Format 3TB drive to FAT32 format 3TB drive to FAT32

[GaryGoad]

Hello, i need to format a 3TB hard drive to a FAT32. please help

 

[GaryGoad]

4 gig? how so?

 

[Hawkeye22]

Use fat32formatter. Do realize that file sizes will be restricted to 4 gig under fat32.

http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/

 

[GaryGoad]

i tried that formatter and it stops at 754GB

 

[Hawkeye22]

That's the nature of fat32.

The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte or 4,294,967,295 (232−1) bytes. This limit is a consequence of the file length entry in the directory table and would also affect huge FAT16 partitions with a sufficient sector size.[1] Video applications, large databases, and some other software easily exceed this limit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table

 

[Hawkeye22]

Ugh, sorry. The lat time I used it I only needed a 700MB partition. I just assumed it would do larger. Just google fat32 formatter and you should find more of them. It sucks that windows restricts fat32 volume size.

 

[Hawkeye22]

This one is supposed to be up to 2TB. Also, if this is for a PS3, I've heard the maximum drive size it can read is 2TB, so this may work for you.

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm

 

[WyomingKnott]

Be patient with me: Why do you want to format a 3 TB drive to fat32? Have you initialized it as an MBR drive or a GUID drive?

Unless there is a very specific need for it, you should probably use some other format (or get a smaller drive and use this one for your data on your PC).

Of course, I don't know what you need this for.

 

[GaryGoad]

I work at a computer repair store and we recently bought the 3TB to store customer data and want to use a bigger drive rather then multiple drives

 

[GaryGoad]

moving the data to FAT32 removes the ntfs security which we require when moving data

 

[sherlockwing]

Be patient with me: Why do you want to format a 3 TB drive to fat32? Have you initialized it as an MBR drive or a GUID drive?

Unless there is a very specific need for it, you should probably use some other format (or get a smaller drive and use this one for your data on your PC).

Of course, I don't know what you need this for.

The only reason would be for using the external with a console, since PS3 only recognize HDD/Externals in the FAT32 format. So if you are stuck with a lower storage console or one that came with 4GB SSD and no HDD you might need to format an external to FAT32 and use it as your console's HDD.

The other option is to buy a 500-1TB 2.5" laptop HDD and do the internal HDD upgrade yourself.

 

[Hawkeye22]

moving the data to FAT32 removes the ntfs security which we require when moving data

I'm not sure why you need these requirements. It would be easier to use a GPT partition so that you can format the full 3TB.

FAT32 may also restrict you to a 2TB volume size.

The boot sector uses a 32-bit field for the sector count, limiting the FAT32 volume size to 2 TB for a sector size of 512 bytes.

This is from the same link I posted earlier.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Sounds as if you could initialize the drive as a GUID drive and make two FAT32 partitions. One at the 2 TB size limit; one to hold the rest. Assuming that your customers all have mobos and OSes that can deal with drives over 2 TB.

It sounds to me as if you should use 2 2TB drives and play to the lowest common denominator.