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Format External Hard Drive FAT32
Name: Bill (by justin110332) Date: March 11, 2005 at 13:19:26 Pacific OS: Windows XP Home Edition CPU/Ram: 2.0ghz 512mb
Comment:
I got a difficult one here. I have both a xp computer and a windows 98 pc. My external hard drive i save all my files on is ntfs. I want to format the hard drive as fat32 so the 98 pc can see it but xp only lets you do ntfs for it. I tryed to format it on the 98 computer but since it is ntfs it can't see the partition or drive letter so it can't format either. The drivers are installed also. Am i stumped or do i have to buy a third party utility to use my hard drive. Why does microsoft make it where you can't format drives the way you want?? I use my external on many different computers so i need a universal file system.
Name: wanderer Date: March 11, 2005 at 13:27:05 Pacific
Reply:
How big is the drv? XP can only do 32gig for fat32 but 98 doesn't have that limit. Sounds like the drive is bigger than 32gig which is why xp wants ntfs.
Boot 98. Go into fdisk. Choose the external drive. delete the partition. recreate the partition. Exit fdisk and reboot. Go back into 98 and format the external disk.
Now both can write to this drive.
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Response Number 2
Name: per Date: March 11, 2005 at 15:05:58 Pacific
Reply:
Look at ranish.com.
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Response Number 3
Name: DCM Date: March 11, 2005 at 17:58:27 Pacific
Reply:
Partition Magic will let your format it any way you want. I just used it to solve the same problem with a USB 2.0 external drive.
Summary: When I use my WD 1TB external hard drive with my computer (Connected through eSATA, USB or Firewire) the boot up times are much slower. It stays on the BOIS screen for minutes sometimes. It boots up f...
Summary: if you did it yourself format it in your computer b4 putting in the enclosure, if its a factory assembled unit try these instructions from WD's website The external hard drive should be recognized and...
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