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Formatting as FAT32 - how?
Name: Windoze Date: December 10, 2005 at 12:43:30 Pacific OS: XP CPU/Ram: 2Ghz
Comment:
I've been told I need to format my hard-drive as FAT32 for compatibility with Apples.
What do I do?
When I go to Disk management, I can't see any alternative options to Windows NTFS format.
Name: StuartS Date: December 10, 2005 at 13:53:19 Pacific
Reply:
You are not looking hard enough. Its there in a pull down menu.
Stuart
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Response Number 2
Name: cliffpage Date: December 10, 2005 at 13:58:38 Pacific
Reply:
what size hard disc? i know when installing XP from scratch on a reformated disc it asks whether you want NTFS or FAT32 - but only if the hard disc is below a certain size. Bigger discs automatically do NTFS. I'm not sure where it changes but I am pretty sure 20gb gives the option and 40gb does not. I do not know if this affects what you can change on an existing XP installation like yours.
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Response Number 3
Name: vois2 Date: December 10, 2005 at 14:32:10 Pacific
Reply:
You can also use software provided by the manufacturer of the hard drive to format the hard drive in FAT32 format, no matter what size the volume.
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Response Number 4
Name: Windoze Date: December 10, 2005 at 15:26:42 Pacific
Reply:
Cliffpage - the Hard Drive is 300GB - it doesn't give me the FAT32 option. I've forgotten about the software disk but it wasn't very useful the last time I looked at it..
Stuart -
just what is in that pull-down menu that is relevant to what I've asked? I can't find anything. No doubt you'll say I'm still not looking hard enough :(
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Response Number 5
Name: jam Date: December 10, 2005 at 16:43:39 Pacific
Reply:
Why do you want to format a 300GB HDD as FAT32 anyway? You do realize that you'll lose your data & will have to reinstall Windows, unless you're talking about a conversion? The floppy or CD that comes with the HDD can be used to partition & format...as vois2 stated, it will allow you to format in FAT32 regardless of the partition size, & should also allow you to choose your cluster size as well
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building a htpc
