Windows 10: Win 10, Format to FAT16 not FAT16 (LBA)

Hi

We have 15 win 10 tablets that read and format a PCMCIA card, this is used for data transfer from helicopter health monitoring system.

After the latest update have Microsoft changed the FAT16 format to FAT16 (LBA) when formatting the using the normal Format.com in windows. This can our helicopters not read.

We are running the format from the command prompt (batch program)

We have talked to Microsoft support – they acknowledge our problem – “but they are unable to help”
Microsoft suggest update the helicopter – that is not an option.

We have now searched the net for another format program that can run under win 10, but have until now been unable to find one that works, any good ideas?

Best Regards,

Peter

:)

 

Maximum Capacity of External Memory Nokia 6280 & 6230i

Hiya People,



O have a 4GB (3. 68GB) Micro HCSD Memory card in a SD adapter,Itr is not readby the Nokia 6230i in FAT3, when I follow instructions and format in FAT16 with 64 kilobyte allocation unit size, it is not reccognised by the Nokia 6230i.



When I format in FAT16 with 32 kilobytes allocastion it says unable to format!



When I format in FAT16 with 16 kilobytes allocastion it says unable to format!



When I format in FAT16 with 8192 bytes allocastion it says unable to format!





When I format in FAT16 with 4096 bytes allocastion it says unable to format!



When I format in FAT16 with 2048 bytes allocastion it says format complete and it is read by the Nokia 6230i but says not formatted..... When I say Yes to format it says "Operation Failed"!



When I format in FAT16 with 1024 bytes allocastion it says unable to format!



When I format in FAT16 with 512 bytes allocastion it says unable to format!







CAN ANYONE HELP???????



Maybe HCSD Cards are not supported if normal SD card at 4GB is supported at 64kilobytes allocation??



Would appresiate any responces



Cheers



Dave

 

Is 9500 replacement model coming?

no, you get a few different types of FAT, Win 98SE ect uses FAT32 this lets you use drives/memory over 2gb. FAT16 limits you to drives/memory to up to 2gb. you also get FAT12 which is what i think some phones like the 6230 uses, this limits you to 16mb

you will notice now that windows uses the NTFS format, this is totally different and is the reason why some people knacker their cards when using a card reader, nokia phones dont understand NTFS or FAT32 only FAT16. So as long as you dont ever format with FAT32
or NTFS you will be fine (note that win xo will only ever show FAT when you format it, not FAT16 or 32).

i think its best to stick with formatting the card on the phone myself, but if you need to do it on windows your gonna have to use a tool to choose FAT16 - something like partition magic or disk man to manually choose to use FAT16

 

In Windows go to Start/Search and type diskmgmt.msc, right click the diskmgmt results and Run As Administrator. In the Elevated Disk Management window Right click the PCMCIA cards drive letter and choose Format, Choose FAT and under Allocation unit size, you can take the drop down arrow and choose whichever cluster size the helicopter reads.

 

Hi Spunk

Thank you, but it was not the solution. The prefix there works is 0x06 FAT16 where 0x0E FAT16 (LBA) don't.

We have tested with a old win 8 and it works. But we don't like the idea to replace all the tables, some of them are in Africa....

 

Disk Management is on the Right-click of the Start button as are several other items such as Device Manager and Command Prompt.

Do the Notebooks/Tablets have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Win10? The 64-bit does have issues with FAT16.
When I want FAT16 or to format a larger HDD such as 250GB to FAT32 I boot to a GPARTED LiveCD to do it. It runs a custom version of Linux. Windows FAT32 has a limit of 32GB.
I have an External USB DVD drive that works with my 11" 2-in-1 Tablet/Notebook but would have to use an OTG/On The Go adapter for my 8" Dell Venue tablet.
If using a Desktop computer and doing it frequently I'd add something like this adapter:
Amazon.com: SEDNA - PCI To PCMCIA / Cardbus Adapter (SE-PCI-PCMCIA): Computers Accessories

 

Hi Berton

We have the hardware in place, and everything thing was working until Microsoft changed the format type.

So what we are looking for is a software program that can format in the old 0x06 FAT16 from the command prompt because we have a batch file that runs when the PCMCIA card is inseted in the reader.

 

It just dawned on me that our voting machines use the PCMCIA card. I haven't been able to get in touch with the IT person for the county that maintains them so don't have any particulars as to the OS or the card's formatting. How large are the cards? FAT/FAT16 has limits.
Maybe some help:
Format PCMCIA card with FAT16 format for MICB upgrade - Nortel: CS1000 (Meridian) systems - Tek-Tips
software to format pcmcia as fat16 at DuckDuckGo
Just for kicks I plugged in a 256MB Thumb drive and found that File Explorer chose FAT for formatting it, other options were FAT32, NTFS and exFAT. FAT16 is pretty much limited to 2GB partition size. The use of LBA/Logical Block Addressing was generally by the BIOS in setting up HDDs.
File Allocation Table - Wikipedia
Logical block addressing - Wikipedia

EDIT: Just found a 2GB Thumb drive in my parts box and checked, Win10 File Explorer shows it will indeed format 2GB as FAT [FAT16]. Bottom line: looks like using a Linux machine would work if wanting FAT16 over 2GB. I just checked the drive on my Linux Mint 17 and it has GPARTED installed [by default] and it can format 2GB as FAT16 so the main thing is how large the capacity of the PCMCIA card is.

 

Hi

The card is on 64 MB.

As your link to "File Allocation Table - Wikipedia" are there different types of the: FAT16 the one we need is 0x06

 

I would try MiniTool Partition Wizard:
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

 

Hi

We have that installed and it can format to the correct FAT16 but it haven't a way to run from the command prompt.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Is that program Windows-based? Should be able to run its .exe/executable file from a Command Prompt by first changing into the program's Folder. But a Windows-based program relies on other support files and usually can't run from the command line of Operating Systems such as MS-DOS. There are Portable programs but they are coded to run without actually being installed such as from Thumb drives.

 

Well, at this point I am asking "why lose time with MS and its funny people"?
I suggest you to UNINSTALL those Updates, that will probably put the Devices back to the Original Win Release.
If you really need the "updates (downgrades)" , look at Windows Catalog and look for the last Update that still works and install it.
After that, DISABLE Windows UPDATE!
MS may be think we are Slaves , and they can do what they want.

 

Hi

I agree that this is a possible solution, but we will like to do the updates, and if we can find a program that can format the cards is it easier than to remote control all the tables and remove the update one at the time.
The batch file can be updated one place and it will be copied to all automatically.

Best Regards
Peter

 

Why do you have to Format the Drive every time it is inserted ? once it is partition type 0x06 (using MTPW or win8.1) , is it not possible to just remove the contents of the CARD and write the new data to it with the batch file?

KB