Format question

[Henry]

How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.

Henry

 

[Bill in Co.]

I think you have to run FDISK first. You do realize if you do that, you
will lose all your data though, right? Just curious - why are you doing
this?

Henry wrote:
> How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
> Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.
>
> Henry

 

[Lee]

On Dec 31 2007, 9:37 pm, Henry <wa0...@arrl.net> wrote:
> How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
> Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.
>
> Henry

Since NT installs a boot manager, it's best to use a hard drive wiper
like Bart's Disktool utility to wipe the drive with. Wiping means to
write all zeros to every sector which would erase the NT boot manager
and clear the partition table at the same time.
http://www.nu2.nu/utils/

Then you'll need to partition the drive using fdisk and then finally
you'll need to format all the partitions you created using fdisk.
Really too much to even ask for lessons from a news group. Use the
internet to do your learning from.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.bale4/formatinstall.htm
http://freepctech.com/guides.shtml
http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/
http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/articles/waystoreinstall/
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/indexwin98.htm
http://www.pcguide.com/topicnf.html

 

[philo]

"Henry" <wa0goz@arrl.net> wrote in message
news:0qmdnUYWtqv3XuTanZ2dnUVZ_smnnZ2d@comcast.com...
> How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
> Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.
>
> Henry


You'd need to run fdisk and delete the drive...
then recreate.

NOTE: all data on the drive will be lost.

If you have data on the drive you will need to back it up first.

Also: you could use a 3rd party utility such as partition magic

 

[Tim Slattery]

"philo" <philo@privacy.net> wrote:

>
>"Henry" <wa0goz@arrl.net> wrote in message
>news:0qmdnUYWtqv3XuTanZ2dnUVZ_smnnZ2d@comcast.com...
>> How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
>> Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.
>>
>> Henry
>
>
>You'd need to run fdisk and delete the drive...
>then recreate.

You'd delete the NTFS partition, and use the space to create a FAT32
partition. If there are other partitions on the disk, you can leave
them alone.

>NOTE: all data on the drive will be lost.

All data on the deleted drive will be lost.

>If you have data on the drive you will need to back it up first.

Absolutely!

>Also: you could use a 3rd party utility such as partition magic

Yes, Partition Magic, BootIt NG or other partition manager type
programs should be able to convert the partition without losing data.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)
Slattery_T@bls.gov
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

 

[Franc Zabkar]

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:37:00 -0600, Henry <wa0goz@arrl.net> put finger
to keyboard and composed:

>How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
>Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.
>
>Henry

In addition to what has already been said, if you wish to make your
drive bootable on a Win98 system, then type ...

fdisk /mbr

.... to replace the boot code in the master boot record.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

 

[PCR]

Henry wrote:
| How do you format an NTFS drive to make it a FAT 32 drive please?
| Unfortunately, I need step by step instructions.

I think the others have answered this well enough, but best get the
latest FDISK first...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044
Latest FDISK

It looks like this...
FDISK EXE 64,460 05-18-00 8:35a FDISK.EXE

Replace the one on your Startup Diskette, if it is different from that.

Get a Startup Diskette from...
http://www.bootdisk.com/ , if you don't already have one from "Control
Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Startup Disk tab". Take either one that
applies to your system. Test the Startup Diskette. Put the diskette in &
turn on the computer. Put in a CD and "DIR" the CD. That is, "DIR X:",
where "X:" is the CD-ROM letter. The Startup Diskette will say which
letter is the CD during boot. (Note: It may be necessary to enter BIOS
Setup & set it to boot the floppy drive above the hard drive.)

Careful you don't delete the wrong partition, if you have more than one!

| Henry

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net