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Formatting external hard drive 320 GB to Fat 32

Rachelle -  
 jmama -
Hello
I bought a 320GB external hard drive to put in a multimedia case.
I need to format this HDD in FAT32.
After consulting many forums, here’s what I tried:
formatting on a PC with W2000; I connected the HDD via USB and internally, nothing worked
Same on a PC with XP.
I then installed Partition Magic 8 on both PCs and tried formatting again, both internally and via USB.
Nothing works

On the W2000 PC, when I go through the disk manager, it formats but 30 seconds before completion, it tells me the formatting has failed.

I also tried using the command panel on the XP PC (USB connection), that didn’t work either but I’m not sure I typed the right command.

Do you have any other ideas to suggest, please?
Thank you for your help
Rachelle
Configuration: Windows XP and W2000

6 answers

  1.
    harno Posted messages 512 Status Member 32
     
    Hello,

    I just formatted a 1 TB disk into a single 1 TB FAT32 partition using Paragon Hard Disk Manager, available for free at this link:
    https://freewares-tutos.blogspot.com/2008/11/offre-promotionnelle-paragon-hard-disk.html

    This partition is recognized by my Win98se and WinXP. Partition Magic recognizes it too, but refuses to resize it, just like Paragon. Once created, the size cannot be changed (but you can still delete the partition)

    I also have another 500 GB disk with a single FAT32 partition.
    3
  2. BMZ-75 Posted messages 21 Status Member 15
     
    Hello Rachelle.

    Unless I'm mistaken, we can only format a maximum of 32GB in FAT32.

    So, several options to try:
    # You partition your disk into partitions, the first being a maximum of 32GB.
    The rest of the disk as you wish.
    # You place a jumper restriction on the programming matrix (back of the hard drive, between the data pin and the power cable - see hard drive documentation).
    In this case, your final disk will only have 32GB in total!!!

    First, I suggest you read this explanation, found elsewhere, on the site:
    large capacity hard drive not recognized 128GB

    I hope I have guided you.

    Best regards.
    1
  3. jeanlou
     
    Hello,
    I have a 350 GB external WD drive that I formatted in 4 seconds using the free software Swissknife.

    I'm sharing the site to download it. See you later, Jean Lou.

    http://www.compuapps.com/download/Swissknife/swissknife.htm
    1
    1. samuelle
       
      Hi Jean-Lou
      How did you do? Is the software in English?
      0
  4. MacGeol
     
    Hello,

    Thank you Harno for this contribution, such free software is really interesting.
    However, I successfully obtained an activation key, BUT I don't know where to download the corresponding software, namely: Hard Disk 8.5 special edition.
    Maybe a link? Because I can't find it on the Paragon site...

    THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!!
    1
  6. Nikita
     
    Hello Hello,

    Little problem (well, small if it can be solved :)) similar, I just bought a LaCie External 320 Go, I connect it under Mac OS, a little program offers me two solutions, either format Mac, or a Mac partition and a partition for exchanging with other operating systems, I choose a pure Mac format knowing full well that as soon as the little one is finished I will reformat everything in FAT 32 with the disk utility so that all machines can recognize it and that I can take and give whatever I want regardless of the operating system. With my last HDD there was no problem.

    So I format in FAT32 (MS-OS) with the utility, everything’s fine under MAC OS X it tells me that it sees the disk in FAT32. And there oh surprise none of the machines under Windows that I think (three in total) shows me the HDD in the workstation, although it detects and installs new hardware, I tried connecting it before starting the machine, after... Nothing works my FAT32 is not accessible under Windows.

    Any idea?

    Thanks in advance
    1
    1. 00lol
       
      Reformat it to NTFS.
      0
  7. jmama
     
    I had this problem too with a hard drive just like you...

    and I was given a solution in the Windows manager... check if the space of the drive formatted in FAT32 is properly allocated...

    Because I had formatted it... but there was completely nothing at all and the 500GB of my drive was showing as unallocated in Windows (even though it worked perfectly fine on Mac)

    So, I allocated space to the drive :) and voilà, just unplug it and plug it back in, it recognized the device and now it's working fine ;) ...

    Hope this helps, good luck!
    1