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Thread ID: 104828 2009-11-09 20:44:00 Problem formatting a 1 Tb HDD jupiter1 (2578) Press F1
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828655 2009-11-09 20:44:00 I recently bought a Seagate 1 Tb external HDD

It is to be used principally on a Win 2K pro SP4 machine but will also be used across several other machines with Win XP, Win 95 Win 98 and Linux operating systems.

The drive is formatted in NTFS but I need to format it in FAT32 to be compatible with all these different machines.
I intend using the Win2k machine for this.

For some reason I am unable to do this and get various error messages such as "volume size too big".

Do I need to make smaller partitions or is there some other trick that I don't know about ?

All help appreciated.
jupiter1 (2578)
828656 2009-11-09 20:52:00 If you want to format it in FAT32, you'll have to format / partition the hdd Then install whatever OS. Starting from the earliest to the latest version of windows Speedy Gonzales (78)
828657 2009-11-09 20:54:00 Maximum Sizes on FAT32 Volumes

A FAT32 volume must have a minimum of 65,527 clusters. The maximum number of clusters that Windows 2000 can mount on a FAT32 volume is 4,177,918. Windows 2000 can format volumes up to 32 GB, but it can use larger volumes created by other operating systems. Table 17.4 lists FAT32 size limits.

Table 17.4 FAT32 Size Limits

Description

Maximum file size 2 32 minus 1 bytes

Maximum volume size 32 GB (This is due to the Windows 2000 Format tool. The maximum volume size that Windows 98 can create is 127.53 GB).

Files per volume Approximately 2 22


Also see here support.microsoft.com
fred_fish (15241)
828658 2009-11-09 22:04:00 Guys,
This is a USB drive.
I have trolled the Seagate and Microsoft help sites but have not found anything which helps me.

Fred Fish.... I'm sure all your info is good but unfortunately it is mostly gibberish to me.

Speedy.....I can make various sized partitions but still get the "volume size too big" error message when trying to format in FAT32 (or just FAT ).
This will be a data only drive, no operating system.

As always, all suggestions will be welcome.
jupiter1 (2578)
828659 2009-11-09 22:34:00 use gparted
gparted.sourceforge.net
KarameaDave (15222)
828660 2009-11-09 22:41:00 You need to use a third-party format tool, otherwise you're limited to 32GB partitions (do you really want 30 partitions?) with FAT32 and the Win2k/XP format utility. inphinity (7274)
828661 2009-11-09 22:52:00 You need to use a third-party format tool, otherwise you're limited to 32GB partitions (do you really want 30 partitions?) with FAT32 and the Win2k/XP format utility.

x2. Gparted is a good bet.
wratterus (105)
828662 2009-11-10 00:39:00 Google fat32format - it's a utility. Can run it from within Windows too. pctek (84)
828663 2009-11-10 11:19:00 Perhaps this will help with using fat32format
www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk
feersumendjinn (64)
828664 2009-11-10 21:20:00 Good luck finding W95 and W98 drivers for it.
W98 SP2 brought in USB support, but I wouldn't hold your breath getting it recognised on an OS older than that.
Paul.Cov (425)
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