How to change external HD from Fat32

[kovy17]

How can I change external hd so i can drag a 8 gig folder into it

 

[swiftaw]

Format it using disk utility?

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

Format it using disk utility?

Bingo

 

[kovy17]

Thanks for the replies. Will I lose all my data on it if i do this? Also would someone be kind enough to walk me through what to do or provide a link that can help

 

[plinden]

Yes, you will lose all your data. You can't non-destructively convert the file system from FAT32 in OS X.

Your best option would be to attach your HD to a Windows machine and convert it to NTFS. You can do it with the DOS command "convert X: /fs:ntfs" (I think, going by memory here - you'd better double and triple check first), where X: is the drive letter after you connect it.

Then install NTFS-3g on your Mac to provide read/write access to NTFS.

Edit: I'd better add a warning. Although "convert" is the safest way of converting Windows filesystems, there's always the chance of something going wrong in such a fundamental operation. Microsoft recommends you backup any data on the drive first.

 

[kovy17]

So there is absolutley no other way to drag a file over 4gb into a external??

 

[plinden]

Not if it's FAT32.

You do have a Windows machine, don't you? I'm assuming you do else there's no reason why you would have a FAT32 drive.

 

[kovy17]

Actually I am not sure if its FAT32 or not. I just assumed it was cause i heard you cant drag a file larger than 4gb into it. Right after i bought the HD I plugged it straight into my mac. Its never been plugged into a windows machine.

 

[plinden]

Ah ok - you just used the default. External drives always come formatted as FAT32 since that's the format that will work in all OSs. I have only Macs at home, and the first thing I do with an external drive is format it as HFS+.

Is there any way you can back up the data off the drive and reformat it? If you have Macs only, reformat as HFS (journalled)

 

[kovy17]

Yes I have another drive I can put my files in. If you dont mind could you tell what i do in Disk utility to change it into Journaled.

 

[plinden]

The attached screen shot is from Leopard, but I seem to remember that Tiger's is similar - I'm not sure what OS you have. (Don't worry about those HD icons. I changed them to blue Apple symbols so I could tell at a glance if my drives were HFS+. All my drives are now, but I like the symbol)

Select the external drive, select the Erase tab, then set the Volume Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click the Erase button.

 

[i.shaun]

the folder should go if it has smaller files in it all less than 4GB in size.


I dragged my 20GB iTunes onto my FAT32 External Drive. You may wonder why I use a FAT32 drive, but it's simple. I could hook it to a mac, to a Pc, and to a Ps3.

Sure I can find a way for the PC to read HFS+, or make the mac read NTFS, however the PS3 has no file system support for anything other than FAT32 and whatever it happens to use.

 

[plinden]

I have my main external drive set up to be shared from the Mac it is permanently connected to. When I bring home my work PC laptop, I just map it on the PC ... no need to physically switch the drive, so no need to format as anything other than HFS+