Format to Fat32

[biggmat]

I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end up with this-
Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller, all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm putting in-
format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,

I believe that Vista will not make a partition/format Fat32 greater than a
small size (32GB comes to mind).
It will USE a larger fat partition but not create/format one.

I think that if you can find an XP machine it can format large partition.
However there is a limit on file size in a fat32, (2 GB is what I remember)

Michael

"biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
> up with this-
> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> putting in-
> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,
>
>
> --
> biggmat
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> biggmat's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/36994.htm
> View this thread: Format to Fat32
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

biggmat wrote:
> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always
> end up with this-
> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> putting in-
> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,

FAT 32 cannot handle files larger than 4Gb.

Em Segunda, 10 de Dezembro de 2007 23:49, Michael Walraven escreveu:

> However there is a limit on file size in a fat32, (2 GB is what I
> remember)

4Gb! the single file size on fat32 filesystem is 4Gb

About 130 gig is the limit size.

NIK

"Michael Walraven" <mexxwalraven@verizon.not> wrote in message
news:%23mHnId4OIHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I believe that Vista will not make a partition/format Fat32 greater than a
>small size (32GB comes to mind).
> It will USE a larger fat partition but not create/format one.
>
> I think that if you can find an XP machine it can format large partition.
> However there is a limit on file size in a fat32, (2 GB is what I
> remember)
>
> Michael
>
> "biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
>>
>> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
>> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
>> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
>> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
>> up with this-
>> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
>> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
>> putting in-
>> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
>> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
>> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
>> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,
>>
>>
>> --
>> biggmat
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> biggmat's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/36994.htm
>> View this thread: Format to Fat32
>>
>> http://forums.techarena.in
>>

"biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
> up with this-
> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> putting in-
> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,
>
>


You definately do not want fat32....NTFS would be best.

The file system over a network does not matter...
not sure why you think it needs to be fat32
> --
> biggmat
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> biggmat's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/36994.htm
> View this thread: Format to Fat32
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:49:17 -0500, "Michael Walraven"
<mexxwalraven@verizon.not> wrote:

> I believe that Vista will not make a partition/format Fat32 greater than a
> small size (32GB comes to mind).


Yes, 32GB is correct.


> It will USE a larger fat partition but not create/format one.


Correct.


> I think that if you can find an XP machine it can format large partition.


Only NTFS.

For larger FAT32 partitions, you can use a diskette with the Windows
Me fdisk and format commands.


> However there is a limit on file size in a fat32, (2 GB is what I remember)


No, it's 4GB.



> "biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
> >
> > I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> > it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> > under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> > can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
> > up with this-
> > Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> > all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> > putting in-
> > format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> > no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> > drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> > what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,
> >
> >
> > --
> > biggmat
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > biggmat's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/36994.htm
> > View this thread: Format to Fat32
> >
> > http://forums.techarena.in
> >

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[biggmat]

thanks for all the responses... For some reason the only way the drive will work on the network is if it's fat32. it's an iomega home network drive or something like that. It's not the latest version but it's not that old. I've been reading through the net and from what I've read it's seems possible to do so what I've been trying. It even gives you an option if you use "help format" in the window? Thanks again for all the help.

Hi,

Why would it matter the file system? That isn't read by the machine
accessing the drive, only by the machine that it is physically attached to.
As long as the system housing can read the drive and it is properly shared,
any system on the network can access and read it. Plus, you can't use less
than 512k clusters with FAT32, nor would you want to - way too inefficient
and the number of entries in the fat itself would severely limit the drive
capacity.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
> up with this-
> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> putting in-
> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,
>
>
> --
> biggmat
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> biggmat's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/36994.htm
> View this thread: Format to Fat32
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

biggmat wrote:
> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
> up with this-
> Specified cluster size too small for fat32(at 32k). so I try smaller,
> all the way down to 512 and it says the same thing. here's what i'm
> putting in-
> format j:/fs:fat32/v:j/q/a:32k
> no other errors pop up. Am I doing something wrong. It's a 500 gb
> drive? any help would be greatly appreciated as I sort of understand
> what i'm trying to do, but not completely. Thanks,

XP and higher have an artifical format limit for FAT32
of 32GB. You need an external tool for format larger
drives with FAT32:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#format


Uwe

"biggmat" <biggmat.31eqbf@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:biggmat.31eqbf@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> thanks for all the responses... For some reason the only way the drive
> will work on the network is if it's fat32. it's an iomega home network
> drive or something like that. It's not the latest version but it's not
> that old. I've been reading through the net and from what I've read
> it's seems possible to do so what I've been trying. It even gives you
> an option if you use "help format" in the window? Thanks again for all
> the help.

Its a limitation of Iomega's firmware that makes FAT necessary.
The problem I see is that vista doesn't let you format more than 32G using
FAT on the USB.

There is a built in format utility to format the drive over the network.
http://www.iomega.com/support/manual...main.html#home

"Michael Walraven" <mexxwalraven@verizon.not> wrote:

>I believe that Vista will not make a partition/format Fat32 greater than a
>small size (32GB comes to mind).
>It will USE a larger fat partition but not create/format one.

Right.

>I think that if you can find an XP machine it can format large partition.
>However there is a limit on file size in a fat32, (2 GB is what I remember)

XP and Vista will both create FAT32 partitions as large as 32GB. The
theoretical limit for a FAT32 partition is around 2 terabytes, but the
system doesn't really scale that will. NTFS is a *much* better choice
for such huge partitions.
>
>Michael
>
>"biggmat" <biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
>news:biggmat.31ef7e@DoNotSpam.com...
>>
>> I've come across a Network HDD for dirt cheap and would like to use
>> it... The only way it'll work with the network is if it's formatted
>> under fat32... however, I have many very large files(12-25gb) that I
>> can't use with it. I've tried formatting through cmd, and I always end
>> up with this-

You will not be able to store those 12 to 25GB files on a FAT32
partition. You cannot store files larger than 4GB on FAT32.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)
Slattery_T@bls.gov
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

[biggmat]

Alright, so I'm pretty sure I need to give up on the fat32... If I format the drive to ntfs though it won't let me share it on the network. well, for what i paid for it, it'll at least be good enough for an external usb hdd. thanks for all your help again. getting kind of a run around at the iomega website, no firmware available for vista for my product...