Formatting 4Gb SD to FAT32

How? How do i format my SD card to FAT32. i have tried searching the internet and this forum without luck. I cannot find out how to do it in disk utilities either? can some one please give me an easy step by step guide or some easy pointers on how to do this.
Thanks

well im not a professional but i checked with my own sd card but if you go to disk utilitys
Click on ur sd card name
(You cant have it in ur camra use an sd to usb (i have the motorola sd thing for my old nextel phone)
then..
RAD (should be on the top like they have first aid then erase then RAD and restore
Hit RAD
Then go to volume format and u can use the last one witch is MS-DOS FAT
Dont forget if you do this it will clear ur sd card so make sure you have all ur pictures in iphoto from ur sd card.
i also dont know if your mac will see it because it is in fat form but idk
i think it should beable to
but play around with it
Message was edited by: noname212

Similar Messages

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.

Formatting Ipod Classic to Fat32

My ipod.db and other files got corrupted, and Itunes Restore wouldn't work. So, I decided I'd format my ipod using Windows (I'm using Windows 7), only to realize later that Ipod uses FAT32 on Window Computers. Now, I can't format my Ipod to FAT32 no matter how hard I tried. I've tried third party programs, but I keep getting "Device Media is Write-Protected". I've had it on Disk Mode, tried using FAT32formatter (says collapsed partition) and HP USB (write protected) to no avail. My hard drive isn't damaged, because it works fine, and I can click and drag content onto it to my heart's content. I really need some help, and would love any suggestions...

I managed to solve it, so here's the solution to those with the same problems (and from what I could tell, it was many).
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
This program manages to bypass the "Write-Protection" and allows you to format you're Ipod to FAT32, or any other drivers for that matter. Easy to use, so good luck!!

Formatting External HDD to FAT32

Hi,
I've got a La Cie 500GB external HDD that I want to format from NTSF to FAT32 so that I can read/write from OSX.
From Windows, I know that u can't format greater than 32GB to FAT32.
what is the best way to go about this?
is there anyway to do this from OSX?
I noticed a MS-DOS format option in the disk utility.
what does that do?
cheers

The information you want is provided in LaCie's own site.In case the link doesn't end up as I see it, here's what I did: From their Home page I chose Support > Technical Support > FAQ and completed the fields as FireWire Hard Drive > Mac OS > MS-DOS. Maybe you'll find more by specifically choosing your model.
http://www.lacie.com/support/faq/index.htm

I want to format a disc into FAT32 format

I have bought a TV that supports recording and timeshift to harddrives that uses FAT32.
So, no I try to format a harddrive to FAT32 but cannot find this option on my Win7 system.
What can I do?

In addition to Lewis Renwick's post, you can try formatting using Command Prompt. Goto start -> type cmd -> press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Click Yes if UAC prompts.
Type format <drive letter>: /fs:FAT32 and then press Enter. This will format the partition in FAT32.
Additionally, you can use DISKPART to format the HDD:
C:\> Diskpart
DISKPART> list disk
DISKPART> select disk (id)
DISKPART> online disk (if the disk is not online)
DISKPART> attributes disk clear readonly
DISKPART> clean
DISKPART> convert mbr (or gpt)
DISKPART> create partition primary
DISKPART> select part 1
DISKPART> active (if this is the boot partition)
DISKPART> format fs=fat32 label=(name) quick
DISKPART> assign letter (letter)
DISKPART> list volume
This will format the complete HDD to FAT32 filesystem.
Balaji Kundalam

External Drive Format - Mac Extended vs Fat32

Hi
There seems to be a general consensus that if you are saving iMovie projects to an external hard disk, the format must be Mac Extended (Journaled).
There is an Apple support article from July 2003 saying that this is the case.
However I have experimented, testing an imovie 6 project saved on both a Mac Extended partition and a Fat32 partition on my external drive.
Both appear to run perfectly.
Does anyone know whether the article / idea that iMovie needs Mac Extended format is out of date? Has subsequent releases of iMovie fixed the issue with using Fat32?
Any experiences/thoughts anyone? I'd ideally prefer to keep my external as all Fat32 seeing as I want to swap files with my PC.....

Why not partition the drive, one partition Mac OS Extended, one partition Fat32, as suggested in another thread?
BTW, I wouldn't rely on your experience storing an iMovie project on a Fat32 drive to prove much of anything. If Apple says not to use it, I wouldn't use it. There's no way any one of us can test all the conditions that can and will arrise.
One such condition, if memory serves, is that large clips — longer than 20 minutes — do not import correctly with Fat32. Something about a 4GB limit, if I recall. Users have reported other problems too. A search for "Fat32" in the iMovie forums should reveal several.
Karl

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.

Satellite 2450-201: Cannot format 4GB card in SD card slot

Hello,
I´m a Satellite 2450-201 owner and I have a big problem.
I just bought a 4GB SD memory card and nice, it fits on the side slot on my notebook.
It's the first time using the memory card, so a needs-to-format window appears when I try to access.
The Window has the right information : 3.78Gb, Fat32, ...
I Click "OK" and the Windows (XP SP2) informs : cannot complete format (here is portuguese, so it's translated to english)
If the right size is informed , 3.78Gb, why the Windows cannot format ?
My notebook is spyware and virus free (just 23 tasks running and under control), I Have SP2, Bios 1.50 (newer), My SD controller drivers is up-to-date (the last and the only one was released in 2003).
Also tried third party "Panasonic SDFormatter 2.0". It's reporting the unit (hardware) or the mem stick SD is not compatible with the program. And the same effect happens : the Sd unit lost the nice icon and I need to remove/insert the SD to see the same story again.
Help me please, friends.

Hi
Its very strange that youre possible to see the SD card after plug-in. some people has suggested that this SD card slot supports only 256MB, 512MB cards and additionally with no MMC support.
I dont know if you have Toshiba SD card format utility installed on the laptop but on many Tosh notebooks such utility is preinstalled and could be used for the card formatting.
According to some posting in this forum the format utility of Portg M400 could handle the 2GB SD cards but not sure about 4GB.
If possible you could try to install this utility on your notebook but you know you have not big chances that this will work.
I think in such case only a external SD card reader will help you.

Had 1418 error.formatted as fat.not fat32.now ipod doesnt work.why?plz help

The iTunes keeps saying that:
"The iPod "IPOD" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read or written to"
"The iPod "IPOD" cannot be updated.
And when I tried to restore it.
"The iPod "IPOD" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1418)"
thats a dreaded problem and i researched at many forums on how to solve it.....
before reading ur reply....there were some other replies that i read.....
which told me to format my ipod into fat partition...and not fat32 partition....then we had to update it and then restoring it would be possible........
that was the only article which i came across and which had a solution to 1418 problem......
so i began my work....
but as soon as i formatted my ipod shuffle second generation into fat partition.......
i restarted my comp...and then.the ipod is no longer working.......
if i push it to on......then there is a constant green light on it which does not go off even if i connect it to comp. using the dock provided.......
if i put it off,the green light goes off....
ideally when an ipod shuffle is connected to pc..there is an orange light that starts blinking ,that shows that the ipod is being charged.
but now when i connect mine.....
the green light blinks only once......and then nothing happens...
the device isnt working and so i cant even solve my 1418 problem ,as now i even have the solution.......
help me plz....
its really urgent....
its been just a month my uncle gifted me this ipod ...he stays in north carolina........and i stay in india.....
i dont even know if there are service centres of apple available in mumbai.and if they are,whether they are trust worthy or the ipod that i send to them might never to me and get stolen or something.....somebody might just keep it and say that its lost.......mumbai is not trustworthy.
but if there is a recognized apple service centre then i would want to go there and get my ipod repaired....i have one-year warranty with me.......but i dont know if the warranty of a product bought in north carolina works in india......
i cant throw this ipod....cause its my first ipod and it has hardly been time that i got it...its too early for me to throw it.....
i dont know why the ****.....cant i connect it to the comp...
i tried the following: after getting 1418 read and write error...:
reinstalled the itunes 7.0.2
reinstalled the drivers......
reset the ipod shuffle...
restarted my computer several times.....
checked the cable....
plugged the usb cable onto another port...
scanned the comp for viruses......
now the only thing left is that i think.....there can be a problem with the jack where the dock is plugged.....
maybe thats the reason my ipod isnt working...
even if i formatted into fat partition rather than fat32 partition,it should atleast be connected......
should atleast charge.....
should atleast be detected......
my ipod is not even getting detected by the comp as any unknown device also.....forget as an ipod....
i just shouldnt have formatted it...
although i think....that formatting it did not lead to this problem......
please help me.......
urgently...........
plz.....
plz......send ur reply fast..plz help me.........
get this ipod to work......
i will fix the 1418 error myself....
just get this device to work....so that comp starts detecting that i have connected something thru usb.....

On top of the two suggestions already given, make sure that the drive letter being assigned to the ipod when you plug it in in windows is not also a drive letter being assigned to another drive. I've heard that this happens occasionally and can cause all kinds of conflicts, from problems you are describing to lockups when trying to sync.
I would also try it on a different computer to see if that helps. Maybe you've got a friend or a computer at work that you can install itunes on and give it a shot there. This will let you know whether it's a problem with your specific computer or if it's a problem with the ipod.
The fact that it runs in Windows and you were able to reformat the flash memory stick tells me that the Ipod is working, but that something on your computer is not.
P.S. Obviously you've had it for 90 days, So I must assume that the USB port is working correctly. Otherwise the Ipod's battery would have drained by now. So I don't believe it is a hardware issue. So move past that for right now and look to your computer's settings for the answer.

Unable to format external harddrive to fat32

hi,
I am using the disk utility and am trying to format my external harddrive to fat32 and during the partition, there is no option for "MS-DOS Filesystem" for fat32. which option should I use? I'm on OS 10.6.8

Hi n,
Have you tried MS-DOS (FAT)? Or does that do 16? Sorry, it's been awhile since I've used that.

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?

Howcome I cant copy a 12GB movie from my desktop to my external. my external format is MS-DOS (FAT32)

Howcome I cant copy a 12 GB movie from my desktop to my external. my external is fomatted as MS-DOS (FAT32)

because the MAX limit is 6gig on that formatting.
if the drive is BLANK or you have another drive, format it in Mac OSX extended journaled and that will remove the SIZE block.

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)

How to Format Hp simplesave to FAT32

I need fat32 so it will work on the PS3 but Windows and cant do this not even the command prompt way. the HDD is 320gb i heard of the HP disk format tool but cant find a download link beside the ones on sites like Cnet which i dont trust cause who says HP uploaded it. Does HP have a new program for this

Vista System Recovery (reinstall):
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00809678&tmp_task=solveCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&la...
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Partition External Harddrive and part format Extended Journaled part fat32?

Hello
I bought a Toshiba NTFS formatted External Harddrive for the safe keep of my files.
I want it to make partition into 2, and one part to format Mac Extended (Jounaled), one part to FAT32.
Is this possible?
Many thanks.

Thank you very much.
Can I have related question?
Is it possible to make 3 partitions on a harddisk?
If it is,
Can I retain NTFS on a partitioned part?
Or does it have to be entirely formated to Mac readable/wrtitable fotmat?
I mean if I partision in 3 parts can I format
part 1 Mac JOurnal
part 2 FAT32
part3 to retain NTFS?
Many many thanks

Formatting 4Gb SD to FAT32

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