format a large hdd to fat32

aximbigfan · 06-19-06, 11:17 PM

well its that time of year again. only this time something differnt....

the otherday my hdd got formatted accedentally. becouse the idiots at linksys who dont know how to spack english, or code firmware, i MUST format my 120bg hdd to fat32. now beoffe you tell me that this is impossibible it is. its just that before i did it in a PDE right now i dont have the option to be in a pure dos enviroment so i need help for matting this drive to fat32\. anyone know of some freeware tool i can use?

chris

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:20 PM

And why is it Linksys's fault that you accidently formatted your HD yesderday?

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:24 PM

One option, is to fdisk your drive into multiple partitions C:, D:, E:, etc. and them format each volume separately. By creating smaller partitions, you will also save on disk space due to the fact that cluster size is larger on drives above 32gb. (16k versus 32k on larger drives)

Here is some good reading for you ABF.

aximbigfan · 06-19-06, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by cbs01

And why is it Linksys's fault that you accidently formatted your HD yesderday?

no you dont understand. linksys made it so that you can only use a fat32 drive on p1 and a ntfs drive on p2. i have a 40gb 2.5inch drive on p2 becouse i cant take it out of its enclosure to format it becouse it is screwwed tight in there and besides i dont have a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter and so it makes sese to have the 3.5 one on p1... well look its hard to explane.

chris

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:35 PM

I guess I am not following you. What are you exaclty referring you when you mention P1 and P2 with a Linksys.

aximbigfan · 06-19-06, 11:36 PM

port one and port two on the nslu2.

chris

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:43 PM

Option 2. Some, if not all HD manufactures have free software that might be able to due this. Have you checked with them.

aximbigfan · 06-19-06, 11:44 PM

ah, good idea...

chris

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:47 PM

You mention that you are unable to be in a DOS environment. You must have access to computer with Windows98 or so on it in which case you could boot with a boot disk, check here as they have everthing you need to create a boot disk from any OS.

aximbigfan · 06-19-06, 11:51 PM

no, i have access to a pure dos envorment its just that really really really dont want to take the drive out of the enclosure. it is a pain in the butt.

BTW: the WD lifegurd format tools were worthess. it didnt even ask me what format i wanted the drive to be..

chris

cbs01 · 06-19-06, 11:58 PM

Sometimes a pain in the butt is the easiest way to go.

aximbigfan · 06-20-06, 12:18 AM

done. swissknife is a great program.

chris

star882 · 06-20-06, 12:21 AM

Have you tried /sbin/fdisk and /sbin/mkfs.vfat?
EDIT: just noticed that you fixed it.

06-20-06, 02:14 PM

i dont know where you get your dvds from but you are getting ripped off. i get 50 for about 12 bucks at office max.

aximbigfan · 06-20-06, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by ericcumbee

i dont know where you get your dvds from but you are getting ripped off. i get 50 for about 12 bucks at office max.

o rly?

i might be going out later today for dinner.. i might as well stop off in the valley (the vally is an area that got flooded and now it is really flat an buisnesses are poping up all over the place in it, they have even got a line of restrunts that goes for at leat a mile) and see if office max has them... them..

chris