NTFS file system on ext. USB drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Don
  • Start date Start date
D

Don

The title says it. I don't have my new drive yet, but would like to format
a new external USB 250GB hard disk with the NTFS system. I want to get
around the 4GB file size limitation of FAT32. I have been told that I won't
be able to do it. If I can, I would appreciate knowing how. Thanks.

Don
 
Don said:
The title says it. I don't have my new drive yet, but would like to
format
a new external USB 250GB hard disk with the NTFS system. I want to
get
around the 4GB file size limitation of FAT32. I have been told that I
won't
be able to do it. If I can, I would appreciate knowing how. Thanks.

Don
Click to expand...

It depends on what external drive you are getting. If it is an
"all-in-one" external drive (as opposed to a large drive you are
putting into a drive enclosure yourself) like the Maxtor One Touch for
ex., it will come with software and part of the installation process is
to format the drive NTFS. I just did this for a client and it was
extremely easy.

If you are buying a separate hard drive/enclosure, then if you buy the
drive retail it will come with a utility to let you format the drive.
If you got it whitebox, download the utility from the drive mftr.'s
website. Or just slave it in a working XP box and use Computer
Management to format the drive. Then change it back to master and put
it in the enclosure.

Malke
 
Malke said:
It depends on what external drive you are getting. If it is an
"all-in-one" external drive (as opposed to a large drive you are
putting into a drive enclosure yourself) like the Maxtor One Touch for
ex., it will come with software and part of the installation process is
to format the drive NTFS. I just did this for a client and it was
extremely easy.

If you are buying a separate hard drive/enclosure, then if you buy the
drive retail it will come with a utility to let you format the drive.
If you got it whitebox, download the utility from the drive mftr.'s
website. Or just slave it in a working XP box and use Computer
Management to format the drive. Then change it back to master and put
it in the enclosure.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"
Click to expand...


Don (& Malke):
Is there no reason why Don can't simply use the Disk Management utility
(Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management > Disk
Management) and format his USBEHD NTFS while the external drive is connected
to his computer?
Anna
 
Anna said:
Don (& Malke):
Is there no reason why Don can't simply use the Disk Management
utility (Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer
Management > Disk Management) and format his USBEHD NTFS while the
external drive is connected to his computer?
Anna
Click to expand...

Good point (as always), Anna. I don't know because I never tried it that
way. When I prepared my Seagate 200GB (which I have in a Thermaltake
enclosure), I'm so used to just throwing a drive into the testbed I
didn't think about doing it from Windows. It couldn't hurt to try. I
suppose it depends on whether this is a DIY project or a bought one
(Maxtor example). If a "One-Touch" type of external, I'd definitely go
with the mftr.'s process.

Malke
 
Malke said:
Good point (as always), Anna. I don't know because I never tried it that
way. When I prepared my Seagate 200GB (which I have in a Thermaltake
enclosure), I'm so used to just throwing a drive into the testbed I
didn't think about doing it from Windows. It couldn't hurt to try. I
suppose it depends on whether this is a DIY project or a bought one
(Maxtor example). If a "One-Touch" type of external, I'd definitely go
with the mftr.'s process.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"
Click to expand...


Malke:
The (relatively) few times we've formatted a USBEHD NTFS using XP's Disk
Management utility we've encountered no problems doing so. As you know,
virtually all commercial USBEHDs come pre-formatted FAT32 regardless of size
(although that's starting to change as more manufacturers are beginning to
format these units NTFS). In our usual course of events we're primarily
involved in using a disk imaging program such as Ghost or Acronis to clone
the contents of an internal HD to the USBEHD for backup purposes, so that
the file system is copied along with the contents of the source drive. So in
that instance it really makes no difference how the USBEHD was originally
formatted.
Anna
 
Anna said:
Malke:
The (relatively) few times we've formatted a USBEHD NTFS using XP's
Disk Management utility we've encountered no problems doing so. As you
know, virtually all commercial USBEHDs come pre-formatted FAT32
regardless of size (although that's starting to change as more
manufacturers are beginning to format these units NTFS). In our usual
course of events we're primarily involved in using a disk imaging
program such as Ghost or Acronis to clone the contents of an internal
HD to the USBEHD for backup purposes, so that the file system is
copied along with the contents of the source drive. So in that
instance it really makes no difference how the USBEHD was originally
formatted. Anna
Click to expand...

Thanks for the additional info. I always look forward to your posts and
enjoy reading them. You're awesome, lady.

Malke
 
Anna said:
Is there no reason why Don can't simply use the Disk Management utility
(Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management > Disk
Management) and format his USBEHD NTFS while the external drive is connected
to his computer?
Click to expand...

The reason is whether or not the format utility needs to send
some special ATA commands to the drive.
This is likely to fail when the drive is connected to USB
because the in-box USB to IDE driver does not support "passthru" of
non-standard IDE commands, or the vendor utility does not
know how to send these commands thru usb.
The special features can be something like SMART, low-level format etc.
Often this is not needed - then the standard Windows format just works.

Regards,
--PA
 
(The issue here relates to Don's query as to how he can format his/her USB
external HD NTFS (presumably he came formatted FAT32).



Pavel A. said:
The reason is whether or not the format utility needs to send
some special ATA commands to the drive.
This is likely to fail when the drive is connected to USB
because the in-box USB to IDE driver does not support "passthru" of
non-standard IDE commands, or the vendor utility does not
know how to send these commands thru usb.
The special features can be something like SMART, low-level format etc.
Often this is not needed - then the standard Windows format just works.

Regards,
--PA
Click to expand...


All I can say is that we've formatted dozens of different makes & models of
USB external HDs NTFS using XP's Disk Management utility and I can't recall
a single instance where any other "formatting utility" was necessary to
properly format the external drive in NTFS.
Anna
 
No, Don didn't come formatted FAT32 but I guess his USBEHD did! Sorry about
that Don...
 
Don said:
The title says it. I don't have my new drive yet, but would like to
format
a new external USB 250GB hard disk with the NTFS system. I want to get
around the 4GB file size limitation of FAT32. I have been told that I
won't
be able to do it. If I can, I would appreciate knowing how. Thanks.

Don
Click to expand...


I have now used my new drive for a day and written enough times to it to be
confident it is formatted properly. I used the XP Disk Management Utility.
I figured I would try the simple stuff first and, fortunately, it worked.

Thanks, everyone, for all the help.

Don
 
The title says it. I don't have my new drive yet, but would
like to format
a new external USB 250GB hard disk with the NTFS system. I
want to get
around the 4GB file size limitation of FAT32. I have been
told that I won't
be able to do it. If I can, I would appreciate knowing how.
Thanks.

Do
Click to expand...

When you plug the drive in and the drivers are installed, you will
have to open device manager, find the device, open it’s properties,
go to policies and selecte "Optimize for Performance". Windows will
now alow you to format it using NTFS.
 
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