Drive partition size vs. OS

[bdj]

What is the largest size a Fat32 drive partition can be for W2k or XP?

bdj

XP

2K

[bdj]

Thanks for the Links Evil.

I installed an 80gb Maxtor on my w2k system, and even with the Maxtor install software, it limited me to 32gb. I changed to NTFS and got approx. 77gb formatted. The links to the MS doc for both W2k and XP stated that you should use NTFS for larger partitions and it was by design not to go bigger than 32gb for fat32.

Any takers on why.

bdj.

I read (somewhere) that for performance, FAT32 is better for <40GB (32GB depending on OS) and NTFS for >40GB.

Keep in mind also, the largest file size w/ FAT32 is 4GB, where w/ NTFS it's . . . um, I dunno, but it's not 4GB. I think it might be as large as the partition?

[John Prophet]

I have been corrected on this before...but I have since forgotten, lol....I think maybe there is a difference in the largest size fat32 windows can use and the largest size fdisk can format...or something along those lines.


(it could have been you Rick, that corrected me before, lol, I cant remember though)

[John Prophet]

ok, actually I guess this is what I was referring to

from that XP link above

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

[bdj]

JP,
Are you saying that if I use a W98 boot disk, I can Fdisk and format my 80gb drive as a full, single partition fat32, 80gb drive?

bdj

[John Prophet]

uhh, I think you are asking if you can get more than 77m out of it??

77 is probably all you CAN get out of it..no matter what method you use....no drive can format all the way up to its stated size...because of certain "overhead" and also the difference in the way Gbytes are measured etc....they arent 1,000,000,000 bites....so there is a difference there...probably all the hard drive makers have a little blurb about that on their sites.

That being said..I am not sure about a win98se disk...they say WinME disk in that little blurb I posted....perhaps ME has a slightly newer version of FDISK than W98.

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edit---------

Ok, I read yours again, i see you used the maxtor software etc.

I think I would give it a shot with A WinME floppy...like from www.bootdisk.com

OR...there are "fdisk replacements" out there..you could just put one of them on a floppy and use it...they probably are more suited to bigger drives.

bdj, using a 9X/Me bootdisk, you can partition/format as large a partition as you want, limited to 2TB's I believe. The only limit really is the BIOS. You can then use that drive/partition in whatever OS supports FAT32.

More linkage

[John Prophet]

I think its weird that maxtors own software has that same limit, 32gb...I guess they want to fully line up with windows way of doing things. (to reduce confusion maybe?) dunno.

Seems they would want their drives to fully format though.

But I saw this on maxtors site

"FAT 32 partitions have a theoretical partition size limitation of 32 terabytes (TB). However, new partitions created by either Windows 2000 or Windows XP will limit their size to 32 gigabytes (GB). To create partitions greater than 32 GB under Windows 2000 or XP, you will need to format them using the NTFS file system (or create multiple FAT 32 partitions for drives greater than 32GB). "


But let me ask you, why do you want to use fat32 anyway?? NTFS is pretty much better in every way. You lose a lot of the power of XP or W2k when you use fat32...you lose compression and security permissions etc.

JP