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External HDD formats?

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rob0976   10-22-2009 at 01:38:19 PM

will the Western Digital Elements 500GB USB 2.0 Midnight Black Portable Hard Drive format to fat32

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Bronze Storage badge evongugg   10-22-2009 at 04:46:33 PM
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Yes, you may need to delete the existing partition and repartition it to FAT32.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat32#FAT32


Message edited by evongugg on 10-22-2009 at 04:51:10 PM
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Bronze Storage badge Paperdoc   10-22-2009 at 04:55:14 PM
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Before you do that, check details on what is the maximum Partition size you can use for a FAT32 File System. In a few cases you have to make two smaller Partitions and Format them separately to stay within that limit.

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Bronze Storage badge evongugg   10-22-2009 at 05:14:37 PM
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That problem exists if you try to do a new installation of XP. ;)
Not with a data drive.

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Bronze Storage badge Paperdoc   10-22-2009 at 06:10:38 PM
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evongugg prompted me to look it up myself on M$ Support. It does say there is a real size limit on FAT32 Partition size ONLY if they are created as part of the XP Install process. (So, it is recommended NOT to INSTALL to a FAT32-formatted Partition.) But when creating from a running version of Windows, the articles suggest FAT32 File System can be used on Partitions up to 2 TB, well beyond OP's concerns.

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