Fat32 Limitations

[wja777]

What is the capacity limitations of fat32?

I am in the process of formatting an external 120 gig hdd, and I can fomrat the entire hd with ntfs, but not using fat32... i can only get to 32 gig...

[Midknyte]

if you are using win2000 or xp, then it limits you to 32GBmax for FAT32.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;184006

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 GB in size using the FAT32 file system in Windows 2000. The Windows 2000 FastFAT driver can mount and support volumes larger than 32 GB that use the FAT32 file system (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create one using the Format tool. This behavior is by design. If you need to create a volume larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system instead.

[Steve R Jones]

Looks like you answered your own question....


Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314463&Product=winxp

[Steve R Jones]

Great minds think a like or I type slower:-@

[wja777]

Thanks guys, I thought that was the case, but I wanted to make sure there was not something special you had to do to go larger than 32gb. Formatting using ntfs as we speak....

[crossedup]

If you want to go higher than 32Gb you will have to use a W98 boot floppy but since its an external HD that would never work.

Partition magic would do it though. Ive got a 200GB HD here with a 168Gb FAT 32 partition. No problems.

[G]

FAT32x FS volumes greater than 32GB become unstable and are more prone to result in a system boot failure etc. Data recovery becomes problematic too.

I would stick with a 32GB partition for Fat32x FS only. Otherwise, use NFFS FS.

For Win2K+ I would recommend a FAT32x FS for the bootable and/or system partition. All other partitions sizes using NTFS FS can be unlimited. Even if you have to install Windows again the NTFS volumes will remain intact, so data recovery will not be problematic. NTFS FS has data recovery capabilities that FAT32x will not have, but this is dependent, in part, to the boot partition and/or system partition being a NTFS volume too.

[wja777]

I am now having trouble with "dissappearing formatted drives" on this drive enclosure.

I have formatted both with ntfs and fat32 with and without partition magic, deleted the partition and used different size partitions.

It is after coping several hundred mbs of data to the drive, the data just dissappears. The partition stays intact, but the format goes away.

This is a brand new segate st312002-6a 120 gig 8 mg cache hard drive. The enclosure is a standard usb2 enclosure.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this problem..??