FAT32 format help

D

Decay

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 31, 2003
Messages
112
I have an external drive I want to use to switch between pc's and macs, and I know that the only format capable of doing that is FAT32. So my problem is XP has the 32GB limit, but I want to make my entire 160GB drive FAT32... Does any1 know any programs other than partition magic that are free (I dont want to spend $70 on a program and only use it once)

Also I searched and found that there is a way to do it in cmd prompt but I dont know the syntax for that operation, pls help.
 
You can do it with Linux, try a bootable disk like Knoppix or DamnSmallLinux if you don't want to download much.

 
I believe you can do this with a windows XP or 98 bootdisk, anything that will get you to a CMD prompt. What I usually do is I boot up with an XP CD and then if the drive is plugged in, during the "install windows on ____ partition" stage the drive is listed in the table there, and you can choose to format it there without needing to install. If you have a 98se bootdisk, it's even easier.

I believe you'll need to have the disk already plugged in and on. Boot to a command prompt and then type in "fdisk" and hopefully (not sure, never did it with a USB disk) it should allow you to format and partition. If not, do what unhappy_mage said and download and burn an linux boot disk, it'll alow you do format and partition in a GUI-friendly format. I'm not sure why you wouldn't want a linux solution, as it is only a bootdisk, but you should try it out if you still have problems.

Good luck
 
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