dennis@home wrote:

>
>
> "NoStop" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:c0HXi.176864$Da.164570@pd7urf1no...
>
>> dennis@home wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "NoStop" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>> news:L%FXi.178720$1y4.169174@pd7urf2no...
>>>
>>>> dennis@home wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "NoStop" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:CQzXi.176252$Da.170614@pd7urf1no...
>>>>>
>>>>>> HeyBub wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> CSM wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have an external 160gig USB drive that formatted as NTFS. How
>>>>>>>> can
>>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>>> convert it back to FAT32. I am willing to loose data on it to
>>>>>>>> reformat. My problem is that, under Vista, the only format
>>>>>>>> option I
>>>>>>>> have is NTFS. I want to use it as an external drive for my Sony
>>>>>>>> PS3.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The drive's manufacturer may have software to partion and format the
>>>>>>> drive. Neither XP nor Vista can format a FAT32 drive in excess of
>>>>>>> 32Mb
>>>>>>> (I'm not sure about Win98, Win95, or Win6.1).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Use Linux. It has no problem formatting large drives with FAT32.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Linux has exactly the same problems formatting fat32.
>>>>> If what you say above reflects your knowledge of linux you need to
>>>>> take
>>>>> lessons before it bites you.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sorry to hear you're having probs formatting large drives with Linux. I
>>>> haven't experienced any problems doing this. Maybe it is you that needs
>>>> to learn more about using Linux?
>>>
>>>
>>> I didn't say it was a problem to format drives with FAT, I said it
>>> has the
>>> same problems.
>>> Sorry that you can't read or understand linux or understand windows.
>>> FAT is the problem and not the OS just to help you out.
>>
>>
>> The OP asked if there was a way to format large hard drives (larger than
>> 32GB) with a FAT32 filesystem. I simply stated that it can be easily done
>> with Linux. You on the other hand, just talk rubbish. Now you're saying
>> that "it has the same problems". WTF are you talking about? What problems
>> are you referring to in the context of this thread? I think it is you
>> that
>> appears to have problems reading and understanding. Why is FAT the
>> problem?
>> I understand where FAT32 is probably not the best filesystem one can
>> use -
>> an ext3 system that uses journaling is my chosen system, but that wasn't
>> what this thread was about.
>
>
> It wasn't about linux either and FAT suffers from the same problem
> whatever OS creates it.
>
> Anyway IIRC vista will format a big drive with FAT if the command line
> format command is used.
>
> Formats a disk for use with Windows.
>
> FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/A:size] [/C] [/X]
> [/P:passes]
> FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size] [/P:passes]
> FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors] [/P:passes]
> FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/P:passes]
> FORMAT volume [/Q]
>
> volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
> mount point, or volume name.
> /FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS,
> or UDF).
> /V:label Specifies the volume label.
> /Q Performs a quick format. Note that this switch
> overrides /P.
> /C NTFS only: Files created on the new volume will be
> compressed
> by default.
> /X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All
> opened
> handles to the volume would no longer be valid.
> /R:revision UDF only: Forces the format to a specific UDF version
> (1.02, 1.50, 2.00, 2.01, 2.50). The default
> revision is 2.01.
> /D UDF 2.50 only: Metadata will be duplicated.
> /A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size. Default
> settings
> are strongly recommended for general use.
> NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
> FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
> (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
> FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
> (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
>
> Note that the FAT and FAT32 files systems impose the
> following restrictions on the number of clusters on a
> volume:
>
> FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526
> FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters < 4177918
>
> Format will immediately stop processing if it decides that
> the above requirements cannot be met using the specified
> cluster size.
>
> NTFS compression is not supported for allocation unit
> sizes
> above 4096.
>
> /F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format (1.44)
> /T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk side.
> /N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per track.
> /P:passes Zero every sector on the volume passes times. This
> switch is
> not valid with /Q
>
>

Ohhhh...I think you've confused doris.
That's way too much math for her to comprehend.
Frank