formatting to fat32

[mercmanuk]

how can i format a 500gb hdd to fat32 rather then ntfs file system,ive a media streamer and it will only accept a hdd with fat 32,i understand about the 30gd linmit with fat32

cheers again

 

[grober]

you could try this free utility. MAXBLAST MaxBlast 5 | Seagate

 

[The G.F.P]

so does it mean if you make it a FAT32 your 500gb will only be able to do 32gb?

 

[HughJarse]

It means your file size can't be bigger than about 4.5 gig.

Have you tried right clicking on it, going to format and then picking fat32?

 

[MrT]

Don't think Windows will let you do it, you need a hard drive manufacturer's app to format it in DOS or something. Done it before but then had file size problems with ISOs as above.

 

[sencem]

hi there mate.
attached is a command line based tool to format with FAT32, when the partition is bigger than 32GB

Cheers

 

[sencem]

or check this link out for a tool with graphical user interface

Fat32FormatterEN.zip

 

[PCnerd59]

Why not split the 500GB HDD into 2 or more partitions, one of which can be 30GB for your FAT 32 - you can then Format the other(s) as NTFS if you wish.

Partition Magic would be needed to do this.

 

[sencem]

because he'd most likely want to use all the capacity with the media player he has and that device wouldn't read anything but FAT32.

browsing multiple partitions (15 - 16 partitions in this case) might be (no, will be) very annoying if the device does not index files from all partitions into one big list.