Can't Format FAT!

[KlutZ]

I had to reinstall windows, so I took the occasion to totally wipe all my hard drives and start new, since I was starting to get low on space. I noticed during the install that windows only gave me the option to format with NTFS. Well, that's cool, I want my windows partition as NTFS anyways. So I format and install windows.
After installing all the updates, drivers and whatnot, it's time for me to start using my second drive. So, I go to format it in disk management, and the only option I get is NTFS. WTF!! So I download the trial of partition magic. It's useless. All it does is remind me that I have a trial version, and that I should get a retail version if I want to do that. Which I'm not going to do. I'm not paying that much for something that I'll never use again. At least it gave me the option for FAT32. Although, we'll never know if it actually works.
Now I try FDISK from an 98 boot disk. That didn't work. Sorry I can't remember exactly what it said.
I'm downloading something now called ultimate boot CD, but I don't really think that I'll get anywhere with it.

Just in case your wondering why I don't just use NTFS, I dual boot XP and Gentoo, and I use this drive for storage in both. Also to move files from windows to gentoo.

TIA
KlutZ

 

[mooPdead]

hmm, in 2000/xp you should be able to format as fat32

edit: well, maybe not, i dont have the option in winxp disk management to format as fat32 either.. i think i did back when i ran 2000... oh well i guess; should be able to make a partition and do it from a boot disk

 

[KlutZ]

I've always had the option to format with FAT32 during the install. This is the same basic system setup that I've used for a long time now. Never have I not had the option to format FAT on a clean disk.

Edit:
BTW, if your drive is already formated with NTFS, you won't have an option to use FAT32.

 

[whitewale]

Old problem, old solution. The DOS start-up disks cannot remove the NTFS formating, even if you get the partition removed it will tell you you have no space.
Download a program named ZIP, an old IBM routine that overwrites the partition sector of your harddrive completly. After that the Win startup disk will think it deals with a brand new disk and let you partition in FAT32 (I still use that frequently for pure storage myself since it does allow easier access to data if your file system gets corrupted).

 

[Othersider]

Old problem, old solution. The DOS start-up disks cannot remove the NTFS formating, even if you get the partition removed it will tell you you have no space.
Download a program named ZIP, an old IBM routine that overwrites the partition sector of your harddrive completly. After that the Win startup disk will think it deals with a brand new disk and let you partition in FAT32 (I still use that frequently for pure storage myself since it does allow easier access to data if your file system gets corrupted).

Wouldn't a simple low-level format with the manufacturer utility do the same thing?

 

[whitewale]

sure, just one copy of Zip replaced a dozen manufacturer's disks.

 

[uzor]

With your 98 book disk, how far did you get? You'd need to go in and delete any partitions that are there already (yes, it will see ntfs and allow you to delete them. It's linux partitions that it doesn't understand. try disk druid for that.). Once you have deleted and recreated your partition, remember that you need to reboot the machine to the same bootdisk and then use the format command on the new drive (so you'd use "FORMAT D:" for example). After that format is done, you should be fine.

If all of that fails, why not just start your linux install, choose a custon disk setup, and format the drive as FAT with it. That should be an option in there for sure.

www.bootdisk.com might have something useful on it as well.

::edit:: and the reason you can't format FAT32 anymore during install is because you are using a version of XP that has SP1/SP2 slipstreamed into it already. That's one of the things that they "fixed".

 

[stevewm]

Christ.....


Windows 2000 and XP will not let you format ANY volume that is over 32GB in with any of the built in tools. Same goes for the installer.

I repeat.. Whenever the partition you are trying to format exceeds 32GB in size FAT/FAT32 will NOT be available as a format option! Only NTFS.

This is a limitation by design. They want you to use NTFS as FAT32 is very ineffcient on volumes that large. (has to use a very large cluster size). But of course this doesn't help as you really do want FAT32.

If you want to format that partition as FAT32 you only have 1 option. Find a 3rd party formatting utility. Partition Magic is nice for this, but as you already noticed the trail version does not let you do much of anything. A DOS 7.x boot disk with format.com shold work, unless your partition lies outside of the 137GB 28-bit LBA limit. In which case DOS 7.x probably won't even be able to see the partition anyways.

I think Ranish Partition Manager should get the job done. Be warned though, it is not a program for the novice user. Only use it if you absolutely know what you are doing. http://www.ranish.com/part/ It has FAT32 formatting abilities. And it seems to support 48-bit LBA so it will be good past 137GB.

 

[BillR]

I’ve never had a problem with Linux and an NTFS disk. Linux just formats and installs what you tell it to.

 

[E4g1e]

I had to reinstall windows, so I took the occasion to totally wipe all my hard drives and start new, since I was starting to get low on space. I noticed during the install that windows only gave me the option to format with NTFS. Well, that's cool, I want my windows partition as NTFS anyways. So I format and install windows.
After installing all the updates, drivers and whatnot, it's time for me to start using my second drive. So, I go to format it in disk management, and the only option I get is NTFS. WTF!! So I download the trial of partition magic. It's useless. All it does is remind me that I have a trial version, and that I should get a retail version if I want to do that. Which I'm not going to do. I'm not paying that much for something that I'll never use again. At least it gave me the option for FAT32. Although, we'll never know if it actually works.
Now I try FDISK from an 98 boot disk. That didn't work. Sorry I can't remember exactly what it said.
I'm downloading something now called ultimate boot CD, but I don't really think that I'll get anywhere with it.

Just in case your wondering why I don't just use NTFS, I dual boot XP and Gentoo, and I use this drive for storage in both. Also to move files from windows to gentoo.

TIA
KlutZ

What size (in GB) is your hard drive?

Windows 98/Me has a total hard drive size limitation at 137GB. Neither Windows 98 nor Windows Me will recognize any ATAPI hard drive larger than 137GB no matter what, unless you use a separate controller card.

As for Windows XP giving you only NTFS as your choice, this implies that you have a hard drive larger than 32GB. Windows XP (and Windows 2000, for that matter) cannot format a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB (although Windows XP/2000 can be installed on a previously formatted FAT32 volume larger than 32GB); any volumes larger than 32GB will be formatted using NTFS.

Based on your info, your ATA hard drive is larger than 137GB.

Oops... My post just mirrors what stevewm had said earlier.

 

[KlutZ]

What size (in GB) is your hard drive?

That's an important peace of information that I left out. I meant to post the size, but I must have forgot.
It's a 40gb ATA drive. Actually it's 37.??gb. My main drive is a 20gb drive split in two for windows and gentoo. That's why I was running out of room. Dang, I need more storage. I forgot about the 32gb limitation. Actually I was thinking that it was much higher than 32gb for some reason. However, I know that this can be done, because I've done it. It's just been a very long time, and I forget how I did it. I guess my age is starting to show.

Thanks again
KlutZ