Windows 10: FAT32 for 1 T drive

How can I format a 1 T usb drive to FAT32 beyond the Window 10 32gig limit?

Ideally I would like to have the entire drive FAT32/

I have seem some free download apps but they look dated.

Any specific recommendations?

:)

 

1 TB FAT32 drive use in win 10

I answered my own question. I went into <Disk Management> and found out that a drive letter had to be manually added. I also reformatted back to NFTS from FAT32 and now all my computers and DVRs can read the disk; I am a happy camper now!

 

1 TB FAT32 drive use in win 10

Why does my external 1TB FAT32 (formatted FAT32 on a different device) drive not show in <File Explorer><This PC> when it's data shows up in <Disk Management><Safety Remove...>?

 

This should do it
How to Format Hard Drive to FAT32 File System up to 2TB

 

Two suggestions.

You could try and find more modern alternatives to the software you have downloaded.

You could think about installing virtual software such as vmware with the relevant version of Windows installed on it in order to get your software to correctly run.

 

Download, install and run MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition 9.1 Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free Delete all existing partitions on your 1TB drive. The full drive should show as unallocated.
Again right click on it and click on create. Choose FAT32 as File system > OK > Apply.









Note: All data in your drive will be lost when you delete and format the drive. So backup all data in the drive to another HDD. Make sure that you select the correct drive to delete and format.

 

There is a limit for a reason if you exceed that limit you can end up with looping fat so you loose all your data

 

^ Not true. I haven't come across any such loop back reported . The maximum theoretical size for FAT32 is 2TB ( Windows NT 3.51 supported upto 2TB FAT32 drives). But yes, the larger the FAT32 drive, the larger the cluster size, the larger the File Allocation Table, wastage of space and therefore it is less efficient. Most limitations are imposed by OS for efficient operation of the OS and the coding practices and does not apply for data drives.

FAT32Format does not perform disk integrity checks on any newly formatted FAT32 spaces. OP is advised to run the command "chkdsk/R x:" after the format, replacing "x:" with the appropriate drive letter in question.

 

You could create a small partition and install those apps there. If you talking about store apps:

Storage Save Locations - Change in Windows 10

Do not forget, that FAT32 limits max file size to 4GB.

 

If the drive is already NTFS - then why not just select the option convert NTFS to FAT and not lose the data?

FAT32 file size limit is 2 GB.

 

FAT16 has 2GB, FAT32 has 4GB.

NTFS.com. NTFS vs FAT vs exFAT

 

Isn't Fat 32 4GB max file size limit, and 2 TB max partition size?

 

My mistake, y'all are correct!

 

It happens, been there done that. *Wink

 

1. Involves/may involve additional tasks like changing the cluster size. (For a newbie it will all be Greek and Latin *Tongue) (PW Free won't do it. Changing cluster size without losing data requires PW Pro version which has to be purchased.)





2. What happens to files larger than 4GB on the NTFS? ( I don't know . I haven't tried *Biggrin)

3. Many unexpected events - like a sudden blackout - can happen during the conversion process that may spoil the broth.

Considering all these things, it is always a safe practice to back up the data before venturing into any File System Conversions, any partitioning / formatting actions. Better to be safe than sorry.