If you want to save yourself a few steps you can also download a live CD of GParted from SourceForge. But if you're familiar it is easier than trying to make this happen in Windows. Your big fat FAT drive should be good to go! Once finished, GParted will confirm success/failure. Label it whatever you like (in my case "80GB_SATA").Ĭlick the green arrow to apply all operations, confirm, and off you go! GParted just calls it "FAT" but it seems to do the trick.ĭelete any existing partitions on the drive. In GParted, use the drop-down list to select the drive you want to format as FAT32. Only difference of course is you don't have to pay Symantec to use it. This launches a graphical partition editor similar to Partition Magic. Open a console/terminal window (should be an icon in the "taskbar" area).įrom terminal window, run sudo gparted. If you're a new to this, you should definitely disconnect any storage devices you don't want formatted since it's not hard to screw this up and destroy your primary operating system. Otherwise a good freeware program like ImgBurn works.īoot to Knoppix CD.
If you're running Windows 7 you can use the built-in ISO burning capabilities. I resorted to this after trying to format my 80GB SATA notebook drive (connected via USB enclosure) using the above suggested command line method and having it fail.īurn Knoppix ISO to CD using compatible CD burning software. In my honest opinion a better, easier way is to just boot to a Linux live CD like Knoppix. So before you waste your time running format : /FS:FAT32, run format : /FS:FAT32 /Q. Run the same command with the /Q switch for a quick format and it gives you the "too big" error immediately. Here's what really doesn't make sense, though. It would have been nice for the system to do a simple check when when the command was first launched so I wouldn't go to sleep thinking I'd wake up in the morning to a fully formatted FAT32 80GB drive. The reason? "The volume is too big for FAT32". The annoying thing was that it took an hour to fail. While the built-in command line method in Windows 7 Ultimate ( format : /FS:FAT32) started running without a problem, it failed to complete. It is only capable of quick formats (no zeroing/checking), but it is very fast. One good solution is the command-line program fat32format.exe available from Ridgecrop Consultants or their gui. Note that although Windows will not format a drive greater than 32GB as FAT32, it will mount such a drive formatted elsewhere.įormatting a >32GB FAT32 volumes on Windows.The Windows 32GB limit for formatting FAT32 volumesĪfter performing an experiment in formatting a 60GB "Video" partition to use with a PS3, I have discovered that Windows 2000 and later have an artificial limitation in formatting FAT32 partitions greater than 32GB (though they will mount any valid FAT32 partition). If prompted, press Yes or enter administrative credentials in the UAC pop-up box.Īt the command line prompt, enter format : /FS:FAT32įor a list of all command options, enter help format
Hit the Windows/Start Button -> type cmd.exe in the search box -> press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to get an Administrator Command Line. However, as the other answers suggest, FAT32 is still an option from the command line.
This option should still be in the Format GUI window, but it is not.
Formatting FAT32 volumes on the command line