How do you make a new drive into the FAT32 format?

[utdarktroll]

I just purchased a new IBM 30GB 7200RPM drive. The computer recognizes the drive and after using fdisk, it is set as the c drive. However, fdisk says that the disk system is unknown while my old hard drive is FAT32. I intend to install Windows 98 and I need to know if there is software out there that can format the drive so that it uses the FAT32 system. I think that every other hard drive that I had came with a 3.5" installation disk that took care of this problem, however this one did not. Thank's for your help.

 

[BKnight]

If you have Windows 98 then you should have a boot disk that came with the CD. If you boot the PC with that diskette you can then use the following command to format the drive.

A:\FORMAT C:

This will only work if a partition has already been created on the drive though. If you are uncertain if a partition has been created then do the following command BEFORE the above one.

A:\FDISK

Then when you get into FDISK, I think it is option '4' to view what partitions exist. If that option is not available (because none exist) then choose to create a primary partition and use all available space to create a partition. Then reboot the PC, using the 98 boot diskette again and use the FORMAT command above. Note: when you use the FDISK command it will prompt whether you want to use large drive types or somthing like that... whatever it asks, say yes or the partition you create will be FAT and not FAT32.

Hope this helps!

BKnight

 

[Gustavus]

There are probably lots of pieces of software that do what you want, but Partition Magic does for sure. You have a menu to allow you to select several types.

 

[utdarktroll]

I used fdisk to create the primary dos partition and rebooted. However after rebooting I cannot format the drive and the system column in fdisk information says that the system is unknown when it should say FAT32. I am using a windows 95 boot disk, I don't know if that is making the difference. Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[BKnight]

I am not sure what kind of system you have (motherboard specifically) but your BIOS may not support that size drive. Since the drive is a Maxtor product, you can go to Maxtor's webpage and download the MaxBlast software that will create virtual BIOS settings that override the default BIOS settings so the system will be able to take full advantage of the drive. This software is also loaded on diskettes and can partition and format the drive. I used to own a Maxtor hard drive on an older system that I had to use this software with. Maybe that will work out for you. Besides that I am not sure. I can't remember off hand if Windows 95 even supported FAT32 or if it was only FAT at this point. Either way though, if you had created the partition with the same diskette you were trying to format with the format should work. Give the MaxBlast a shot.

BKnight

 

[kingink]

i am pretty sure that win95 is fat16 only. has to do with dos being the core.
win95 was only a gui over a dos fs.
kingink

 

[Sukhoi]

When you start up FDISK, make sure you enable Large Drive Support. This will allow it to use FAT32. Remember, you need a FAT32 version of FDISK to be able to do this, one from Win95A won't be able to do this.