Hard drive partitioning

[DarkRevenant]

Hey All,

I'm trying to partition the internal hard drive on an Alu iMac so it also has a small FAT32 formatted portion, the only problem is, when I go to disk utility FAT32 is not an option under the drop down menu for formats. All it lets me do is Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) or something like that if I recall correctly. Anyone know whats going on here? Thanks in advance.

 

[MarkMS]

Can you make a partition first using Mac OS Extended, then once it's done, try to format the partition to FAT?

 

[DarkRevenant]

I will try this later, but I feel like there should be another way.

 

[MarkMS]

I don't know if you misunderstood me, but I think this is the only way. It really doesn't take but a minute or so, depending on how much space you allot the for the partition.

In Disk Utility, make a new partition. Once it's made, it will tell you it's about to create a partition and that it shouldn't destroy the volume. Once the new one is created, it should show up on the sidebar of Disk Utility. If not, just close Disk Utility and open it again.

Once you see the new partition in the sidebar, click it. There it will give you the option to format the partition into 6 formats. 5 are for Mac OS, and the 6th is MS-DOS (FAT).

It would be awesome if there was another way to just set the partition to FAT from the get go, but I have yet to see it.

 

[DarkRevenant]

I don't know if you misunderstood me, but I think this is the only way. It really doesn't take but a minute or so, depending on how much space you allot the for the partition.

In Disk Utility, make a new partition. Once it's made, it will tell you it's about to create a partition and that it shouldn't destroy the volume. Once the new one is created, it should show up on the sidebar of Disk Utility. If not, just close Disk Utility and open it again.

Once you see the new partition in the sidebar, click it. There it will give you the option to format the partition into 6 formats. 5 are for Mac OS, and the 6th is MS-DOS (FAT).

It would be awesome if there was another way to just set the partition to FAT from the get go, but I have yet to see it.

You lose me halfway through. I cannot create the partitioned volume without also formatting it to the Mac OS Extended from the get go. I don't know how to create a partition with no format at first, then go back and format it later.

 

[MarkMS]

You lose me halfway through. I cannot create the partitioned volume without also formatting it to the Mac OS Extended from the get go. I don't know how to create a partition with no format at first, then go back and format it later.

Oops, sorry. You need to make the partition using Mac OS Ext format first.

1. Make a partition using Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility.
2. Once the partition is made, close Disk Utility and open it again.
3. On the sidebar in Disk Utility, you should see the new partition. Click it.
4. On the "Erase" tab, change the format of the new partition to FAT.

I just ran through the steps myself and made my own partition to make sure I'm not leading you the wrong way. Hope this helps.

 

[DarkRevenant]

Oops, sorry. You need to make the partition using Mac OS Ext format first.

1. Make a partition using Mac OS Extended in Disk Utility.
2. Once the partition is made, close Disk Utility and open it again.
3. On the sidebar in Disk Utility, you should see the new partition. Click it.
4. On the "Erase" tab, change the format of the new partition to FAT.

I just ran through the steps myself and made my own partition to make sure I'm not leading you the wrong way. Hope this helps.

This was perfect, thanks!