Can't format external drive as FAT32

I just bought a brand new 4TB Seagate external HDD with the notion that I would hook it up to the back of my Time Capsule. I will want this drive accessible for both Mac and PC. According to this page my only real option then is FAT32. Here's my problem. When I open Disk Utility and select my drive, and then the Erase tab, no option will work for erasing the disk. I get an error. If I select the volume (indented under the drive) and the Erase tab, I don't get FAT32 as an option. I have the "Mac OS Extended" and "exFAT" as my only options. I can format the drive successfully using either of these two. However, the Time Capsule only recognises it has been formatted as "Mac OS Extended" as expected. Can anyone tell me how I can use Disk Utility to format the drive as FAT32 format?

Ok, that worked.... kind of. When I selected the Partition tab and '1 Partition' it allowed me to format it as FAT32. I went and plugged it into the Time Capsule, and the drive shows up in the Airport Utility under the "Disks" tab. However, something still isn't kosher here. When I open a Finder window and click on my Time Capsule, I see the external drive. But the file I copied onto to it immediately after doing the format doesn't show up. It appears as though the drive is empty. Then after about 30 seconds I get an error message that my drive can't be found.
On a side note, I have formatted the drive as exFAT, but when I plug it into the Time Capsule, it does not recognize it all. Because the page I linked to in my original post did not specify exFAT that's why I wanted to try FAT32.

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Can't format external drive for Mac

I got an external Seagate Freeagent 750GB drive to use with my new Mini. It came formatted as a windows FAT volume. Since I don't have a FW400 to FW 800 cable yet, I have it connected via USB. When I try to reformat as a Mac drive (with any of the 4 case-sensitive / journaled options), I get an error, but I can then reformat as FAT. Does anyone know how I can format this drive as mac and what the problem is?

It may have something to do with the partition scheme. There are at least three different schemes. One is used for windows formats (so you can use FAT32 or NTFS format), one is used for Intel Mac (probably GUID, not sure), and one is used for PowerPC Mac (probably the Apple Partition Map, again not sure). I don't know whether it is smart enough to choose the appropriate scheme for you when you have selected a format for your partition. Try to select the right scheme for Intel Mac first, and then decide on the format on each (if you have more than one partition on that disk) partitions.
I think you have to make sure the format is compatible with the scheme, especially when you have multiple partitions on one disk. You can't format one partition to FAT32 and another to HFS+, although it will try to do something, but it will end up with error.

Formatting external drive as FAT32

what are the disadvantages of formatting an external drive as FAT32?

The best bet for most uses is FAT32 file system. For more security, other file systems are available, but you need to get third party software in order to allow windows or mac to read/write respectively.
NTFS (Windows NT File System) is the most advanced Windows system, developed for NT, and used in windows NT, 2000, XP & Vista. Macintosh systems can read NTFS, but cannot write to it unless third party software is installed. This software may come at a price (usually around $25-$30)
HFS+J (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) is an advanced Macintosh file system that is probably the most secure way to go, however Windows systems cannot read or write to this file system unless third party software is installed.
FAT32 is an old windows file system that is used universally among many devices. This file system also has a size limit of 4GB. It can store many files as long as each single file is less than 4GB. On Windows VISTA, you cannot copy groups of small files totaling more than 4GB at a time. Macintosh and Windows systems, as well as other systems like Playstation 3 can Read and Write to FAT32 without third party software. There is no third party software available for Ps3 to date.

Disk Utility won't let me format external drive to FAT32

Maybe this cannot be done or the answer is simple and I am missing it. I have a 1.5tb Maxtor drive hooked up via fw800. I want to have 120gb of this as Mac OS extended journaled to back up my internal drive via Time Machine. I want the other 1.38tb to be in FAT32 so I can share files between my windows and mac machines. I keep all of my external storage except for the backup partition in FAT32. I have never had an issue until I upgrades to Leopard and now when I click on the larger partition I only have the option for the 4 mac formats-- FAT32 is not available. I can format the entire 1.5tb to FAT32 but once I try and partition it only mac formats are available. I forgot to mention I just did the upgrade to 10.5.1 and the issue is still present.
How do I format the smaller partition as mac os extended journaled and the larger as FAT32? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Patrick
PS. I did a search but did not find anything.
Message was edited by: PatrickB

It may depend on the type of partition table scheme you are using (see bottom of page in disk utility for that says Apple Partition Map/APM, GUID Partition table/GPT or Master Boot Record/MBR partition map).
MS-Windows can read MBR scheme only (64 bit MS-Windows supports GPT, according to MS). If you have Apple Partition Map, your disk won't be usable on Windows. I suspect you have APM partition table and hence the disk utility is not giving the option for FAT32 format, since you can't use it under MS-Windows.
On the Mac side, all 3 schemes are readable (for bootability, you'll need APM on PPC Macs, GPT for Intel Macs). Time Machine doesn't need a bootable disk, but I'd suggest APM/GPT if you are using PPC/Intel macs respectively (but I'd think either will work for Time Machine, if you have a mix of Macs).
But here's the catch - Apple says Time Machine won't work with drives with MBR partition map (even though Macs are MBR-aware), so the issue for you is Time Machine's ability to use MBR drives. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306932
I suspect unless you are on an Intel Macs (OS X) and use only 64 bit MS-Windows (using GPT)/Itanium, using the same disk for TM and FAT32 sharing between Mac and Win worlds is not possible. Not the desirable answer.
If you do want to experiment, make a temporary setup and try it out on both Mac side and Windows side first (on all your machines), before making a "production" system. You can select the DISK (first line on Disk Utility for that disk, not second line) and click on Options at the left bottom (it might have to be erased first) and then select the type of partition scheme. Note formats like HFS+/FAT32 are a level lower in the hierarchy than partition map/table.
Let us know what you find out/decide?

Formatting external drive to FAT32?

Hi, I have trolled thorugh the forums for an answer to my external hard drive formatting problems, but alas, I cannot find it.
So here's my question:
My external hard drive is formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) but I want to transfer some files from my PC.
I have tried to format it to FAT32 in Disk Utility, but the only options I have to format the disk to are Mac OS Extended (there's a couple), MS-DOS File System, and UNIX file system.
That's it. The drive is supposed to be Mac and PC compatible, so can anyone tell how I can format it so I can get these files from my PC?
Thanks.
MacBook

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
On a Windows PC:
Connect the HD to your Windows PC
Go to My Computer
Click right on the external HD icon
Chose the format option
Now you get a little programm
Here you can select FAT32
I don't know how big your external HD is, but the maximum size for a FAT32 partition is 32 GB. If the HD is larger, you can only use the first 32 GB! Maybe you didn't know this.
With this application you can acces a Mac OS Extended formatted HD on your Windows (you will really like it!):
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/
Probably this is a better solution if your HD is larger then 32 GB.
Hopefully this is helpfull or solved your problem.
(please see the "helpfull" and "solved" button's above this message)

Format external drive partition under 10.2.8

Hello. I have been trying to setup a WD My Book 500gb with 2 partitions to be used as on offsite backup unit for our business computers. We have one Mac (this G5), and 4 Windows stations (3 XP/ 1 98SE). I am trying to setup this unit with one partition using NTFS and the other with Mac HFS or HFS+ file systems. I have found a utility that allows me to format the partition that I intend to use with the Mac as a FAT32 partition. I then tried bringing the WD MyBook to the G5 and reformatting that partition as HFS. When I run Disk Utility, I click on the partition showing as Fat32 under disk2 and then click on the Erase tab, select Mac OS X Extended file system, no OS9 drivers, have tried various names (Mac BU, My Mac BU, My MacBook, etc), then click Erase, Confirm Erase. The progress bar comes up for a moment or so, says that it is erasing the volume, then exits out as if done. Unfortunately, it never mounts the drive and the volume no longer shows up in Disk Utility (only shows the Drive without any recognized partitions) until I close and restart Disk Utility. When I restart Disk Utility, the volume I am trying to format once again shows up under the drive, tho now with no name. Under Identification, it says Mount Point: Not Mounted/ Format: MS-DOS/ Capacity: 116.44gb. After doing some browsing around onthe internet trying to troubleshoot this on my own, I found some reference to Disk Utility logs (supposedly avail in upper right corner, tho didn't find there). I searched in the Library/Logs/Crash Reporter and found 'Disk Utility.crash.log' which says:
Date/Time: 2008-09-17 21:25:42 -0400
OS Version: 10.2.8 (Build 6S90)
Host: Joanns-Computer.local.
Command: Disk Utility
PID: 540
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERNPROTECTIONFAILURE (0x0002) at 0x01215088
Any suggestions on how I might get this partition formatted for a Mac file system? I would use Fat32, but I plan to use RSyncX to backup this G5 and would like to make the backup bootable in case of critical failure. And since I am using this drive as a backup storage device rather than file sharing system, I have no need to access files on either partition from the opposite operating system.
Thanks in advance for any help that can be rendered. Also, if more info or more of the log file is needed to diagnose, please let me know.
PS: Sorry if this is in wrong forum. Wasn't sure if this falls under Setup, Customizing or something else.

You can either format the drive entirely FAT32 that can be used on both Windows and Mac or you can format the drive entirely for the Mac, but you cannot have one partition of each on the same drive (not with Jaguar. You would need Leopard to accomplish that and an Intel Mac.)
There is this article/hint explaining a method for doing so, but I do not know if it is doable with Jaguar. Maybe Panther since the hint appeared about the time Panther was released.

How to Format external drive previously formatted for NSLU2

Windows XP.
I've had two external hard drives connected to my NSLU2 for several years. Always worked properly. Nevery any problems accessing files from either drive. Now, I'd like to remove one external drive and no longer use it with the NSLU2 (Disk 1). I just want to use it as a "regular" external drive and connect it directly to my PC by USB. When I plug it into my PC, it is not visible in Windows Explorer. When I right click "My Computer" and select "Manage", I can see it in the "Disk Management" section, but there is no drive letter assigned to it. It has partitions. When I right click on any partition, the "Format" option is grayed out and cannot be selected. Also, the "Change Drive Letter..." option is grayed out and cannot be selected. How can I format this disk back to whatever it needs to be in order to use it as a regular external drive? NOTE: I do not need to keep any files on the drive. I've already transferred the files I need to another drive. Thanks!

Never mind. I figured it out. I downloaded a free utility for formatting large drives in FAT32. The utility ran a quick format in just a few seconds and then the drive became available in Windows Explorer where I can now perform a complete format or just use as-is.

How to format external drive as NTFS?

I have a lot of files on my mac, and my external drive is formatted in FAT32. I can't put files larger the 4 GB on there. How can I format the drive as NTFS? All help appreciated!

Also note that even if you do use a Windows computer to format the drive as NTFS and then put it back in your Mac, you can't write to it without installing third party software. As installed, OS X can only read NTFS.
As Niel noted, Mac OS Extended is the best choice, as long as there's no reason for the drive to be accessible from a Windows computer. If it must be NTFS, then you have these choices for the Mac to enable write access.
A commercial product is Paragon NTFS for Mac.
There are now two versions of the open source NTFS-3G software for OS X. NTFS-3G is the free version, which only works with the 32 bit boot kernel. This version also requires installing MacFUSE. A separate component needed for the free NTFS-3G software.
Tuxera, which provides the funding for the free NTFS-3G has their own paid version. Tuxera NTFS for Mac. This version supports both 32 and 64 bit boot kernels. But NOT the newer 64 bit only kernel of some newer Macs. Tuxera's version eliminates the need for the separate MacFUSE installation, and is faster at accessing NTFS drives.
Edit: Checking Tuxera's site, it looks like they've fixed the issue with the newer Macs which will only boot 64 bit. The note they had on their site at one time about it not working seems to be gone.

Format External Drive with Disk Utility, Make it Windows Compatible

I have formatted my external drive using disk utility, and it works great on my Mac. But no Windows PC can read it, and I need to use it on Windows PCs. I tried formatting as MS-DOS FAT but that didn't work either. What can I do?
Thanks so much in advance.

I've run into the problem fairly regularly were I format a drive as FAT32 on the Mac, but Windows won't read it. I just reformat it from the Windows machine as FAT32. My Mac always reads and writes to it just fine, so it has never been a problem, just a minor mystery.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Transfer files from Mac formatted external drive to PC formatted drive

i need to transfer quicktime files (that were captured from video with FCP) to a PC formatted external drive (for editing them in after effects on a PC). the files can be transfered by burning them on a DVD, but that will take a very long time and waste many DVDs because i have 60 GB of material... can this be done (without having to purchase expensive software)?

thanx tom,
first of, i like that you made the link appear as one word. how did you do that? it's really cool!
i downloaded the program, but i'm not sure how to use it... reading the guide just made me more confused... if i understand correctly, it will automatically reformat ALL my files to NTFS-3G ones, which are not as stable... i'm a little scared to install it... though i may have totally misunderstood what it says. i see mostly black when i try to read these kind of things...
anyone out there have experience with this program?

Formating External Drive - Removing Time Machine Back up

I have a 400GB Toshiba external drive, 1st time when I connected that with MAC than it asked if i want to use that as a time machine back up. I selected yes, but now when I am trying to connect that external drive to windows pc than its not detecting the drive. So please tell me how can I format the external drive so that I can use the external drive with different laptop....Thanks a lot in advance.
N.B: Some one told me tht it should be NTSC so tht I can use that drive with MAC as well as with Windows. But I dont know how can I do that......

hardikdshah wrote:
N.B: Some one told me tht it should be NTSC so tht I can use that drive with MAC as well as with Windows. But I dont know how can I do that......
I would not trust the advice of this someone. If you have future questions, just start a new post and you should get more reliable info.
NTSC is a video signal format (vs. PAL). As well, as Kappy stated, Macs cannot write to NTFS without a third-party software.

How to access an ex fat formatted external drive on OS 10.6.8

How do I access an ex fat formatted external drive on OS 10.6.8 ? Drive has audio files and was originally formatted and created by a Windows PC.
When the La Cie drive is plugged in to my mac mini, it says can not recognize formatting.

Read this thread
exFAT mounting problem

Time Machine can't find external drive after installing Lion

Time Machine can't find external drive after installing Lion. I have a Laice 1 terabyte external drive that worked fine with Snow Leopard and now no show ... tried connecting it to front port and Mac Pro can't see it. Also lost Office,Quicken, and Final Cut Pro says: " You can't open application because Power PC apps are no longer supported" this is Not a good surprise!

Does the drive work when just directly connected? If so, have you prepped the drive?
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Can i format the drive to ntfs - cant save large files

i bought the TimeCapsole Extreeme AC but i cant save large files - can i format the drives to NTFS??
is there any other soultion to this?
Tx

The thing is that in windows its a map drive that i can see the files but cant save large files(more then 4GB)
Ok.. I am rather shocked but of course the problem is entirely windows.. The drive is formatted HFS+ and a 3TB drive has no file size limitation other than the drive size.
Windows for some stupid reason when it maps drives has decided it must be FAT32 and applied that.
Get rid of the drive mapping.. !!
Try accessing it via network.. ie
\\TCIPaddress and see if you can get around the 4GB file size barrier. If not I will take another look at the problem.. although I have to say windows is windows..
It should see the TC as a NT Server and have no file size limitation at all.

HT201250 Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine. Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents.

Can I include external drives to be backed up using Time Machine? Not only do I want to back up my IMac, but I have several extenal drives for one iPhoto, one iTunes and one for other files & documents. How do I know if they are included in the backup process?

Yes, if they are not exclude then TM backs them up.
Allan

Can't format external drive as FAT32

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