How to format 200gb usb disk with fat32

[nirax]

Hi all,

i try to re-format my USB HD 200gb WD drive with fat32 using only one partition. as far as i know far32 supports up to 2TB. also
the drive came originally formated in one partition 200gb.
problem is neither under linux nor win2k i can re-format it again under fat32.

mkfs.vfat gives:
mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1
mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
mkfs.vfat: Attempting to create a too large file system


any clues?

greetings,
nirax

[moocha]

To be expected. That's a limitation in the vfat / FAT32 drivers provided by the Linux kernel and by the Windows 2000 kernel.

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.
NOTE: When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error:
Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.

[/dev/random]

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

[Jake]

To be expected. That's a limitation in the vfat / FA?T32 drivers provided by the Linux kernel and by the Windows 200 kernel.

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.
NOTE: When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error:
Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.

The limitation is in Microsoft's tools, presumably to encourage people to use NTFS. Windows can read larger FAT32 filesystems but not create them.

[/dev/random]

I created an 80 gb FAT32 partition using the Windows 98 format tool so I'd second what Jake said.

-F FAT-size
Specifies the type of file allocation tables used (12, 16 or 32
bit). If nothing is specified, mkdosfs will automatically
select between 12 and 16 bit, whatever fits better for the
filesystem size. 32 bit FAT (FAT32 format) must (still) be
selected explicitly if you want it.

Which is why you need
mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

[nirax]

thanks you guys,

im just performing the format with your help

greetings,
dinu

[moocha]

The limitation is in Microsoft's tools, presumably to encourage people to use NTFS. Windows can read larger FAT32 filesystems but not create them.

Um, yes, that's what I said. If you'd bothered actually reading the article you'd have seen that it's specifically the Windows 2000 fastfat.sys that exhibits this behavior. The Windows XP and Server 2003 versions don't have this limitation.

Which is why you need
mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Wasn't aware of that - thanks

[lyallp]

On Gentoo, you need to install package 'dosfstools'
Then, as root, assuming your USB disk has been allocated to device /dev/sda and you wish to format the entire disk (ie, partition 1)

# mkfs -t vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

You should not be executing the mkfs.* programs yourself, mkfs is supposed to be the wrapper for this.

Why you can't do this under Windows 2000+ is because MS, in their push to make NTFS prominent, installed an arbitary limit in Windoze saying that you can only use NTFS on disks greater than 32gig

Curiously, if you play around with the partition table type and make it win95 type (using fdisk) then boot up windows XP, it will offer to format the disk as FAT32 larger than 32gig.

Anyway, this thread saved me, I did not know about the -F 32 option.