Ext drive format

ajm · 12 Dec 2006 at 09:56

When you use an external drive ie.laptop drive in case for use as an extension for my dvd recorder.Does it need to be formatted in any certain way (Fat/Fat32/Ntfs) and if so can this be changed from ntfs to fat or vice versa if my machine doesn't pick it up?

rpstewart · 12 Dec 2006 at 10:22

The drive will need to be formatted using a file system which the DVD recorder can write to - I'm guessing FAT32 since I don't think MS lets anyone else use NTFS.

You can convert FAT to NTFS with the convert.exe utility which ships with windows. Partition Magic can go the other way but usually it's safer to back up the contents of the disk and format it with the correct filesystem. The next big problem though is that XP will only format FAT32 up to a maximum size of 32Gb despite the spec supporting 4Tb (I think). If you want to format FAT32 > 32Gb then you need to use PM or the like.

ajm · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:05

Thank for the info. At the moment i am using a usb pen which is using FAT and my recorder reads from this ok.My portable harddrive i am wanting to use is 80gig Samsung laptop drive.If i format this using NTFS in windows and my recirder won't read it,could i format it again using FAT or FAT32?

rpstewart · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:10

Yes, it could be reformatted as FAT32, normal FAT(16) can only go up to 2Gb.

However as I mentioned in my previous post you'll not be able to do this with XP so you'll need to either try and find a Win98 machine (no idea if 2K or 2K3 will work) or use Partition Magic or the like to format in FAT32.

ajm · 13 Dec 2006 at 15:50

So looks like it will have to be formatted as FAT32,hope this will work with my recorder.I have never used partition magic before even though i have the software (Got it given a while back).Is it easy to use?

ajm · 17 Dec 2006 at 11:14

partition magic Is it easy to use?

rpstewart · 17 Dec 2006 at 11:22

Yeah, it's not too tricky. The important thing though is to make sure you're operating on the correct disk at all times - the last thing you want to do is reformat a drive with data on it.

ajm · 17 Dec 2006 at 11:30

Thanks,is it a program that has to be installed to use it or does it run from disc?

rpstewart · 17 Dec 2006 at 11:45

ajm said:
Thanks,is it a program that has to be installed to use it or does it run from disc?

The easiest way is to install it, if it needs to do something outside of Windows then it reboots the machine and does what it needs to do as part of the boot sequence (same as if you try and chkdsk c

. The install will offer to create a 2 floppy set which you can use to run PM in DOS mode if you want.

ajm · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:04

Thanks i will give it a look when i get my 2.5 drive caddie

ajm · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:18

I have been investigating XP and apparently it can format in FAT32,i will check this out when i get my caddie.

rpstewart · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:21

ajm said:
I have been investigating XP and apparently it can format in FAT32,i will check this out when i get my caddie.

It can but it will only do so on a partition of less than 32Gb, any bigger and it will only offer NTFS.

ajm · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:27

Thanks for the tip.Does that mean if i split the drive into 2 partitions and then format one using FAT32 and the other using NTFS?

rpstewart · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:32

Yeah, that can be done no problem.

ajm · 22 Dec 2006 at 10:33

Ok thanks Stewart i will maybe give that a go.