Format External HDD

mike09

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i just got a 80gig WD drive and but it in my external enclosure. i want to format it to fat32 but how would i go about doing this.
i tryed to go through disk management and creat a new partition but will only allow me to format to NTFS. also should i make a primary or extended partition? many thanks in advance.
 
mike09 said:
i just got a 80gig WD drive and but it in my external enclosure. i want to format it to fat32 but how would i go about doing this.
i tryed to go through disk management and creat a new partition but will only allow me to format to NTFS. also should i make a primary or extended partition? many thanks in advance.

Will this be just a secondary drive or will you boot from it? I know if you boot from an XP CD to a new drive it'll ask you if you what file system to format it to, FAT32 or NTFS.
 
You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314463

You could try creating the partition in Disk Management, and then formatting it from the Command Prompt (Start>Run>cmd) using "format X: /FS:FAT32"
 
if this is your secondary drive, go to your command prompt and use the "format" command!

Formats a disk for use with Windows XP.

FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/A:size] [/C] [/X]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q]
FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, or NTFS).
/V:label Specifies the volume label.
/Q Performs a quick format.
/C NTFS only: Files created on the new volume will be compressed
by default.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened
handles to the volume would no longer be valid.
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default settings
are strongly recommended for general use.
NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).

Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the
following restrictions on the number of clusters on a volume:

FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526
FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 4177918

Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that
the above requirements cannot be met using the specified
cluster size.

NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit sizes
above 4096.

/F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (1.44)
/T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
/N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.


(ah, good old DOS!)
(damn, NetRyder beat me to it!)
 
make the partition primary and if you really need fat32, you're gonna have to make 3 partitions to use all 80 gigs of that hdd.
 
also i have a little 10gig formated to fat32 but when i plug it in it shows up like a normal drive in my computer not a removeable storage device.
 

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