NFTS to FAT32

RNL. · 13-07-2011 02:10AM #1

Hi,

I just bought a 2TB Iomega Prestige hard drive to use for streaming video through my PS3.

I've been trying to convert it from NFTS to FAT32, and every step-by-step guide I've tried to follow has failed. Either the program I've been told to download (Swissknife, Fat32formatter) just doesn't work, or the drive tells me it's write-protected, or I can't get Gparted to boot from the CD, or some other obstacle.

Can someone help me out with an ABC, straightforward, idiot-proof guide to doing this? I thought it'd be really simple.

Thanks.

massy086 · 13-07-2011 02:28AM

http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm use this delete partition and then create new fat 32 partition real simple

RNL. · 13-07-2011 03:01AM

What should I be doing with this? Backup? Recovery? Disk tools?

What I've done so far is I've gone to Run > diskmgmt.msc and deleted the partition.

akamossie · 13-07-2011 09:58AM

Google "HP format tools" and download it, it will give you the option to format to FAT32

RNL. · 13-07-2011 03:13PM

It tells me "Device media is write-protected".

Aggh!

RNL. · 13-07-2011 06:28PM

So I guess the question is, how do I remove write-protection on an Iomega Prestige hard drive?

I downloaded the Iomega Encryption Utility from their website and removed some Virtual CD thing (I'm really groping around in the dark here, I don't know what any of this stuff means), and then tried using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool again, but it still tells me the "device media is write-protected".

Help!

ElectricGirl · 14-07-2011 12:33AM

I had a very similar problem recently and I was trying to format using the above applications with Vista and they kept failing. Then one day I tried Swissknife with XP and it worked no problem. I dont know if this will help but thought I would let you know how I fixed mine

KTRIC · 14-07-2011 12:37AM

You can't convert from ntfs to fat32, not possible

Leeg17 · 14-07-2011 12:39AM

KTRIC wrote: »

You can't convert from ntfs to fat32, not possible

Where'd you get this from? Of course you can.

ElectricGirl · 14-07-2011 12:40AM

KTRIC wrote: »

You can't convert from ntfs to fat32, not possible

Of course you can!

UnknownSpecies · 14-07-2011 12:41AM

He's right, can't convert, can only reformat with a partition dedicated to FAT32

RNL. · 14-07-2011 12:49AM

Well, I don't know if 'convert' is the correct term, but I want to be able to fill my drive with 2TB of video and then stream it through my PS3.

If that involves reformatting the drive with a 2TB FAT32 partition, then that's what I'm trying to do.

I've downloaded the Iomega FAT32 Formatter from the Iomega website, and now I'm creating a 2TB NTFS partition on the drive, and when it's finished formatting I'm going to try and reformat it as FAT32 using this tool.

Formatting is slooooowww...

RNL. · 14-07-2011 04:46AM

Okay, it finished formatting, and the Iomega FAT32 Formatter is seeing the drive now, but it won't reformat it for me - it's telling me "The partition information for the selected drive is invalid or unavailable."

This is driving me to distraction. What is going on?!

RNL. · 14-07-2011 05:18AM

ElectricGirl wrote: »

I had a very similar problem recently and I was trying to format using the above applications with Vista and they kept failing. Then one day I tried Swissknife with XP and it worked no problem. I dont know if this will help but thought I would let you know how I fixed mine

I'm getting a "Read/Write error" with Swissknife.

you_me1314 · 15-07-2011 03:38AM

you can download Ntfs2Fat32 trial version to take a test first.
before use it, you can read the article about convert ntfs to fat32 with step by step instruction. (:

U_Fig · 18-07-2011 06:23PM

if you are going to have fat32 then you cannot have files bigger than 4GB might be a problem if you have HD movies i know alot of my rips are over 4GB

KTRIC · 19-07-2011 04:33PM

dorgasm wrote: »

He's right, can't convert, can only reformat with a partition dedicated to FAT32

Thank you

Format is not convert ladies and gents.

iMuse · 19-07-2011 06:43PM

Had a similar problem using vista, downloaded swissknife on an old XP machine and it created the fat32 partition first time.

KTRIC · 19-07-2011 11:58PM

Leeg17 wrote: »

Where'd you get this from? Of course you can.

ElectricGirl wrote: »

Of course you can!

Please pray tell enlighten me and I shall eat my hat. :rolleyes:

NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 (the other way around can be done), it is simply not possible. You will need to remove the partition, therefore loosing your data and then create a FAT32 partition in its place.

pickarooney · 21-07-2011 08:59AM

KTRIC wrote: »

Thank you

Format is not convert ladies and gents.

FAT32 is a bit like Scientology. You need to be completely wiped before you can properly covert.

NFTS to FAT32

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