How to format 320GB drive to FAT32

[TanZail]

This is Windows XP running with 320GB HDD. It is intended to copy over 60GB files from old UDMA 33 HDDs which were all formatted in FAT32. In order to format the SATA II Hard Drive i followed the steps mentioned in this Article. [/url]. As you might be aware that many times XP only gives NTFS as partition type option. I was not able to copy the files to this new drive unless I changed all my old drive partitions to NTFS because NTFS & FAT32 partitions were incompatible.

To me it seems like it will be risky to change my old HDD partition format. So i request you guys to please suggest me some way so that i can copy data safely from my FAT32 formatted HDD to this SATA HDD. Many thanks.

[Abdulmajid]

i dont think there is any Risk dude. You can simply copy files from Fat32 partition to NTFS partition without any loss. Let me know if you need any more help.

[T.J.]

Yeah, Abdul is right. There wont be any problem. Having the new drive NTFS should not impact copying from a FAT32 drive.

Did you ever tried doing the same?What happened when you tried? If dint tried, go for it. There would be no problem.

[jigu902003]

If the FAT32 partitioned Drive is connected with your XP system running on NTFS drives, than there would be no problem copying the data. You can simply go ahead and copying the data from the FAT32 drive to the NTFS drive without any special method.

[TanZail]

Actually my system has 2 IDE bus & 2 SATA slot, My old UDMA-33 disk were already there, w/ FAT32 partitions & XP installed. I just added one SATA HDD to the SATA0 slot and use XP to format it. Only NTFS partition creation allowed by XP. And XP installation at FAT32 partition couldn't recognize the newly formatted NTFS partition except it's drive letter.

[Jolie-Pitt]

Hello TanZail. Open RUN Command Tromp, type 'diskmgmt.msc', press Enter. Now see what the status of the SATA drive is.If you get prompted to install drivers for the SATA drive, let me know.