Formatting a particular partition to MS-DOS(FAT)

I have a 1TB Lacie external hard drive with two partitions (300GB and 700GB). Both are Mac OS Extended (Journaled) right now. I want the 700GB partition to be MS-DOS(FAT) but when I select the partition and go to the erase page it does not give me the MS-DOS(FAT) format option in the pull down menu. If I click on the entire disc and choose to format both partitions back into one it DOES allow me to use the MS-DOS(FAT) format but not if I only have one partition selected. Why is this? Is there any way to just format one partition to MS-DOS(FAT)?

Done reformatting and it worked. Thanks!
Here's something off topic: I was concerned with formatting a partition to fat32 because I wanted to use my external drive with my PS3. When my drive was formatted with the APM scheme my PS3 didn't pick it up, even when it was fat32. But now that it is GUID it works on the PS3 as well. So, two problems solved.

Similar Messages

  • I have tried to format my HDD from MS-DOS fat to MAC OS Extended (jurnaled) but after formating turns to the same MS-DOS FAT format why?

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    You will need to perform an Internet Recovery or be able to boot the computer using a Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later DVD. For the former:
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    After a fairly long period of time - 15 minutes or more - the recovery screen will appear. Select Disk Utility from the main menu, and click on the Continue button.
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    2. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    3. 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.
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    5. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    6. After formatting is done quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Install OS X from the main menu and click on the Continue button. Follow the onscreen instructions to install OS X onto the internal drive.

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  • How to reformat a mac os formatted external hard drive to ms dos fat

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    Use Disk Utility in the Utilities folder: http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1075

  • Should I format my external drive to MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT ??

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    Fortuny wrote:
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  • How to format external drive as MS-DOS (FAT)

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    biddymon wrote:
    Snip snip...........and I appreciate your sense of humor.  Unfortunately mine is in the sleep mode at this stage of the game.
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  • External HD in MS DOS FAT and partitions in Mac OS X extended

    Hi,
    I am in midst of reorganizing back up.
    I noted my Maxtor external HD, 300 GB, has format MS-DOS FAT,
    but the 2 partitions are set up in Mac OSX extended: one for TM in extended journaled, the other partition in extended.
    Anybody knows what implications I might run into ?
    Should I reformat ?
    Thanks
    Tom

    this screenshot does not contradict anything. it just says that if you use the erase tab on the whole drive with the currently selected erase settings it will erase the whole drive and reformat it to a single partition formatted FAT. but what i do see at the bottom of this screenshot is that the partition scheme is set to MBR. that's bad if you ever want to use this drive for TM or bootable backups. the partition scheme should be GUID for that. so if you ever want to use the drive for that purpose you should repartition it with GUID partition scheme. that can be done using that partition tab. set the number of partitions to what you want (but not "current"), click on "options" and set the scheme to GUID. note that this will wipe the whole drive.

  • How to format MS-DOS (FAT) to Mac OS??

    I need to format an MS-DOS (FAT) partition to Mac OS....
    How do i do this in Disk Utility? It won't read the MS-DOS.. and renames  it disk1s2..

    Well actually i was trying to reformat it from MS-DOS to Mac OS. My Boot Camp partition somehow formated my external hard drive and while i can access my files in Windows, ofc i am not able to use it in OS X. So what i did was, luckily i had enough space for a new Mac OS partition that i can transfer my files too. Can you possibly help me with Windows? There is this common annoying thing, it won't give me permission to change my new Mac OS partition nor  the MS-DOS partition :/. I've experinced this before, but if i can just find out how to get permission i can copy the files and delete the MS-DOS . Please don't respond telling me about restore function in DU, no offence of course .

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    Hi, and thanks in advance. I have actually searched here, read quite a bit including the FAQ on using an ext drive with Time Machine (what I'm trying to do) but am still not clear.
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    I'm doing a giant "huh" here, even with all my searching, so will be grateful for any assistance. Should I expect this behavior? If not, where did I go wrong? Thanks again.

    Do this:
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
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    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.
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  • Can't boot windows after creating new MS-DOS (FAT) partition

    I created a new MS-DOS (FAT) partition on Yosemite, and now I am unable to access my windows bootcamp partition.
    - I can attempt to boot into windows from Yosemite however after a long while, I am prompted with "no bootable device".
    - The option to boot windows from the startup manager is no longer visible.

    It still shows the bootcamp partition with windows.
    EDIT: Creating the new FAT partition did seem to create another partition which is visible when looking at the partition layout; the other partition is 1.04gb; format "Free Space". Apparently that's from bootcamp - hadn't noticed before.
    I took some screens to show what I mean ("WINDOWS EXT" is the new partition I created):
    - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23413810/Apple/new%20fat.png
    - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23413810/Apple/new%20fat%20details.png
    - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23413810/Apple/created%20alongside%20fat.png
    - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23413810/Apple/windows%20bootcamp.png
    - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23413810/Apple/windows%20bootcamp%20details. png

  • How do I change the desktop icon for an MS-Dos Fat formatted flash drive in Lion?

    I have a bunch of flash drives I need to format for work, and we want to put our company logo as the icon for each drive.  We wanted to format them as MS-Dos Fat so that they'll be readable and writeable on both Mac and Windows computers.  But when I format them that way and change the icon, it displays as a generic preview JPEG image instead of the real image or even the default hard drive icon.
    I managed to fix it so the icon will display properly in Snow Leopard, but in Lion the drive still mounts with the generic Preview thumbnail.
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    Thanks!

    Command- i will open the info pane of your icon. 
    Try opening and "selecting all" ⌘-A (of your preferred image,) then copy and paste your preferred image on the high-lighted icon in the upper left.

  • I accidentally formated the hfs+ partition to FAT

    I accidentally formated the hfs+ partition to FAT.
    That's right, bummer. Now, is there anything I can do?
    Here is the scenario -
    I cannot get it to mount or start.
    I opened the case to pull the battery ribbon.
    When the battery is connected there is a continuous loop of the initial boot. black screen with apple logo, hard drive continues to spin.
    Is there anyway I can get it to mount to reformat it? God I hope so.
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    Message was edited by: winchendonsprings
    Message was edited by: winchendonsprings

    Start with trying to force the iPod into disk mode first, then connecting it to your computer and see if that makes it show up in iTunes...
    Putting iPod into Disk Mode
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651
    Good luck,
    Patrick

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    I just bought a Macbook Pro. I understood that to make my old hard drive work with the Mac, I needed to format it to MS-DOS(fat). I also understood that this format was supposed to allow it to work in windows as well. However, after formatting to MS-DOS(fat), my hard drive will no longer become visible on my windows laptop. It makes a noise when I plug it in or take it out, but nothing pops up, and while I am able to find my hard drive in the management section - I am unable to edit it in any way except for disabling it. I cannot access any files. This is problematic for me as the computers used at university are not Macsle
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    If I were you, I'd format the drive on the Windows side as NTFS. Then use the $20 Paragon NTFS software to be able to read and write to the volume.
    Clinton

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