Re: Need to format an internal hard drive into FAT32, how?

OK, this is no playstation forum but bear with me.
I bought a new 1 TB samsung internal HDD for my playstation 3 but it will not recognize it, probably because it is not pre-formatted into FAT32. I need to format this drive. I tried to put into an old laptop and do it but the connections were different. I put it into my Satellite A500-12W and thought I would use an old windows XP cd and find a "format" option instead of installation. However, the computer would not boot from the CD with the new hard drive in. I got the error message:
"PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: exiting Pxe rom"
The drive is brand new and should not be faulty. I had created Sattelite recovery discs before so I put number 1 in and then I reached the installation process but it seemed I had no option but to install the entire thing which is 4 DVDs and when I did it before I recall it being a days work (formatting often is with all the OK's that needs to be pressed) and I am working a lot these days, I would like to avoid making a full install just to be able to felete everything again and format it into FAT32. Since we are talking about the internal drive I can't just do it from windows since there is no windows on it....
The user manual has nothing useful to contribute, I have looked through setup looking for a "format" option but can't find one.
Can anybody help me? Can I for example enter MS-DOS without an operating system istalled and do it from there? All I want is an empty FAT32 HDD....

Hi
I assume you have formatted the HDD in FAT32 but you didnt create an partition.
You have to create an partition on the HDD and then you can format this in FAT32
Then the full 1TB should be accessible.
You can do this using tool like fat32format
Copy this fat32format on diskette or HDD. Its not big 24kb
Now you have to point to the fat32format.exe and have to start this application using command fat32format.exe
Then use command fat32format X: (X means the HDD drive in most cases its C)
Now you have to press Y for Yes
Other method:
Boot the notebook using an Linux Live CD like Knoppix
Such linux does not need to be installed on HDD.
Now Linux should be able to access the HDD and you could create an FAT32 partition on this HDD

Similar Messages

Wndr4700 media router formatting hfs internal hard drive

Recently switched over to all macs in our house. I was thinking about getting a Netgear Wmdr4700 instead of a time capsule. The router utility can only format hard drives as ext4 which from what I've read is not read/write compatible with macs without additional software. However the router supports and recognizes pre formatted hfs+, or hfs+ journaled drives. Any ideas on how I can format an internal hard drive with a Mac mini or MacBook Air before installing it in the router? Mabye I'm missing something...

Hello,
here is some info to help you out.
time machine will work perfectly fine with ext4 file system this is the default file system for the unit, i have have other netgear NAS devices with ext4 and btrfs and they also work fine with time machine. but if you so desire...
to format the drive with HFS+ you would need to do this via USB sata enclosure attached to mac mini or macbook air they cost about $20-30 the other option is if you know anyone with older mac pro (tower) they could format if for you or take it a place that repairs computers and they should be able to do this in just a few mins if they have a mac around, makes sure you create only 1 partition, GUID and choose mac osx entended journaled. make sure the wndr4700 firmware is updated first...ver 1.0.0.52 is the latest...then add newly formatted HFS+ drive turn back on and wait until unit shows green HD lights up on front. then follow instuctions to backup..my other advice is to buy an external 2.5 inch USB 3 drive as a secondary backup for your macs using time machine as well attaching it to your macs once a month (dont attach it to the netgear, even though you could), for backup...1 drive will work for several macs, buy according to size needed, backup once a month to this as well and then hide drive in your sock drawer, 2 backups are better than 1, good luck.
once your backups are all done, upgrade all your MACs to mavericks for free!!!!

How do I format a internal Hard Drive from a PC/laptop

How do I format a internal Hard Drive from a PC/laptop...My old internal hard drive had problems so I took it out and I have a 100 gb Seagate ATA drive that I replaced it with. In the mean time I've been using a external drive to boot up my powerbook g4. Not sure of what to do.

Hi, capitala1. Start your Powerbook up from your Mac OS X installer disc and open Disk Utility from the Installer or Utilities menu (depending on which OS version it is). Select the newly-installed Seagate drive inside your Powerbook as the target, and format it "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". It makes no difference at all that the drive came out of a PC laptop: this is exactly the same procedure you'd use if the drive had just come brand new from its manufacturer.

After a startup problem with my macbook pro i put it as slave and formatted the internal Hard drive. Now i want to install OS X Mavericks from USB

After a startup problem with my macbook pro i put it as slave and formatted the internal Hard drive. Now i want to install OS X Mavericks from USB
How can i do that?

What did you "put as slave?" What Mac model do you have, exactly?

I am running 10.5.2 from a USB, I need to mount my internal hard drive, can anyone help me?

Hi everybody. My imac suddenly died on me. It couldn't start, right after the apple sign appeared, an interrogation sign showed. I ran the disk utility, and the problem was that the internal hard drive was not mounted. I installed the 10.5.2 (the one it came with the imac) in a USB flash drive, which I am running now. Is it possible to mount my internal drive so I can back up my data? (I know should back my data up regularly, but I didn't). Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Alvaro.

I suspect a failed HD, in that case I'd recommend Apple Hardware Test in Extended Mode at least 3x. You will need the original install discs that shipped with the computer, if you do not have them any longer you will need to order a replacement set from Apple by calling AppleCare. You will need a credit card and the serial number of the machine. The cost should be nominal.

Need to buy new internal hard drive ~ suggestions of where to buy online?

My 3 year old Mac Mini needs a new internal hard drive. I'm trying to find one online, but when I go to macsales.com for instance, I can't figure out the item I should be buying that will work. I'm clueless.
Is there any online place anyone would suggest in particular?
And what do I look for? Will it say 'mac mini internal hard drive' and will I know it will work in my old mini? (not intel).
Does anyone know of a good place to take to have it installed in the Seattle area?
Help! Thanks!

With a little experience, replacing the drive on a Mac mini would take a little less than an hour, so I suspect you're being quoted the standard minimum for the job by those two sources. Whether you take that up or do it yourself really depends on your level of confidence. Opening the mini is a daunting proposition since there's no clear way to do it, and the plastic creaks and clicks as it's being levered apart with the putty knives, but it's actually very simple to do. Once the top is off, it is a fairly simply process to get to the drive, remove it, fit a new one and then reassemble. The only common issue from doing this work is failing to reconnect the fan control cable (symptom of having forgotten it is that the fan runs continuously on start up).
I would suggest that if you have a flat, clear table, an hour to spare, two putty knives and a suitable screwdriver, you would likely find it a fairly easy job once you get started. Indeed, you might even think about increasing the system memory at the same time!
One thing I would suggest is that if you have a digital camera, once you have the top open, start taking pictures as you progress through the job. That will help overcome the 'where does this go?' syndrome, should it strike!
In terms of sources of drive, the reason Boece suggested OWC in the first reply is that they have already done the work of figuring out which drives are compatible and which are not. If you are in any doubt about which drive will work and which won't, it would make sense to source the drive from them, knowing it is suitable, than through another vendor where you may be less sure!

Disk Utility not formatting new internal hard drive

My 2011 mac book pro recently crashed giving me a gray screen with a folder(question mark). I tried reinstalling Yosemite, with no success. I bought a 2tb seagate hard drive, placed it into my macbook, however it's in master boot record. I tried partitioning it under GUID, but it is giving me error signs, as well "waiting for disks to reappear". I am currently erasing the hard drive, I understand that a 2tb hard drive is a huge hard drive and it takes time for it to be reformatted, but it's been over 12 hours and the estimate time remaining just continues to increase. What is happening? What am I doing wrong?

Just returned it, got the new one and same thing happened...I'm pretty confused with this right now. I used it as an external hard drive and it formatted fine. I installed Yosemite on it and ran fine as the operating system as an External Hard drive. However, as soon as I switch i put it into my laptop, it does not pick up or read. I just formatted the hard drive again and trying to install it, but now it is giving me a different error "this disk cannot be used to startup your computer yosemite". It's actually running as my internal hard drive right now and that's is what my computer is giving me.

Trying to install/format an INTERNAL hard drive using Disk Utility gives me "Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device". Is that a hardware problem and what could be done about it?

*** PLEASE NOTE*** - This is a query about an INTERNAL HDD not an external one. Thanks.
My Mac is a late 2009 model and the current hard drive recently failed. So I bought a new one, exactly the same, albeit 750gb instead of 500gb. The HDD is a Seagate Momentus 7200. Before the my current drive failed I made a time machine back up to an external USB HDD. I've inserted the HDD into the bottom of my Mac, plugged in the USB and started my machine pressing the 'Option' ([ALT]) key. I go into Disk Utility to try and format the new HDD by creating a new partition but I keep getting the messages,
"Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device"
or
"POSIX: could not allocate memory"
This is actaully the third HDD I've tried. The first was another Seagate Momentus 7200 500gb, but this time it was a newer model (model number ended in 423AS instead of 420AS - the new one I am trying ends with 420AS, which is the same as the current HDD). I then tried a Western Digital drive but that one didn't even show up in DU. Forums and tech support are suggesting it's faults with the HDDs but surely not three in a row?
Could this be an issue with another part of my Mac?
Is there anything else I can do to format the HDD, have I missed a crucial step?

Did you ever get a resolution to this issue?
I am having that exact error with a new 512GB SSD from Crucial, in a 15" MBP mid-2010.
I really wonder now if the stupid SATA cable could be bad - causing the initial SSD fail. I am replacing it with the EXACT same drive, and getting that "last block" error when i partition in the GUI or from command-line.
thanks!

Do I need to format a New hard drive before Recovery & Apps/Drivers DVD? A15

Greetings:
I just installed a new 80GB hard drive in my A15-S157 (Old I know, but works great for what I need it for).
I tried formating the new drive in an external enclosure on a different machine, but it always failed after noting format was 99%, even seemingly 100%, complete.
I downloaded and ran Western Digital (drive manufacturer) Data Lifeguard quick and extended tests, both came back no errors.
I used the "Toshiba Recovery and Application/Driver DVD, Satellite A15" disc that came w/the machine... everything seemsed to install just fine and XP boots right up. BUT, I'm concerned that the format failure will come back to haunt me...
The questions seem to be:
--Is there a problem with using the Recovery DVD WITHOUT first formatting the drive (or not having a successful format)? Other posts seem to indicate the DVD might do a quick format itself (it was a very quick install)?
--Is it even possible to format a new HD in a USB external enclosure? Perhaps this was the issue? (it was on an older Compaq desktop (XP), if it matters)
Thank you!

Only OEM drives come that way. Actual Retail drives come in a box with instructions, warranty card, installation disk, etc.
But that has nothing to do with this. You only need to be concerned with what the instructions that came with the Recovery Disks or Installation disks say. When you run Windows Install from an actual Windows Install Disk Windows will always bring up a partitioning and formatting option prior to the actual installation whether the drive is unpartitoned and unformatted or not. This has been the case since the first Self Contained Windows came out (Windows 95). It's been at least 15 years since one needed to partition and format a drive PRIOR to starting the actual Windows installation process.
Recovery Disks work in several different ways depending on the manufacturer. One thing they have in common is that they are designed to work on new disks (unpartitioned and/or unformatted) as well as drives that already have an existing OS installed.
If you don't post your COMPLETE model number it's very difficult to assist you. Please try to post in complete sentences with punctuation, capitals, and correct spelling. Toshiba does NOT provide any direct support in these forums. All support is User to User in their spare time.

I need to change the internal hard drive for my mac book to a 320 gb, 5400 rpm, 2.5" - suggestions of which to get and where to get it?

I found this: is this the right one?
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD3200BPVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive

great thanks--- other than that is this the right thing to get?

When trying to format my internal hard drive, it's greyed out in Disk utility?

I'm trying ot format my computer and wipe everything off before giving it away, but Disk Utility has everything greyed out and won't let me choose my hard drive. I have the original CD and everything that came with the computer. How do I fix this fast?

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Help please - with formatting my internal hard drive

hi all, new to all this forum lark.
i have a imac powerPC g4 700mhz, 256mb sdram.
its got os9 and osx 10.4.11 installed.
it runs slow and freezes all the time, so i've backed everything up and want to erase the hard disk and reinstall 10.4.11 on a nice clean empty hard drive.
How do i format my hard drive please...?
thanks

yes, brought from the apply shop in london. even when the finder is displayed(desktop) when i put the install cd in, it just ejects it after 10seconds!
how to i change target mode?
i really dont know alot about mac you see!lol

Need to format a new hard drive for T61

Hi all hope you can help, bought a T61 from a liquidation sale with out a hard drive and was just going to put one in, but before the sale no one unlocked the bios and i found out that there is partitioning and such like for the thinkvantage stuff.
any ideas about the best way to start partitioning a new drive from scratch or are there any tools anywhere to aid this
thnaks in advance...
Message Edited by November12 on 07-23-2008 09:31 AM

November12, welcome to the forum,
It's not clear exactly what you are looking for, could you maybe explain a little more clearly in a new thread
Also, please note;
November12 wrote:
.....snip..
but before the sale no one unlocked the bios
..snip
If you are looking for help on unlocking the BIOS, this cannot be discussed here as per forum rules
No posts shall include instructions or directions intended to subvert security measures, including passwords, locking mechanisms, fingerprint scans, etc, nor shall any posts provide descriptions to the location of, nor direct links to content related to these topics.
As said, please by all means start a new thread for you other question(s). - Thread Locked
Andy ______________________________________
Please remember to come back and mark the post that you feel solved your question as the solution, it earns the member + points
Did you find a post helpfull? You can thank the member by clicking on the star to the left awarding them Kudos Please add your type, model number and OS to your signature, it helps to help you. Forum Search Option T430 2347-G7U W8 x64, Yoga 10 HD+, Tablet 1838-2BG, T61p 6460-67G W7 x64, T43p 2668-G2G XP, T23 2647-9LG XP, plus a few more. FYI Unsolicited Personal Messages will be ignored.
Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español English Community Русскоязычное Сообщество
PepperonI blog

I need to replace the internal hard drive on my PB G4

My hard drive finally bit the dust and I had to remove it to send it to someplace to hopefully recover the data.
Meantime, I want to get a drive quickly to install it and put a new system on it in anticipation of receiving my data.
What are the specs/interface for the PB G4 hard drive and what are the good drives to look for and the ones to avoid for it?
thanks,
Shel

What are the specs/interface for the PB G4 hard drive and what are the good drives to look for and the ones to avoid for it?
You can use any parallel ATA or ultra ATA or ATA-6 drive (all basically the same thing). You cannot use a serial ATA or SATA drive, like those used in the current Apple notebooks. You have a choice of drive speed, 5400rpm is pretty much the standard today or 7200rpm, which carries a price premium for the speed. Seagate comes with a 5 year warranty, if that's a consideration. Most others are 1 or 3 years. If you scan the forums, people seem to like Hitachi and Seagate, although there are other brands that work well too. Some people shy away from Toshiba notebook drives, although you can find posts where the owners have had success with them (they have been a particular problem on 12" Powerbooks).
Two online sources are OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ and http://www.newegg.com/ .

Can I install my old internal hard drive into my new G5?

Hello All,
I've just purchased a new computer:
Apple Mac Pro CTO
2GB (4 x 512MB) Two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single e-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
My old computer is a PMG4, Dual 1Ghz, 1GBRam, 80G HD. I installed a secondary internal drive; a Maxtor 250G 7L250RO, 16MB ATA (MXT-6B250RO)
I've filled up about 100G on the Maxtor and was wondering if I can install this HD into one of the empty bays of my new computer? Space is not necessarily the issue, rather I would love to be able to put all I need on the Maxtor from the old computer and just pop it into my new Mac.
Can this internal be installed into my new Mac?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

He means buy a FireWire 400/800 drive enclosure that will take your drive and let you use it. It is almost impossible (for me) to fit a PATA drive in the 2nd optical drive bay of the Mac Pro.
I would invest in some more drive(s) for the Mac Pro though. I firmly believe in having two backup sets minimum. And to have a backup of the system as well as a "safe" emergency boot drive as well.
In order to boot from a drive on Mac Pro, it must be formatted or reformatted with GUID partition scheme (Disk Utility: Partition and at the bottom, click on "Options" to make the selection. So you may want to boot from backup/clone at some point to repair your main drive.
You can begin to find FW cases at OWC (www.macsales.com) and other places like Amazon, FWDepot etc.

Re: Need to format an internal hard drive into FAT32, how?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for