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FAT32 What am I doing wrong? Doesn't show up in "My Computer"

Zmmyt

Zmmyt

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 6, 2005
1,763
887
Hi everyone,

I got myself a 160 portable HDD.

I formated it in FAT32 so I could use it in a Mac and a Windows-PC environment.

The drive shows up fine on my Mac but not in "My Computer" on Windows, but it's registered as a Mass Storage Device in the Device Manager.

What went wrong?

What do I need to do?

cheers
 
Is this on a real Windows computer (or Boot Camp) or in a VM? Did you format the drive using OS X or Windows?

My initial guess is that it's using FAT32 inside GUID/APM, which (as far as I know) Windows can't read.
 
I formatted it under OS X and want to use it on "real" Windows machines.
 
FAT32 is limited to Drives of 137GB or less. You will either need to format it in HFS+ and find a way to read it in Windows, format in NTFS and find a way to write to it in OS X, or try formatting it into multiple FAT32 drives.

TEG
 
TEG said:
FAT32 is limited to Drives of 137GB or less. You will either need to format it in HFS+ and find a way to read it in Windows, format in NTFS and find a way to write to it in OS X, or try formatting it into multiple FAT32 drives.

TEG
Click to expand...

How do I partion it in FAT32 on OS X?
 
In Disc Utility, there should be an option to create multiple partitions of the HD. Each one should have the option for different formats. This WILL wipe the drive, so if you have anything on it, back it up.

TEG
 
TEG said:
In Disc Utility, there should be an option to create multiple partitions of the HD. Each one should have the option for different formats. This WILL wipe the drive, so if you have anything on it, back it up.

TEG
Click to expand...

I'm afraid it's not that easy, not at all.

I formatted it in NTFS and will carry MacFUSE + NTFS-3G on my USB stick with me around, in case another Mac doesn't have it.
 
1dterbeest said:
that's funny, because i formatted a 200gb external drive with FAT32 and it worked fine...
Click to expand...

There's no reason why it wouldn't format fine... the limitation is the 32MB partition limitation.

If you have any files over 32MB, you're screwed. It's just an awful file system, too... HFS+ all the way... if you need to use it with Windows, get MacDrive or something like it.. that's my advice.
 
JimmyDThing said:
There's no reason why it wouldn't format fine... the limitation is the 32MB partition limitation.

If you have any files over 32MB, you're screwed. It's just an awful file system, too... HFS+ all the way... if you need to use it with Windows, get MacDrive or something like it.. that's my advice.
Click to expand...

That's all kinds of wrong. There is a 4 gig file size limit. I have a 250 gig external HD formatted as FAT32 that I use to transfer large videos and files back and forth between Leopard and Vista.

OP - go into the command prompt on the PC and type the following:

format X: /FAT32

Simply substitute X with the current letter assigned to your drive and you're fine. It'll confirm you want to format and erase data, then just let it do it's work. No problems!
 
newappleboy said:
That's all kinds of wrong. There is a 4 gig file size limit. I have a 250 gig external HD formatted as FAT32 that I use to transfer large videos and files back and forth between Leopard and Vista.

OP - go into the command prompt on the PC and type the following:

format X: /FAT32

Simply substitute X with the current letter assigned to your drive and you're fine. It'll confirm you want to format and erase data, then just let it do it's work. No problems!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give it a try.
 
newappleboy said:
That's all kinds of wrong. There is a 4 gig file size limit. I have a 250 gig external HD formatted as FAT32 that I use to transfer large videos and files back and forth between Leopard and Vista.
Click to expand...


My mistake, you are correct... 4 gig file size limit. But I still think it's awful.... in my experience anytime I try to transfer large quantities of data to FAT32, it freezes up every after several gigs.
 
Tymmz said:
Thanks, I'll give it a try.
Click to expand...

Be sure to let us know how it goes. I think this'll be the best solution for your needs.

JimmyDThing said:
My mistake, you are correct... 4 gig file size limit. But I still think it's awful.... in my experience anytime I try to transfer large quantities of data to FAT32, it freezes up every after several gigs.
Click to expand...

I agree, but it's the only solution that actually works without having to have extra software installed on one or both platforms. If wireless network transfer speeds were faster I'd just do that, but I convert videos on my MBP then move them to my Vista PC for desktop storage. It'd take forever to move that much media without an external drive acting as a medium.
 
newappleboy said:
OP - go into the command prompt on the PC and type the following:

format X: /FAT32

Simply substitute X with the current letter assigned to your drive and you're fine. It'll confirm you want to format and erase data, then just let it do it's work. No problems!
Click to expand...

It says

invalid parameter - /FAT32

when I try it your way.

Any other suggestions?
 
Tymmz

Which version of OS X are you running, Leopard???

From experience, I tried to format an external FAT32 to use on my PS3, and leopards MSDOS formatting just would not show up on the PS3... Then tried formatting on a laptop running Tiger and it worked just fine. I don't know if they've addressed this issue with 10.5.2 or not though.

Goodluck
 
platypus63 said:
Tymmz

Which version of OS X are you running, Leopard???

From experience, I tried to format an external FAT32 to use on my PS3, and leopards MSDOS formatting just would not show up on the PS3... Then tried formatting on a laptop running Tiger and it worked just fine. I don't know if they've addressed this issue with 10.5.2 or not though.

Goodluck
Click to expand...

I'm running Leopard.

But so far nplima's approach seems to work.
 
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