Why won't my 40GB Fat32 hard drive work in Windows XP?

1 Answer

Answer :

answer:You’re right, it cannot format larger than 32GB as FAT32, but it is supposed to be able to recognize and mount larger drives. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463 why not format it as NTFS? If you right click on the drive in “My Computer”, you should have an option for “Format”. Once the program opens, just select “NTFS” as the disk format. If you can’t reformat, try this, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881/EN-US/ Actually, I just tried my external 40 GB drive (FAT32) and it recognized all of the bytes….37.2GB to be exact. If you are able to reformat it, I would try formatting it with windows. Maybe there was an option on the Mac that allows the drive to work properly on a Mac and not on a PC.

Related questions

Description : Mounting Fat32 on Leopard 10.5.5?

Last Answer : Mac OS X doesn't manage FAT32 volumes of more than 137GB. Please note that a 250GB disk, for instance, can be partitionned in two volumes of 125GB (with Partition Magic or the like) and will then be ... least under Mac OS X (you can't rename the volumes, but this is a minor problem). (Source)

Description : How do i install windows on a external hard drive using a MacBook?

Last Answer : answer:Unless there is some complication not listed up above, you ought to be able to make another partition on the HDD with Boot-camp. From here, you can install windows as you would normally. When ... at the apple screen. You should get a menu to get to another bootable volume. Hope this helps.

Description : Why won't my hard drives mount using USB?

Last Answer : What EXACTLY is your problem? Personal experience causes me to think you might want to check the USB drivers. I have two 1TB hard drives hooked up to the back of my computer and I remember formatting my internal hard drive when I started using them.

Description : Will this hard drive from my non-unibody Macbook Pro work in my unibody Macbook?

Last Answer : It should work without problems. Here’s a guide.

Description : Does time machine work with different types of external harddrives other than Apple's? Because the Apple time capsule hard drive starts at $300?

Last Answer : Yup, I have the Airport Extreme (router) and then attached to it an iomega hard-drive. There could be formatting issues if you use some older hard drives so get a new(ish) one if you can.

Description : Why is C: still the default drive letter in windows?

Last Answer : I can’t confirm this but my guess would be simply because that’s what most people expect, so that’s what they call it.

Description : How do you tell when your hard drive has died?

Last Answer : answer:It still responds, but you can not cancel the operation and it will not do anything. I’ve left it like this for days. Hours, not days but i can’t seem to edit the question.

Description : Hard drive issue.....no space?

Last Answer : It's a hard drive, nonetheless. I imagine it too may be subject to accumulating junk files, registry errors and other miscellaneous problems that can possibly consume space. I recommend downloading ... you want, but you'll certainly benefit from the software fixing whatever problems it identifies.

Description : Hard drive fell on floor: how do I recover?

Last Answer : Looks like your HDD is physically damaged, so chances for you to recover anything yourself are almost zilch. And according to this, the average cost for professional recovery by an expert company is ... for businesses who need to recover important files. For private purposes, I would just move on.

Description : How big is my 2009 MacBook 13" Hard Drive?

Last Answer : answer:Probably 160Gigs. The drive is a 2.5” SATA drive. edit : If the computer turns on you can see details with Disk Utility in the utilities folder. It should look something like this.

Description : I'm looking for a solid state hard drive...

Last Answer : You’re not going to have much luck finding 1TB SSDs. There’s one on Newegg, and it’s almost $4,000 (It’s also PCI-E, which is confusing to me). The technology is quite expensive at the moment. (While a normal HDD will be ~$90 for 1 TB)

Description : What is a good quality external hard drive for my iMac?

Last Answer : If you have an old laptop HD you can buy a cheap kit that turns it into a USB HD that would suit your purposes.

Description : New camcorder type: hard drive or tape?

Last Answer : We got one that has a disc but also has some memory in it. You can have both!

Description : How should I configure my MacBook's new 320GB internal hard drive?

Last Answer : One partition, HFS+, Journaled.

Description : What are some good external hard drive/media centre combos?

Last Answer : Apple TV is nice but has a smallish hard drive (160GB).

Description : Do I need a 2.5" hard drive enclosure? What type?

Last Answer : I doubt she will use it much, BTW. Probably will be a one time use.

Description : How do I migrate data on my Macbook Pro to an external hard drive?

Last Answer : The best external drive I know is the Western Digital MyBook 1TB. I wouldn't boot from the external, too many opportunities for weirdness. Leave System, Library, Applications, and Users on the ... documents). You can put aliases of the external folders on your internal User folders if you like.

Description : What is the life expectancy of a Powerbook G4 hard drive?

Last Answer : Even new hard drives can fail- often without warning. Be sure you are fully backed up at all times.

Description : Is Tivo's OS located on the hard drive?

Last Answer : I would think so. However, if I’m correct, it is probably hidden on an encrypted partition of the HDD, making it hard to fix or replace unless you really know what you’re doing. What part of your Tivo broke?

Description : Where can I find an image of an Xbox 360 hard drive?

Last Answer : Who told you to do that?

Description : What connection does the hard drive of a 30gd ipod have?

Last Answer : It uses a 1.8” hard drive. Start from there.

Description : What's the best method for transferring a brand new Mac OS to a new hard drive?

Last Answer : That seems to be the safest way. The one thing you'll need for sure is a 00 Torx screwdriver if you don't have one. They're kind of a pain in the ass to find, but I found one at Ace ... it not let you directly install the OS and iLife on the new new HD? Then you could just do data migration.

Description : How to make a mac appear as a mountable hard drive to another mac under OS X?

Last Answer : Connect the two Macs using a firewire cable, then restart one of them and hold down the “T” key. The Mac will pretend to be a firewire hard drive.

Description : Hard drive surface scan failed. Is it dead?

Last Answer : Just to expand a little bit, I’d like to have as little downtime as possible, so although I appreciate answers like “take it to Apple tech support”, I’d like to see if there’s anything I can do first, especially if the problem isn’t serious.

Description : How do I free up hard drive space on my laptop?

Last Answer : answer:A bookshelf can only hold so many books, CD's and DVD's. You probably don't want to compress them and lose quality, so you're either going to have to offload some of the media you don't ... GB of space by deleting Temp files and the like, but your real data hogs are the media you mentioned.

Description : How do I get my computer to recognize my external hard drive ?

Last Answer : if it’s the USB-only model then it might be a bad interface on the drive. Probably an obvious question to ask but have you tried connecting the drive with a different cable?

Description : Does anyone manufacture/sell a 10,000rpm Ultra-ATA interface hard drive in capacities ranging from 100-500GB?

Last Answer : A 10 min search on the internet leads me to believe the 10000 rpm hard drives come in Ultra160 SCSI but not Ultra ATA. I think I would have found something by now if it was not hidden in some treasure chest, I do have mad web-search skills. Sort of. Sorry, mate.

Description : What is the largest size I can upgrade my laptop hard drive to?

Last Answer : You can definitely get 160GB but that's not much of an increase. In my experience (& I'm no expert!) you can only get the latest SATA type drives larger than this. They use a different type ... dimensions. A lot of laptops beyond a certain age (mine included) cannot take these, only the IDE type.

Description : Move itunes to my external hard drive?

Last Answer : http://www.ask-public.com/disc/1455/how-to-move-itunes-music-to-external-hd/

Description : What's a good upgrade for my MacBook Pro hard drive?

Last Answer : Any 2.5’ drive with a SATA connection would be good. Look for the capacity that you want, and a good warranty. On the other hand, if you want a fast drive, a SSD is good.

Description : What's the easiest way to copy over my filesystem onto my newer, faster, stronger internal hard drive?

Last Answer : answer:Dude, set up two partitions - at least. Depending on the music/software you're backing up, isolate only the necessary files. Odds are you aren't looking run your other system on a dual ... However, your home directory /home/ username should be sufficient. http://www.egg-tech.com/mac_backup/

Description : My External Hard Drive Seems to be Dead!

Last Answer : Is it making any strange noises?

Description : Why won't my iBook startup?

Last Answer : answer:Can you try starting up in Verbose Mode? That might give some info into why it is failing to boot.

Description : Windows will not recognize my portable HDD, can you help?

Last Answer : This happens to me often. Try rebooting the computer.

Description : Why is Windows telling me two different values for free space?

Last Answer : answer:Update: JDiskReport and WinDirStat both seem to support the ~15GB free space scenario. So, now defrag.exe is kinda scarin’ the bejeebus outta me.

Description : Can I unplug my external usb drive when not in use?

Last Answer : You can unplug it when not in use without any problem.

Description : SATA 100 vs SATA 300 drive?

Last Answer : All SATA drives are pin compatible. If the macbook pro’s bus is not 300 mb/sec capable, then the 300 drive will revert to 100 megs. You shouldn’t have a problem…

Description : What should I do with some extra old hard drives?

Last Answer : grab some cheap cheap hardware off ebay, build a cheap pc, and donate it to some poor family.

Description : What is the best configuration for data transfer between two external hard drives?

Last Answer : If they are usb, use 2 usb ports directly connected to your computer and move other usb peripherals to a hub to make room. I have 2 WD Tb Mybooks and use the Smartware software for backup.

Description : How and to whom do I donate hard drives?

Last Answer : You could probably donate them to a school which is short on funds, most would appreciate any help they can get.

Description : When you think of Western Digital, Iomega, and Seagate computer hard drives, what words come to mind?

Last Answer : In the order presented: Vomit. Bankrupt. Salvation. Then, as aforementioned: Breakdown. Apple’s-Bitch. Ignition-Point. By hyphenating every word, I have taken two words… and POOF! Made one!

Description : Advantages of solid state hard drives?

Last Answer : Faster load/save times, much smaller, less likely to be ruined by dropping, quieter and cooler than an HHD. At this point in time, I don’t believe that the technology is advanced enough to justify the much higher prices for SSD’s with equal or lower capacities than HHD’s

Description : Videographers- I need to purchase a dependable, portable hard disk DVR with a coaxial (RF) input. Any Suggestions?

Last Answer : I have looked everywhere & cannot find a hard drive with coaxial input. Do they exist? I think the best bet, is to find the hard drive that fits to your needs & then put it into an external ... has all the ports & features you want, so you can connect the hard drive into whatever device you want.

Description : How do solid-state hard drives (SSD) compare to hard disk drives (HDD)?

Last Answer : I think anything like an iPod or iPhone uses solid state. I know they are incorporating that into the MacBook air. They use less power because they do not have to revolve.

Description : Upgrading my Macbook Pro hard disk...

Last Answer : are you looking for higher spindle speed? A FireWire800 external, out of the question?

Description : How picky is Seagate about sending back hard drives for repair?

Last Answer : Consider yourself fucked. I hate that company.

Description : Hot external harddrive just gave out, think it will work again?

Last Answer : Let it cool off all the way and try it again. I think it’s likely it overheated and will survive. I would back up your stuff somewhere else immediately when you get it working again.

Description : Does anybody know of a good external hard drive that is compatible with both Windows XP and Windows 7?

Last Answer : Most of them. External drives work like giant flash drives, with respect to the interface.

Description : Widows XP install, hangs at Setup is Starting Windows. Is this a hard drive failure?

Last Answer : It normally would indicate a failure if one was occurring. Cannot locate blah blah or something along those lines. Also the install disc doesn't have a limited number of uses, it should work as ... this mean you shut it off after a certain period? What exactly happens after it starts to hang?

Description : How do I completely wipe and format a hard drive so as to rebuild it with Windows XP?

Last Answer : Start the computer and during the preboot, press the key that takes you to the BIOS settings. Now look for the boot sequence area, and have it boot from the CD/ROM drive. Put your original disk in the drive, restart the computer, and reinstall the OS.