I was getting ready to format a external hard drive to FAT32 and the only option I have besides NTFS is exFAT. Any clue on what exFAT is and is it compatible with FAT32?
I was reformatting it for that one awesome DVD player to watch movies on but it has to be FAT32. Any clue? I'm too tired to google, nite.
I understand all of this perfectly
I was trying to reformat my external HD: How to format an External Hard Drive or Flash Drive
If I plug it into my DVD player right now it says "No Data Found"
What are you using to format it with, just Windows? Windows won't let you format Fat32 on any drives over 32GB. You may want to give a 3rd party program a try instead, like Acronis Disk Director. But that's a full fledged drive utility. They have a trial version you can use just to see if it'll do it. Or this little free app specifically for formatting.
Yeah I discoverd that but then I discovered that I could reformat it in DOS so I did it that way (thread to follow on how). I do want to reformat another external so I will try out one of those programs and take screen shots and add it to the future thread
edit: thread done: How To Reformat A Hard Drive To FAT32 In Win7 or Vista
a 3rd party program a try instead, like Acronis Disk Director. But that's a full fledged drive utility. They have a trial version you can use just to see if it'll do it.
This one does work in Windows 7
Or this little free app specifically for formatting.
This does not work in Windows 7 or Vista - the last OS it worked in was XP
This does not work in Windows 7 or Vista - the last OS it worked in was XP
Bummer, I suppose it could always be run in a virtual machine, like with VMWare or so. Just out of curiosity, did ya try running it in compatibility mode?
I have Windows 7 home addition - no compatibility mode (that is the premium version)
I reformatted mine in DOS - it wasn't that bad I started it and went to bed. I did get up and look at it in the middle of the night (I was up anyways). I did this: How To Reformat A Hard Drive To FAT32 In Win7 or Vista
Plus the nice thing about doing it via DOS is it totally re-writes the drive. If your looking to really wipe a drive clean that is the way to do it. There is no retrieving the data once on it unless you have a FBI retrieval disk.
i have a buddy that could retrieve old form old junk hard-drives but it it takes alot of time hours of doing it his program could get every deleted program-file or files pictures and all so the best way of clearing or wipping your hard-drive is to bust it up take a hamer to it and just because it looks like its been cleared out all the way it hasn't trust me
Go to TPB and download either Windows 7 anytime upgrade key generator, or just download the entire Windows 7
and install it manually like I did. make sure you select the option for upgrade not a 'clean' install, otherwise you'll lose everything and with with Windows 7
its very hard to reinstall hardware such as an integrated microphone. it'll get you through life.
Wellington Florida
Married
OK I did my reasearch (I was way to tired last night) and NO its not compatible with FAT32 but it is compatible with FAT64. Here is the skinny between all of the different formats:
NTFS vs FAT
Criteria
NTFS5
NTFS
exFAT/FAT64
FAT32
FAT16
FAT12
Operating System
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows CE 6.0
Windows Vista SP1
Windows 7
WinXP+KB955704
DOS v7 and higher
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Windows Vista
Windows 7
DOS
All versions of
Microsoft Windows
DOS
All versions of
Microsoft Windows
Limitations
Max Volume Size
2TB
2TB
64ZB
32GB for all OS.
2TB for some OS
2GB for all OS.
4GB for some OS
16MB
Max Files on Volume
Nearly Unlimited
Nearly Unlimited
Nearly Unlimited
4194304
65536
Max File Size
Limit Only by
Volume Size
Limit Only by
Volume Size
16ZB
4GB minus 2 Bytes
2GB (Limit Only
by Volume Size)
16MB (Limit Only
by Volume Size)
Max Clusters Number
Nearly Unlimited
Nearly Unlimited
4294967295
4177918
65520
4080
Max File Name Length
Up to 255
Up to 255
Up to 255
Up to 255
Standard - 8.3
Extended - up to 255
Up to 254
File System Features
Unicode File Names
Unicode
Character Set
Unicode
Character Set
Unicode
Character Set
System
Character Set
System
Character Set
System
Character Set
System Records Mirror
MFT Mirror File
MFT Mirror File
No
Second Copy of FAT
Second Copy of FAT
Second Copy of FAT
Boot Sector Location
First and Last Sectors
First and Last Sectors
Sectors 0 to 11
Copy in 12 to 23
First Sector and
Copy in Sector #6
First Sector
First Sector
File Attributes
Standard and Custom
Standard and Custom
Standard Set
Standard Set
Standard Set
Standard Set
Alternate Streams
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Compression
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Encryption
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Object Permissions
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Disk Quotas
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Sparse Files
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Reparse Points
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Volume Mount Points
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Overall Performance
Built-In Security
Yes
Yes
Yes
minimal ACL only
No
No
No
Recoverability
Yes
Yes
Yes
if TFAT activated
No
No
No
Performance
Low on small volumes
High on Large
Low on small volumes
High on Large
High
High on small volumes
Low on large
Highest on small volumes
Low on large
High
Disk Space Economy
Max
Max
Max
Average
Minimal on large volumes
Max
Fault Tolerance
Max
Max
Yes
if TFAT activated
Minimal
Average
Average