External Drive Format NTFS FAT32 and file sizes.

[Microman]

I asked about what formatting to use on an external drive, so that it might be used on both a Mac and PC. I think I was told that if I went Fat32, that it could be used on both, but that I could not format FAT32 in XP, but would have to use a Mac, and that some file names might have some trouble using FAT32.

Is the above information correct?

I have a 400 gig external USB drive, and at work I just did a backup using ACRONIS image. I looked at the results and it is two files. What is the file size limit on FAT32? I assume that since the larger of the two is 4 MEGS, it must be 4 megs.

Should I keep this drive at FAT32, go NTFS or can I partition it and use one NTFS and another FAT32?

Thanks.

[Forrest]

Maximum file size in FAT32 is 4 GB, NTFS is 2 TB. OSX can read to an NTFS volume, but not write to it. Windows and OSX can both read and write to any size FAT32 volume. Microsoft intenionally cripped Windows XP so it couldn't format drives larger than 32 GB with FAT32. OSX has no such limitation and can format volumes up to 2 TB.

[M A V I C]

[quote Forrest]OSX can read to an NTFS volume, but not write to it.
By default. But with MacFUSE, it can write to it.

[Carnos Jax]

From my experience (and from what I've read), surprisingly, OS X's Disk Utility program doesn't do a good job of making reliable FAT32 formats. I've heard that Intech's SpeedTools can:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Intech%20USA/SPEEDHCCD/

-or-

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Intech%20USA/SPEEDCD/

(off the top of my head, not sure of the differences between the two)

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Yeah, for FAT32 it is 4 GB, about the amount of data on a single layer DVD.

These should all be able to create a FAT32 partition up to 2 TB in WinXP. I have not used them because I need to use files larger than 4 GB. Maxtor MaxtBlast, Seagate Discwizard disk management software.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/
Western Digital Data Lifeguard.
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=1
Free trial of Acronis Disk Director 10
http://www.download.com/3001-2248_4-10463691.html

Swissknife by CompuApps has been mentioned here before, but it just quit on me when I tried access drive information in XP. It might work for other people though.
http://www.compuapps.com/download/swissk...sknife.htm

[Racer X]

Not only can XP not format FAT32 over a 32 gig volume, Win2K Pro can't either.

Use a free app called SwissArmyKnife under windows to forrmat as FAT32 if at all possible. There are other free PC options as well.