format as FAT32 or NTFS

[Bart Simpson]

Hi All
I want to re-format my new E drive. My C drive and E drive are FAT32
(it says that on the Properties tab when I right click on the drive
letter). But when I highlight "format" the only choice in the pull
down menu for file type is NTFS. Why cannot I format as FAT32? when
the C drive is FAT32 not NTFS?

Thanks
Bart

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

How large is the drive/partition? By design, WinXP will not
format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 Gb.

Bruce Chambers

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"Bart Simpson" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All
> I want to re-format my new E drive. My C drive and E drive are FAT32
> (it says that on the Properties tab when I right click on the drive
> letter). But when I highlight "format" the only choice in the pull
> down menu for file type is NTFS. Why cannot I format as FAT32? when
> the C drive is FAT32 not NTFS?
>
> Thanks
> Bart

[Bart Simpson]

Hi Bruce
You are right. The drive is 120 Gb. Does that mean I cannot format the
drive as FAT32? Or is NTFS ok and it won't matter if it is Fat32 or
ntfs?

Thanks
Bart

On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 20:16:26 -0600, "Bruce Chambers"
> wrote:

>Greetings --
>
> How large is the drive/partition? By design, WinXP will not
>format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 Gb.
>
>Bruce Chambers

[Stephen J. Land]

Bruce and Bart,

You can get around this limit if you use a Win9x floppy to format the drive
with FAT32 PRIOR to installing WinXP. During WinXP setup you'll see a
message asking if you want to reformat the drive as NTFS. Just answer NO to
keep the drive FAT32.

Depending on your security requirements and compatability requirements
(i.e., do you need to be able to access the drive outside of Windows will
determine how you want the drive formatted.

Stephen
"Bart Simpson" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Bruce
> You are right. The drive is 120 Gb. Does that mean I cannot format the
> drive as FAT32? Or is NTFS ok and it won't matter if it is Fat32 or
> ntfs?
>
> Thanks
> Bart
>
> On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 20:16:26 -0600, "Bruce Chambers"
> > wrote:
>
> >Greetings --
> >
> > How large is the drive/partition? By design, WinXP will not
> >format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 Gb.
> >
> >Bruce Chambers
>