however, create multiple
partitions of < 32 GB and then you could format those partitions FAT32. But
not a single partition comprising the full disk capacity of your 40 GB
drive.

You can, however, use the FDISK/FORMAT commands available in a DOS bootup
floppy disk (Win9x/Me Startup Disk) to format the entire disk FAT32. XP will
recognize the FAT32 partition in that case without any problem.

We'll assume you have good & sufficient reasons for formatting your drive
FAT32 rather than NTFS. As you will also be hearing, NTFS is (ordinarily)
the preferred file system for an XP OS.
Anna

 

[Bruce Chambers]

im trying to install windows here, and when i go to format the partion, it
only allows me to use NTFS, which is strange, its only a 40g HD, i want to
use FAT32, but no FAT options to format come up at all.

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.)
However, the OS has no problems being installed upon or otherwise using
FAT32 a partition larger than 32 GB, as long as that partition has been
created/formatted by another OS, such as Win98.

If you truly want FAT32's complete lack of security, stability, and
fault tolerance, and don't mind wasting a lot of storage capacity,
simply format the drive using a Win9x boot diskette, and then install
WinXP to the existing partition.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

--
All mushrooms are edible, only some but once.

im trying to install windows here, and when i go to format the partion, it
only allows me to use NTFS, which is strange, its only a 40g HD, i want to
use FAT32, but no FAT options to format come up at all.

yea, ok, i wasnt thinking for a second, sorry

 

[Jim]

--
All mushrooms are edible, only some but once.

im trying to install windows here, and when i go to format the partion,
it
only allows me to use NTFS, which is strange, its only a 40g HD, i want
to
use FAT32, but no FAT options to format come up at all.

yea, ok, i wasnt thinking for a second, sorry

Well, anybody who prefers FAT to NTFS is not thinking for much longer that a
second..
Jim