How to format external hard drive to FAT32 in Windows

Trying to format a large external USB or Firewire hard drive to the FAT32 filesystem? Can’t do it? Only see an option for formatting the drive using the NTFS file format? Well if you answered yes any of those questions, then you’re at the right place.

I was recently trying to format my 1 TB MyBook external hard drive in Windows XP to FAT32 instead of the overly forced-upon NTFS format. Why? Well because I needed to connect it to a NAS device and the NTFS permissions were causing the NAS not to be able to access the drive. Simple solution is to use FAT32, no security, no problems. Though it’s sometimes useful to format a USB drive in NTFS format.

Also, formatting a drive in FAT or FAT32 will allow it to be read by other operating system, such as Mac, Linux, and older versions of Windows such as Windows 98.

Unfortunately, Windows XP and windows server 2003 will only format a removable drive in FAT32 if it’s less than 32GB! Hmmm…that pretty much cuts out ALL modern external hard drives!

However, Windows can format a drive that is larger than 32GB in FAT32, but you have to use the DOS command prompt. However, if you have a drive that is 1TB or larger, you may still get an error saying “The volume is too big for FAT32”.

In that case, you can use a free program called SwissKnife that will allow you to format an external hard drive that is up to 2TB in size. Let’s go through both methods. In case you are having problems getting your external hard drive to show up in Windows, read my article on how to change the drive letter for an external drive in Windows.

Format external harddrive in FAT32 using DOS

Open a command window by going to Start, then Run and typing in CMD.

Now type in the following command at the prompt:

format /FS:FAT32 X:

Replace the letter X with the letter of your external hard drive in Windows. Windows will go ahead and begin formatting the drive in FAT32!

Format external hard drive in FAT32 using SwissKnife

SwissKnife is a nifty little program that is completely free and that you can use to format many types of external drives such as USB, Firewire, PCMIA, SATA and SCSI. You can also use it to create partitions on an external hard drive and it formats faster than Windows.

So next time you want to format a hard drive in FAT32 and Windows only gives you an option for NTFS, make sure to follow one of the two method mentioned above. Enjoy!

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12 Signs to know if you Love someone

TWELVE:
When you're on the phone with them late at night and they hang up, you still miss them even when it was just two minutes ago.

ELEVEN:
You walk really slow when you're with them.

TEN:
You feel shy whenever they're around.

NINE:
You smile when you hear their voice.

EIGHT:
When you look at them, you can't see the other people around you, you just see him/her.

SIX:
They're all you think about.

FIVE:
You realize you're always smiling when you're looking at them.

FOUR:
You would do anything for them, just to see them.

THREE:
While reading this, there was one person on your mind this whole time.

TWO:
You were so busy thinking about that person, you didn't notice number seven was missing

ONE:
You just scrolled up to check & are now silently laughing at yourself!!

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Famous Sayings about Life !!

The most destructive habit > WORRY

The greatest Joy > GIVING

The greatest loss > LOSS OF SELF-RESPECT

The most satisfying work > HELPING OTHERS

The ugliest personality trait > SELFISHNESS

The most endangered species > DEDICATED LEADERS

Our greatest natural resource > OUR YOUTH

The greatest "shot in the arm"> ENCOURAGEMENT

The greatest problem to overcome > FEAR

The most effective sleeping pill> PEACE OF MIND

The most crippling failure disease > EXCUSES

The most powerful force in life > LOVE

The most dangerous pariah > A GOSSIPER

The world's most incredible computer > THE BRAIN

The worst thing to be without > HOPE

The deadliest weapon > THE TONGUE

The two most power-filled words > “I CAN”

The greatest asset > FAITH

The most worthless emotion > SELF-PITY

The most beautiful attire > SMILE !

The most prized possession > INTEGRITY

The most contagious spirit > ENTHUSIASM

The most important thing in life > PRAYING GOD

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Recover deleted files and lost files for free with Pandora Recovery

Need a freeware program to recover deleted files on your hard drive? I’ve previously written about a free data recovery program called Recuva and recover deleted pictures.

However, when it comes to recovering accidentally deleted files, different programs can give you different results. Some programs will find deleted files that were created months ago and some programs will find only very recent files.

If you want to undelete files in Windows, try out another program called Pandora Recovery. It is probably one of the best and most powerful data recovery software apps out there.

Here are some of the major features of the Pandora Recovery:

• Support FAT16, FAT32, NTFS5, EFS, and NTFS file systems
• Works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Visa, and Windows Server 2003
• Search for deleted files by file name, file size, file creation date, or file last accessed date
• Surface (cluster) scan technology means Pandora can recovery deleted files even from media where the MFT table is missing, the media has been reformatted, and from media where the allocation table is damaged

• Ability to recover a variety of files including archived, hidden, encrypted, and compressed files.
• Recovers any type of file including images, documents, movies, and lots more
• Gives an estimate of the success of recovering a file based on how many times the area has been overwritten with new data
• Recovery to local hard drive, network drive, or flash drive

Overall, it’s a great data recovery program that uses some pretty advanced scanning technologies to find any deleted files that can still be recovered. Remember, the closer you run the program to the time the file was deleted, the better chance you have of recovering the file. Enjoy!!

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