80 Gig drive.

[GraLk]

Is there a limit to the size of a Fat32 drive. I just bought an 80 Gig, and Win2k only gave me the option of formatting it as NTFS. Is this right, or can I change it to Fat32 by partitioning?

(I know this is an XP Forum, but a lot of the 2K forums are not very good.)

Any help greatly appreciated.

GraLk

 

[sboulema]

Yes there are size limits with fat32.
One of them is that a file can't be bigger that 4 gig. There is also a partition or drive size limit, but I don't know how many gigs it is. And of course you can ask your W2K questions here. Xp-erience is the best forum, I think.

 

[sboulema]

Found this on another site:

128KB clusters 32KB clusters 4KB clusters
FAT12 512MB 128MiB 16MB
FAT16 8GB 2GB 256MB
FAT32 2TB 512GB 64GB

The site is:Link

Hope this give s an answer

 

[Friend of Bill]

FAT 32 supports up to 2 terabytes. The minimum size for FAT 32 is 256MB. You'll be fine with an 80 Gigabyte hard drive.

 

[fitfella29]

whats the diff between fat32 / ntfs? my 40 gb is in fat32 and my 60 is in ntfs.

windows xp pro
amd athlon xp 1700+
896mb pc2100 ddr
jetway 866as ultra motherboard
leadtek gf4 ti 4400 128mb ddr
40gb seagate 5200rpm hdd
60gb maxtor udma-133 7200rpm hdd
pioneer 16x dvd
liteon 32X12X40
realtek 10/100 family fast ethernet nic
19" lg flatron
microsoft intellimouse optical
creative soundworks digital

 

[GraLk]

Thanks People...

Thanks people,

I just thought it weird that Win2k only gave me the option of NTFS to format with....or did I miss something?....hmmmmm

I think I might just do it again as I only got up to finishing the install...wont take too long....unless anyone has any other ideas as to why I only got that option?

GraLk

 

[GraLk]

AHA!!

So that's why....Thx Catch...and everyone else.....Guess i'll stick with NTFS for now, and partition with an application laterz.

 

[Taurus]

if you want 80gigs of fat32, then why not format it in dos before installation and tell win2k to leave the partition intact (no changes)?

 

[Gouk]

Originally posted by catch23
That would work just fine...but again...NTFS is much better.

Especially the security and the ability to decompress DVD ISOs over 4GB

 

[Taurus]

i would think so, but i've seen plenty of debates over which is best. the only thing that's kept me from choosing ntfs is lack of evidence that it provides better performance (and yes, i know integrity/reliability is a factor, too). can you provide any? i've been sticking with fat32 merely for dos compatibility.

also, if i let xp format it to ntfs during installation, what's the advantage of full format over a quick one?

 

[Taurus]

just converted my c: drive to ntfs and got the exact same hdd score in pcmark2002, if anyone cares. this is without defragging or a fresh ntfs format, but it shouldn't matter with a benchmarking program.

 

[Taurus]

i honestly can't think of the last time i had file corruption with fat32 that wasn't related to a defunct harddrive, though..?

oh well... i think i'll leave my c: ntfs from now on since xp is on it and it might benefit. and unless i want 4gb files or 'file indexing', i think fat32 will be fine for me for any other drive.

 

[spikemic]

biggest diff is cluster size and all i would not use ntfs on a very small drive as it wouldn't use it efficiently but on all other way to go.

also for an added disk in 2k/xp with a running os it wants to format them ntfs to make them dynamic (can only be ntfs to be dynamic) then you can keep adding drives to make that drive letter bigger up to 32 i believe

 

[Zedric]

Originally posted by fitfella29
whats the diff between fat32 / ntfs? my 40 gb is in fat32 and my 60 is in ntfs.

1. NTFS puts files where the can fit in whole, FAT32 puts files whereever there is a hole. Result: NTFS has less fragmentation.
2. NTFS is a journalizing file system. It keeps a record of all recent writing operations. Result: No lost clusters or file scanning after a crash.
3. NTFS supports smaller cluster size. Result: Better performance on bigger drives and less waste of space with small files.

There are probably more differences, but I don't remember them now.

 

[maz4ruth]

Right... I have a 30GB Maxtor Hard Drive...

It's in fat32 at the moment, I might convert to ntfs right now, do you think I should, as long as I don't lose performance, I don't mind.

I don't use DOS either, so that's not a problem.

Thanks

 

[Zedric]

Originally posted by maz4ruth
Right... I have a 30GB Maxtor Hard Drive...

It's in fat32 at the moment, I might convert to ntfs right now, do you think I should, as long as I don't lose performance, I don't mind.

Yes you should. Just make a backup of your data first. Shit can happen.

 

[maz4ruth]

OK, I'll do it now. Can I convert and keep the same Windows installation or so I have to reinstall to convert?

Thanks for the info

 

[spikemic]

Windows XP Professional provides the Convert command for converting a partition to NTFS without reformatting the partition and losing all the information on the partition. To use the Convert command, click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open text box, and then click OK. This opens a command prompt, which you use to request the Convert command. The following example shows how you might use switches with the Convert command. It will run and on next reboot convert.

Convert volume /FS:NTFS /V
(/V Runs the Convert command in verbose mode so you can watch it go)

For help with any command-line program, at the command prompt type the command followed by /? and then press Enter. For example, to receive help on the Convert command, type Convert /? and then press Enter it will explain switches

 

[maz4ruth]

I done what you said spikemic, but It gave me "Invalid drive specification." Am I doing something wrong?

 

[spikemic]

you need to replace 'volume' with the drive letter of driver to convert.
ex: if you want to conver c: drive its
Convert C: /FS:NTFS /V

Convert volume /FS:NTFS [/V]
Volume
Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), volume mount point, or volume name that you want to convert

/FS:NTFS
Specifies converting the volume to NTFS

/V
Runs the Convert command in verbose mode

is the full info.

this is a one time deal as theres no command to go back.
convert /? will get you info on the command at a dos prompt although not as easy to read as what i gave you.
hope that helps more