Can't format 64 GB USB flash drives as FAT32?

Paul wrote:

One thing about foreign NTFS access, is the risk depends
on what you're doing with it.

True. Access with Linux can harm as easily as it can fix if you don't
know what you are doing since all are just files...


If you bring an NTFS data drive to a foreign computer,
the risk with analogs of the NTFS-3G driver are low.

Just be careful what you do to C: (OS) partitions over there.
I've trashed Win7 C: via Linux, while reading files in
C:\System Volume Information. Luckily, I had a backup
image made two hours earlier at the time. You don't get
that lucky very often. I tried to repair with CHKDSK but
it didn't work. Whatever the problem was, it was that bad.


Well futzing with the System Volume Information can get you in trouble
regardless of the OS, but I have repaired a number of Windows systems
with Linux. Removed corrupted Windows-invalid named files, caused by
drive corruption, infections, and copy "protection". Hunted down hidden
regenerating malware. Only issue that I ever noticed while piecing
together corrupted Windows profiles with Linux is transferred files
where missing the 8.3 old DOS listings.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

On 2016-11-25 6:06 PM, Ant wrote:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.

There are limitations to FAT32 partition sizes as far as I know. The
same way that FAT16 was limited to 2GB (if I remember correctly), FAT32
has limitations of 4GB for file sizes so it would be an issue for you
going forward and the filesystem is therefore to be avoided.

https://wiki.vuze.com/w/FAT32_file_size_limit


--
Silver Slimer
Fingerprint: e58428b2633833a3b0c9bb7e40819166642245b7
Gab.ai: @silverslimer

In message , Silver Slimer
writes:
On 2016-11-25 6:06 PM, Ant wrote:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.

There are limitations to FAT32 partition sizes as far as I know. The
same way that FAT16 was limited to 2GB (if I remember correctly), FAT32
has limitations of 4GB for file sizes so it would be an issue for you
going forward and the filesystem is therefore to be avoided.

https://wiki.vuze.com/w/FAT32_file_size_limit

Only if (a) he _wants_ to move files bigger than 4G (b) everywhere he
might want to use the stick can handle NTFS.

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I
have one. -Cato the Elder, statesman, soldier, and writer (234-149 BCE)

On 11/25/2016 at 6:06 PM, Ant's prodigious digits fired off:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.


http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/format-64gb-sd-card-to-fat32.html

--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net/
It's lonely at the top, but you eat better.

On 26/11/2016 09:11, micky wrote:
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Sat, 26 Nov 2016 01:31:16 +0000, Brian
Gregory wrote:

On 26/11/2016 00:56, VanguardLH wrote:
Ant wrote:

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32?

Open a command shell (cmd.exe) with admin privileges. Use the
format.exe program inside the command shell. Run "format /?" for help.
You'll need to use the /fs:fat32 argument. explorer.exe has code to fix
the limitation to 32GB hence why you cannot use it beyond that capacity.
This was a deliberate ploy to get users to move to NTFS.

Or use a 3rd party (non-Microsoft) partition manager if you need a GUI.


I think this supposed "limitation" appeared when Microsoft introduced
their proprietary ExFAT format.

I think even Microsoft know NTFS isn't a good idea on flash storage that
doesn't have wear levelling.

So would ExFAT be better than FAT32 also, for the sake of wear?


Not as far as I know.

--

Brian Gregory (in the UK).
To email me please remove all the letter vee from my email address.

On 11/26/2016 09:11 AM, Silver Slimer wrote:

[snip]

There are limitations to FAT32 partition sizes as far as I know. The
same way that FAT16 was limited to 2GB (if I remember correctly), FAT32
has limitations of 4GB for file sizes so it would be an issue for you
going forward and the filesystem is therefore to be avoided.

https://wiki.vuze.com/w/FAT32_file_size_limit

FAT(32) is limited by the use of a 32-bit field to store the number of
sectors on a disk. 2 ^ 32 * 512 = 2TB. This is the limit for FAT32.

BTW, the same number is the limit for physical drives with MBR.

--
29 days until the winter celebration (Sunday December 25, 2016 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers
that may never be questioned."

Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Paul wrote:
One thing about foreign NTFS access, is the risk depends
on what you're doing with it.

True. Access with Linux can harm as easily as it can fix if you don't
know what you are doing since all are just files...

If you bring an NTFS data drive to a foreign computer,
the risk with analogs of the NTFS-3G driver are low.

Just be careful what you do to C: (OS) partitions over there.
I've trashed Win7 C: via Linux, while reading files in
C:\System Volume Information. Luckily, I had a backup
image made two hours earlier at the time. You don't get
that lucky very often. I tried to repair with CHKDSK but
it didn't work. Whatever the problem was, it was that bad.


Well futzing with the System Volume Information can get you in trouble
regardless of the OS, but I have repaired a number of Windows systems
with Linux. Removed corrupted Windows-invalid named files, caused by
drive corruption, infections, and copy "protection". Hunted down hidden
regenerating malware. Only issue that I ever noticed while piecing
together corrupted Windows profiles with Linux is transferred files
where missing the 8.3 old DOS listings.


My purpose in mentioning my Win7 incident, is to say
the risks using foreign NTFS to work on disks is low,
but the risk is not zero. If you attempt to open
C:\System Volume Information while in Windows, you
get "Access Denied". And you will find there are
a few files in Windows, that no Windows utility will even
list. The utilities all get a kind of Access Denied
result. Even NFI.exe cannot list everything
on an NTFS file system, and that utility "lives"
for such a purpose.

By going in there, I knew the dangers, but my assumption
was, that any sort of read-access would be "safe". I was
wrong. Big time wrong. I think it's OK to "ls -al"
while in there, but "sum one-of-big-files" is
off the table. The checksum of the big files happens
to be zero for all of them. I used some version
of "sum" (arithmetic checksum) with the idea being,
to see if the entire file was filled with zeros,
which it was. So whatever the file system indicates
for a structure in those, a naive access reads
out as all-zeros. But then on a reboot, it
would no longer boot. And C: was ruined.

So if I had to go in there today, I would switch
from RW to RO before trying that again :-) I would
wear galoshes, carry a climbing rope and equipment,
pack a few extra ham sandwiches, to make my escape.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...nayeurs-01.jpg

Paul

Silver Slimer wrote:
On 2016-11-25 6:06 PM, Ant wrote:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.

There are limitations to FAT32 partition sizes as far as I know. The
same way that FAT16 was limited to 2GB (if I remember correctly), FAT32
has limitations of 4GB for file sizes so it would be an issue for you
going forward and the filesystem is therefore to be avoided.

https://wiki.vuze.com/w/FAT32_file_size_limit

To get around the FAT32 file size limit, you
can use stuff like a segmented ZIP.

If you had a 7GB DVD, it could be stored as three
2GB chunks and a smaller last chunk.

That makes FAT32 fine for sneakernet transfers,
but segmented ZIPs aren't all that convenient
otherwise.

Your movie player won't know what to do with the ZIP.

Paul

Paul wrote:
Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Paul wrote:
One thing about foreign NTFS access, is the risk depends
on what you're doing with it.

True. Access with Linux can harm as easily as it can fix if you don't
know what you are doing since all are just files...

If you bring an NTFS data drive to a foreign computer,
the risk with analogs of the NTFS-3G driver are low.

Just be careful what you do to C: (OS) partitions over there.
I've trashed Win7 C: via Linux, while reading files in
C:\System Volume Information. Luckily, I had a backup
image made two hours earlier at the time. You don't get
that lucky very often. I tried to repair with CHKDSK but
it didn't work. Whatever the problem was, it was that bad.


Well futzing with the System Volume Information can get you in trouble
regardless of the OS, but I have repaired a number of Windows systems
with Linux. Removed corrupted Windows-invalid named files, caused by
drive corruption, infections, and copy "protection". Hunted down hidden
regenerating malware. Only issue that I ever noticed while piecing
together corrupted Windows profiles with Linux is transferred files
where missing the 8.3 old DOS listings.


My purpose in mentioning my Win7 incident, is to say
the risks using foreign NTFS to work on disks is low,
but the risk is not zero. If you attempt to open
C:\System Volume Information while in Windows, you
get "Access Denied". And you will find there are
a few files in Windows, that no Windows utility will even
list. The utilities all get a kind of Access Denied
result. Even NFI.exe cannot list everything
on an NTFS file system, and that utility "lives"
for such a purpose.

By going in there, I knew the dangers, but my assumption
was, that any sort of read-access would be "safe". I was
wrong. Big time wrong. I think it's OK to "ls -al"
while in there, but "sum one-of-big-files" is
off the table. The checksum of the big files happens
to be zero for all of them. I used some version
of "sum" (arithmetic checksum) with the idea being,
to see if the entire file was filled with zeros,
which it was. So whatever the file system indicates
for a structure in those, a naive access reads
out as all-zeros. But then on a reboot, it
would no longer boot. And C: was ruined.

Maybe the command wrote some type of temp file that did you in. When
fixing be-malwared system I have to remember to remove .trash-000 when I
am done else the Windows user won't be able to remove it later.


So if I had to go in there today, I would switch
from RW to RO before trying that again :-) I would
wear galoshes, carry a climbing rope and equipment,
pack a few extra ham sandwiches, to make my escape.

That what I would have done, if not editing. Just mount read-only.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

Ed Mullen wrote:
On 11/25/2016 at 6:06 PM, Ant's prodigious digits fired off:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.


http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/format-64gb-sd-card-to-fat32.html



I'd just format the sucker in Linux. ;-)

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

On 2016-11-26 4:11 PM, Paul wrote:
Silver Slimer wrote:
On 2016-11-25 6:06 PM, Ant wrote:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally).
Their Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not
everything know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.

There are limitations to FAT32 partition sizes as far as I know. The
same way that FAT16 was limited to 2GB (if I remember correctly), FAT32
has limitations of 4GB for file sizes so it would be an issue for you
going forward and the filesystem is therefore to be avoided.

https://wiki.vuze.com/w/FAT32_file_size_limit

To get around the FAT32 file size limit, you
can use stuff like a segmented ZIP.

If you had a 7GB DVD, it could be stored as three
2GB chunks and a smaller last chunk.

That makes FAT32 fine for sneakernet transfers,
but segmented ZIPs aren't all that convenient
otherwise.

Your movie player won't know what to do with the ZIP.

I like exFAT myself and Linux _does_ support it as long as you install
the necessary utils. In Ubuntu, installing the exfat-fuse and
exfat-utils package will allow it to work albeit it won't transfer as
rapidly as it does in Windows. If that's the concern the original poster
had (it not working in the free OS), it should make him feel better to
know that it's compatible.

--
Silver Slimer
Fingerprint: e58428b2633833a3b0c9bb7e40819166642245b7
Gab.ai: @silverslimer

On 2016-11-26 4:28 PM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Ed Mullen wrote:
On 11/25/2016 at 6:06 PM, Ant's prodigious digits fired off:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.


http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/format-64gb-sd-card-to-fat32.html



I'd just format the sucker in Linux. ;-)

I've had a Linux format render some of my USB sticks unusable until they
were formatted properly in Windows. I'd suggest not bothering with Linux
when it comes to a USB key.

--
Silver Slimer
Fingerprint: e58428b2633833a3b0c9bb7e40819166642245b7
Gab.ai: @silverslimer

Silver Slimer wrote:
I've had a Linux format render some of my USB sticks unusable until they
were formatted properly in Windows. I'd suggest not bothering with Linux
when it comes to a USB key.

Not been my experience. Have had memory sticks formatted in Windows not
work until reformatted in camera...but that may have been more Sony than
anything else.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Silver Slimer wrote:
On 2016-11-26 4:28 PM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Ed Mullen wrote:
On 11/25/2016 at 6:06 PM, Ant's prodigious digits fired off:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.


http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/format-64gb-sd-card-to-fat32.html

I'd just format the sucker in Linux. ;-)

I've had a Linux format render some of my USB sticks unusable until they
were formatted properly in Windows. I'd suggest not bothering with Linux
when it comes to a USB key.

It has worked for me often enough, I formatted one with Linux about
a month ago. You're sure you didn't accidentally select a Linux file
system like ext4?

--
__ __
#_ |\| | _#

On 2016-11-28 4:37 PM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Silver Slimer wrote:
On 2016-11-26 4:28 PM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Ed Mullen wrote:
On 11/25/2016 at 6:06 PM, Ant's prodigious digits fired off:
Hello.

I noticed both updated 64bit Windows 7 HPE SP1 & 10 EE won't let me
reformat my new 64 GB flash drives as FAT32 (default originally). Their
Explorers only gave me NTFS & exFAT. Why no old FAT32? Not everything
know exFAT & NTFS.

Thank you in adance.


http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/format-64gb-sd-card-to-fat32.html

I'd just format the sucker in Linux. ;-)

I've had a Linux format render some of my USB sticks unusable until they
were formatted properly in Windows. I'd suggest not bothering with Linux
when it comes to a USB key.

It has worked for me often enough, I formatted one with Linux about
a month ago. You're sure you didn't accidentally select a Linux file
system like ext4?

I did not.


--
Silver Slimer
Fingerprint: e58428b2633833a3b0c9bb7e40819166642245b7
Gab.ai: @silverslimer