[SOLVED] fat32-partition weirdness

Hi arch-folks!
I've got a 1TB (~931 GiB) external hdd of which 731 GiB are NTFS-formatted (for interoperability with win) and 200 GiB FAT32 (for macs).
The data on the fat-partition was all ok and could be read in linux. After I once booted Win, all the data was lost, both in win and linux. Strangely, "df" and the windows-explorer both say there is still 115 of the 200 GiB used.
# fdisk -l /dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe8900690
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 95493 767047491 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2 95494 121601 209712510 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
# df -h /dev/sdc2
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdc2 200G 115G 85G 58% /media/FATDATEN
# du -h -c /media/FATDATEN/
32K /media/FATDATEN/System Volume Information/_restore{7BD8C0E5-563E-4D43-8C06-A333E291B668}/RP33
48K /media/FATDATEN/System Volume Information/_restore{7BD8C0E5-563E-4D43-8C06-A333E291B668}
64K /media/FATDATEN/System Volume Information
80K /media/FATDATEN/
80K total
Any ideas?
Last edited by Eradest (2010-01-05 15:24:26)

Ok, problem solved. The point was that the Windows XP wasn't booted but just resumed from hibernate. This seems to be a known problem with Win.
For me, a "chkdsk /F" on Windows placed all the lost data in a "FOUND.000" folder where I just have to rename them.

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[solved] Encrypt a FAT32 partition

Hi all,
I'll soon format my iMac Alu to get :
- 50 GB Mac OS X (HFS+)
- 50 GB Archlinux (ext3)
- 400 GB Data (FAT32) readable by both Mac OS X and Arch.
Is it possible to get an encrypted FAT32 partition ? (like in 256 bits, let's be crazy)
Which could of course be decrypted on the flow by Mac and Arch ?
edit : I've found http://www.truecrypt.org is it any good ?
Thx.
~ktr
Last edited by Kooothor (2008-09-26 11:34:26)

Ok, thx

Does Labview RT 8.5 impose a limit on FAT32 partition / hard disk size?

We will be using a PXI RT system (spec below) to collect, analyse and store a
large amount of data (~30 to 40GB per experiment).
We don't want to keep the Windows host PXI attached
and so the RT PXI must be able to store all the data from an
experiment.
It would be desirable to keep data from all
experiments on the H/D, so a capacity of ~300GB would be useful.
Q: Is there a limit on the hard disk size imposed by the Labview RT 8.5 Operating System and if so what is
it?
An older
post (~2005) suggests that the partitioning tool limited FAT32 partitions to 32GB.
Thus the question I'm asking that if I created a large FAT32 partition with
a third party tool could I install and run Labview RT
8.5?
Q: Is there any other way of connecting a
large capacity H/D to the RT System? For example using H/D partitions, slave H/D. Other
ideas?
Thanks,
Michael
NI-1000B with
NI-8176 embedded controller
PIII
1.266MHz
128MB RAM
Labview RT
8.5
Solved!
Go to Solution.

> The size limitation has nothing to do with
the LabVIEW RT OS. FAT32 limits you to 32GB. This cannot be changed since it's a
limitation of the file system format.
Thanks for
reply.
I have, however, gained the impression from a
number of web sites that there isn't a 32GB partition limit on FAT32 -- see [**]
below -- but the limit is with the
partitioning tool. It looks like the
partitioning tool that comes with RT has a 32GB limit (Is that correct?). Hence
my question if you were able to create a large FAT32 partition could you install
and run RT?
Regards,
Michael
[**] The following was copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32
Windows 2000 and Windows XP can read and write to
FAT32 file systems of any size, but the format program included in Windows 2000
and higher can only create FAT32 file systems of 32 GiB or less. ... This
limitation can be bypassed by using third-party formatting
utilities.

Using TM to reformat one (FAT32) partition on external HD

Hi all,
I'm wondering what others' experiences have been using TM's reformat feature on only one partition in a drive. In my case, I have a 400GB Seagate external HD that has been partitioned to one half HFS+ and one half FAT32. Now that my data analysis programs have all come out with mac support, I have finally said goodbye to the ole Windoze machine (yey!!). However I am still left with a hard drive that has been partially made compatible for my old PC.
Right now, all music/docs/files/etc are stored on the FAT32 side of the drive, for the practical reason of TM needing HFS+. By default, the HFS+ side of the drive is then set up to be my TM location. Both my iBook and MBP see these as two separate HD's, and can read/write both.
What I am trying to get to as an outcome is having 1/2 of the hard drive partitioned for all my music, documents, large files, etc. Another 1/2 should be exclusively TM backups. Although TM gives me the alluring option of just reformatting one half of this drive so that both separate partitions are HFS+, I just get goosebumps thinking of all the things that could go wrong. And while I have begun the process of backing up files (slowly) to A-drive, I don't want to lose those files just yet. So here are the questions:
1. Has anyone ever been so brave as to reformat only one half of their hard drive (or one particular partition) with TM? Keep in mind my Mac sees it as two separate HD's.
2. Any advice on whether I should simply keep all 70GB of my music/documents/pictures/etc on the FAT32 drive and leave the configuration as it is? I have heard rumors it's a little more unstable, but on the other hand it would be accessible from multiple operating sys if anything went wrong. I do access this regularly for iTunes, and plan to do so over an Airport Extreme/usb hub set up permanently. I have little to no need for windows compatibility, but I'm also lazy and want to have as simple of a set-up as possible. And, knock on wood, I got a Seagate specifically because of the long term stability. Am I flirting with disaster?
3. I am repeatedly getting the error that I am not able to delete folders from the FAT32 side (My Music, My Photos, etc) because "You do not have sufficient privileges". Any ideas on how to get around that?
I know the best option would be to backup everything by network/another external HD, and that is the long-term idea, but for now just wondering if FAT32 can be my permanent data access solution without any serious looming problems.
Any advice on better sites than A-drive (www.adrive.com) for permanent, relatively inexpensive cloud storage would be much appreciated as well.
Thanks for taking the time, appreciate any advice here.

Ok, I finally understand.
redhedhs wrote:
I have a separate TM drive for the Intel Mac, so I'm focusing on having an Apple partition map for my iBook backups. Right now I have a successful partition to use for TM (let's call it TM DRIVE). And another for music, docs, etc (FILES DRIVE). FILES DRIVE is currently FAT32 formatted. I haven't had any problems with it, but I'm trying to figure out:
a. If it's even necessary to reformat this to Apple partition if I'm not using it for TM (ie: what are the possible scenarios that would necessitate avoiding FAT32 for this?).
Not necessary but I would recommend it. FAT32 has several limitations. For example, TM can not back it, up. the file size is limited. unix permissions don't work on it. if a file is locked you can't delete it from OS X and have to boot from windows to do it. Much better to use HFS+ if you are not going to use the drive with windows.
b. If I do want to reformat just the FAT32 partition, is it likely/probable that I would erase the info on the other partition if I did so?
No. It's quite safe to do so using disk utility. this has nothing to do with TM which threw me off.
just select the FAT partition in disk utility and reformat it to HFS+ using the "erase" tab. this will of course erase everything currently on the FAT partition but will not affect the TM partition in any way. as i said, the operation is quite safe.
Sounds like you're saying Disk Utility would be better suited for it, wondering if I should crosspost there? Either way, I wonder if I can just reformat one partition safely?
Thanks!

More then 2 partitions on an external drive with a Fat32 partition...

Hey guys. I'm having some troubles with partitioning an external USB drive in disk utility.
I want to have 4 partitions total, 3x MAC OS Extended (journaled) and 1x FAT 32.
I am able to create the partitions (using GPT) fine in disk utility and as far as the OSX is concerned, all the partitions are viewable and work fine however windows machines do not see the fat32 partition. Windows only sees one large GUID partition that it cannot read.
If I reformat the drive (using GPT) with 1 MAC OS Ext (journaled) partition and 1 FAT32 partition, both windows and the Mac find all the partitions and things work as they should.
I want 4 partitions so I can have a data drive for OSX, a bootable copy of the snow leopard install disc, a bootable copy of a fresh snow leopard installation and a windows data drive for exchanging files.
Is there anyway I can do this or do I need to stick to 2 partitions if I want the fat32 partition to be readable by windows?

savante wrote:
Hey guys. I'm having some troubles with partitioning an external USB drive in disk utility.
I want to have 4 partitions total, 3x MAC OS Extended (journaled) and 1x FAT 32 .... Windows only sees one large GUID partition that it cannot read. If I reformat the drive (using GPT) with 1 MAC OS Ext (journaled) partition and 1 FAT32 partition, both windows and the Mac find all the partitions and things >work as they should.
I would try NTFS. I know that that would prevent you from doing anything with the partition from your Mac, but that's sort of a small price to pay. To compensate partially, you could run MacDrive (mediafour.com) on the Windows machine(s). MacDrive allows Windows machines to read and write Mac formatted drives.
Is there anyway I can do this or do I need to stick to 2 partitions if I want the fat32 partition to be readable by windows?
Could there be a problem with the way Sno is formatting FAT. I never use FAT so I am not quite sure what is going on here. But, many have reported that the Sno Disk Utility no long refers to FAT32, just to FAT, and having FAT formatted, they have FAT problems--i.e., things don't work like they should under FAT32. Maybe you should try formatting with an Install DVD that clears specifies FAT32.

Partition Map Schemes: HFS+ and FAT32 partitions with OSX and Windows

OK so I know this question has been practically beaten to death, but I keep finding conflicting information. I am using a 2011 MacBook Pro, on which I will set up Windows through Boot Camp. I recently purchased a 750 GB WD external hard drive to use with time machine for a backup on my Mac. However, I also need to be able to use part of this for Windows files. SO.. I intend to use the HFS+ partition for the the Mac (500GB) and create a FAT 32 partition (250GB) to use for backing up windows files (using it for solely computer modeling and need to be able to transfer/share files with Mac users who use Parallels as well as copying to PC desktops). My question is what to use as the partition map scheme. I have heard that when using these two partition types, a Master Boot Record is needed (so Windows can recognize the FAT32 partition) and also that a GUID partition map is required for use with time machine, meaning windows would no longer be able to read the FAT32 partition. Is there a way to reconcile this? Either using Time Machine with HFS+ partition that is set to MBR or uisng FAT32 on Windows with a GUID partition map? Also if I were to use Parallels (with a GUID setup) instead of Boot Camp, could that be the way to save the windows files to the FAT32 Partition and avoid problems with Time Machine not working with MBR? Thanks for any expertise, as I have heard that both setups that I have mentioned both will work and both will not work. Any experience with a similar situation?

Wow. Thanks for the extremely quick responses. Just for a few points of clarification.. I'm a complete newb at backing up strategies.
Steve, you would recommend to not backup files from my Mac OSX and files from Windows (also on my Mac) on the same drive, correct?
I appreciate the strategy of using it only as a backup, that makes quite a bit of sense. However, if I want to only backup my OSX files, and also store (solely as backup copies) say, a number of computer models (Rhino, Revit, etc.) that were created in Windows programs (not needing to store the entire Windows disk), would it not make sense to store these on the same drive in a different partition, creating the need for two different partition formats? And if I were to do this, maybe I should use NTFS instead of FAT32 (and reformat to GUID since that seems to be a standard for Apple and Windows 7 recognizes it..?) to keep them completely separate since the computer model files cannot be opened unless running the Windows programs.
How do you use your drive with HFS+ and NTFS if not for backups? I will not need to access the HFS+ backup files in Windows, nor need to access files from an NTFS partition in OSX, so that seems to simplify things in that, at least at the moment, I will not need any Paragon software.
Currently my drive is partitioned as HFS+ and FAT32 as MBR, with the HFS+ partition set up with Time Machine. It appears to be successful, I see my files in Mac HD -> "users" and all my docs, desktop items, etc. are listed. Seems that there is in fact no limit on TM's use of MBR maps, or else it is way above 160GB.
Third, are you using CarbonCopyClone in place of Time Machine or in addition to it? If in addition would it create the bit-wise clone on the same HFS+ partition as TM is backing up to? Or a separate drive? I'd like to only have one external that I am backing up to for simplicity's sake. I've never used TM before, so this is all new to me. Also, I suppose I have been missing the distinction between storing copies of files, and making a complete backup of a disk image... just now realizing the difference. Thanks so much.

Unable to share a fat32 partition with macs (snow leopard)

i have a hard drive with two partitions in it, im able to share one of them formated for mac, but im not able to share the fat32 partition? what is going on?
it is connected to an imac (snow leopard)
trying to share it with macbook pro and windows pc
please help?
pd: when i use to have mac 10.5 leopard it works without problem, what is different

Try deleting the addressBook database, /Users/username/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/AddressBook-v22.abcddb.
Address Book automatically creates that file from the metadata.

Trying to clone bootcamp side of Mac in FAT32 partition.

Hello,
I am trying to clone the bootcamp side of my Mac. I have a FAT32 partition. Though I've seen answers in other posts, only a link is given which I apparently don't have access to, so if you could please fully describe the process, I'd be very appreciative.
Thanks,
Amy

I looked up some Info regarding Paragon Hard Disk Manager Suite 2011. It looks like the answer to your problem.
Hard Disk Manager 2011 Suite
Supported Operating Systems
Windows 7(32/64 Bit)
Windows Vista (32/64 Bit)
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Windows XP Professional SP2/SP3 (32/64 Bit)
Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Supported File Systems
NTFS (v1.2, v3.0, v3.1)
FAT16
FAT32
Linux Ext2FS
Linux Ext3FS
Linux Ext4FS
Linux Swap
Apple HFS+
Other file systems (in sector-by-sector mode)

Solaris-x86 mount fat32 partition, the partition max size limit?

solaris10 x86, laptop, 10G FAT32 partition for windows & x86 exchange data.
the fat32 partition mount as normal, can be read fine.
but write some file by x86, that can not find by windows.
anyboy know did the solaris-x86 mount fat32 partition, the partition max size limit? or no limit, why this problem occur?

Mounting Windows partition in Solaris
The easiest way to share data now is to do it through a FAT32 partition. Solaris
recognises it as partition of type pcfs. It is specified as device:drive where drive is
either the DOS logical drive letter (c through z) or a drive number (1 through 24).
Drive letter c is equivalent to drive number 1 and represents the Primary DOS partition
on the disk; drive letters d through z are equivalent to drive numbers 2 through 24,
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mount -F pcfs device:drive /directroy-name
where directory name specifies the location where the file system is mounted.
To mount the first logical drive (d:) in the Extended DOS partition from an IDE hard
disk in the directory /d use
mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c0d0p0:d /d
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device:drive directory-name pcfs no rw
for example
c0d0s0:c /c pcfs no rw
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Mounting D Drive:
mount -F pcfs /dev/disk/c0d0p0:c /mountpoint
Mounting F Drive
mount -F pcfs /dev/disk/c0d0p0:d /mountpoint
The driveletter only for fat not including other file systems (ntfs or any linux filesystems).

Viewing contents of FAT32 partition

I am having trouble viewing the contents of my FAT32 partition. I installed Solaris 10 on c0d1. I also added a 2GB FAT32 partition to c0d1 as well for sharing files between windows xp and Solaris 10.
I added the following in my /etc/vfstab to mount the partition
/dev/dsk/c0d1p2:c - /share pcfs - yes -
But that caused my system not to load up properly.
I commented the line out and it boots up normally. Then I tried to mount the partition from the terminal
mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c0d1p2:c /mnt
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Actually, I spoke incorrectly. It did boot, but failed to load the graphical login console. Here are the errors that followed:
checking ufs filesystems
/dev/rdsk/c0d1s7: is logging
svc:/system/filesystem/local: default: 'WARNING: /sbin/mountall -l failed: exit status 1
svc.startd[7]: svc:/system/filesystem/local:default: Method "/lib/svc/method/fs-local" failed with exit status 95.
[ system/filesystem/local:default failed fatally (see 'svcs -x' for details) ]
sol console login:I also tried mounting to /, but that resulted in the same: is already mounted or / is busy.

Found spotlight-v100 hidden folder in FAT32 partition

On my macbook, I have created a FAT32 partition using bootcamp and found .spotlight-v100 hidden folder and other files with it. I cannot remove them and they stopped me from formatting the partition to NTFS. Please help~~~!!!. I am new to mac and please provide me walkthrough step by step. Really don't understand how they can get into the newly created blank FAT32 partition in the first place.
Regards,
macbie

My drive that I wanted to format was the 3rd partition which was named as Drive E by bootcamp (C installed XP and D is default DVD ROM drive). The Drive E was formatted as FAT32 with cluster size 512k. I did some research on internet and was recommended to convert it to NTFS with cluster size 4096k. I did the conversion and it ended up with NTFS but size still remains at 512k. I tried to reformat it using different methods with no success. Each time I started to format it, the process proceeded with no problem until at the end, an warning message popped out : 'This drive cannot be formatted'. I have no clue why it happened like that since the drive has nothing in it except with 2 different folders created by window: Recycler and system volume information.
I want to change cluster size because FAT32 format does not support file size larger than 4G. So, how can I change the cluster size? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!!
Macbie

Bug report: Option boot fails to show FAT32 partition in SR MacBooks

Holding down the Option key only shows the Macintosh HD partition, even though Win XP Home SK2 is properly installed in Boot Camp into a FAT32 partition. The Windows HD partition shows up in the Startup Disk System Preferences, and can be booted into from there.
This appears to be a bug in Santa Rosa MacBook software for any FAT32 Boot Camp partition. This problem does not affect NTFS partitions. See the following thread with identical reports from a half-dozen independent SR MB owners:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4534929#post4534929
Can any other SR MacBook confirm or provide a counter-example (or workaround) for this problem?

I ran into the same problem when I installed Windows XP SP2 on a FAT 32 partition via Boot Camp. Unfortunately, selecting the Windows partition in Startup Disk preferences and then restarting didn't help matters any -- Windows would start to load and then my screen would just go black. I gave up after a few more tries and started all over with an NTFS partition. Things seem to be OK for now.

Dynamic resize of FAT32 partition with disk utility?

Hi there.
I have a 1TB external FAT32 drive with 300GB of data on it.
I want to convert it to HFS+, but I know there's no easy way to do that.
What I want to know is can I resize my FAT32 partition to 500MB and keep all the data?
Then I'll move it to the new HFS+ 500MB partition, delete the original partition and resize the HFS+ partition.
Or do I have no hope of that?
Thanks
Greg

Greg,
You're probably out of luck on this one. If the drive was partitioned and formatted by a PC (every drive has a partition map, whether there are multiple partitions or only one), it almost certainly has an "MBR" partition map. This would preclude a dynamic resizing by Disk Utility. It will need to be partitioned using either GUID (Intel) or APM (PPC).
Scott

Putting mac partition on external HD with a FAT32 partition

Hi there, I have a mac and a pc. I have partitioned my new external hard drive with the pc putting on a 32 gig partition. That leaves 280 gigs not used on the drive. Seeing as the pc isn't letting me put any more FAT32 partitions on it (does anyone know how to get more on it?) I thought I could partition the rest of it in the mac format. I read before that someone else had done that. Is it possible? How do I do it?
Thanks,
Wayne Adams

Actually, Mac OSX can partition larger FAT32 Partitions, as well as Window's 98se2, ME, or an APP called "Partition Magic"... upto almost 2 TB, but with FAT32 you'll always be stuck with a Filesize limit of under 4GB.

Not booting after creating a fat32 partition from windows 8 from boot camp

I have windows 8.1 on a boot camp partition. I created a fat32 partition from windows looking forward to be able to share files to Yosemite OSX. But now, neither the OSX or the windows are booting. When pressing options key is only abailable one option, a disk tagged as "windows", and after trying to use it, it refers to a error message "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME". I really really appreciate any help regarding this issue.

Your entire disk is a MBR disk. You will need to erase the disk, and start from the beginning and install Yosemite/Mavericks, and then use BC Assistant to create a Windows partition and install Windows. If you have a Time Capsule/Time Machhine backup, you can restore it after your erase using the command below.
You can erase the disk as follows
diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ OSX disk0
Here is the Usage help syntax.
diskutil erasedisk
Usage: diskutil eraseDisk format name [APM[Format]|MBR[Format]|GPT[Format]]
MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode
Completely erase an existing whole disk. All volumes on this disk will be
destroyed. Ownership of the affected disk is required.
Format is the specific file system name you want to erase it as (HFS+, etc.).
Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions),
or can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (newfs).
You cannot erase the boot disk.
Example: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ UntitledUFS disk3

[SOLVED] fat32-partition weirdness

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