Disk partitioning question - Microsoft Usenet

View Full Version : Disk partitioning question

computerguy

09-19-2006, 06:41 PM

I have an old but very useable Win2k system (933MHz P3, Intel 815E MB, 512MB
RAM) and recently had to change my C: drive. I bought a Seagate 120MB ATA
drive and, using the Seagate tools formatted and partitioned it to 110GB and
10GB logical partitions (FAT32). Everything went fine. I happened to call
Seagate tech support about something else and mentioned my configuration.
Both the support people to whom I spoke said that this was impossible! The
said that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get more than one FAT32 partition larger than
32GB, i.e. I can get either one 120GB partition or ~four 32GB partitions but
not what I have nor two 60GB partitions. However, I have this and it is
working so what is going on?

Curious......
-GB

John John

09-19-2006, 08:10 PM

Windows 2000 cannot format FAT32 volumes over 32 GB but it can mount
larger FAT32 volumes created by other operating systems. Theoretically
FAT32 volumes can be about 8 TB maximum size but the maximum size is
sometimes stated at 2TB because of the impracticality of larger FAT32
volumes. Although I am not sure that it would be very efficent to have
such large volumes I can tell you for sure that it is not impossible nor
unusual to have FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB.

John

PS: http://articles.networktechs.com/printer-24.html

computerguy wrote:

> I have an old but very useable Win2k system (933MHz P3, Intel 815E MB, 512MB
> RAM) and recently had to change my C: drive. I bought a Seagate 120MB ATA
> drive and, using the Seagate tools formatted and partitioned it to 110GB and
> 10GB logical partitions (FAT32). Everything went fine. I happened to call
> Seagate tech support about something else and mentioned my configuration.
> Both the support people to whom I spoke said that this was impossible! The
> said that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get more than one FAT32 partition larger than
> 32GB, i.e. I can get either one 120GB partition or ~four 32GB partitions but
> not what I have nor two 60GB partitions. However, I have this and it is
> working so what is going on?
>
> Curious......
> -GB
>
>

computerguy

09-20-2006, 02:17 AM

Hi John John,

So the reason that I was able to create and "see" two partitions is because
the Disc utility program did the formatting and partitioning. If I had used
the Win2k format command I would have been restricted to 32GB. Did I get
that right?

-GB

"John John" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
news:uQH3b8B3GHA.3656@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Windows 2000 cannot format FAT32 volumes over 32 GB but it can mount
> larger FAT32 volumes created by other operating systems. Theoretically
> FAT32 volumes can be about 8 TB maximum size but the maximum size is
> sometimes stated at 2TB because of the impracticality of larger FAT32
> volumes. Although I am not sure that it would be very efficent to have
> such large volumes I can tell you for sure that it is not impossible nor
> unusual to have FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB.
>
> John
>
> PS: http://articles.networktechs.com/printer-24.html
>
>
> computerguy wrote:
>
> > I have an old but very useable Win2k system (933MHz P3, Intel 815E MB,
512MB
> > RAM) and recently had to change my C: drive. I bought a Seagate 120MB
ATA
> > drive and, using the Seagate tools formatted and partitioned it to 110GB
and
> > 10GB logical partitions (FAT32). Everything went fine. I happened to
call
> > Seagate tech support about something else and mentioned my
configuration.
> > Both the support people to whom I spoke said that this was impossible!
The
> > said that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get more than one FAT32 partition larger
than
> > 32GB, i.e. I can get either one 120GB partition or ~four 32GB partitions
but
> > not what I have nor two 60GB partitions. However, I have this and it
is
> > working so what is going on?
> >
> > Curious......
> > -GB
> >
> >
>

computerguy

09-20-2006, 02:17 AM

John John

09-20-2006, 03:19 AM

Exactly. If I remember correctly Windows 98/ME can format FAT32 volumes
up to somewheres around 128GB. With Windows 2000 you would have have to
create multiple 32MB volumes or use the NTFS file system instead of FAT32.

John

computerguy wrote:

> Hi John John,
>
> So the reason that I was able to create and "see" two partitions is because
> the Disc utility program did the formatting and partitioning. If I had used
> the Win2k format command I would have been restricted to 32GB. Did I get
> that right?
>
> -GB
>
>
> "John John" <audetweld@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote in message
> news:uQH3b8B3GHA.3656@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
>>Windows 2000 cannot format FAT32 volumes over 32 GB but it can mount
>>larger FAT32 volumes created by other operating systems. Theoretically
>>FAT32 volumes can be about 8 TB maximum size but the maximum size is
>>sometimes stated at 2TB because of the impracticality of larger FAT32
>>volumes. Although I am not sure that it would be very efficent to have
>>such large volumes I can tell you for sure that it is not impossible nor
>>unusual to have FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB.
>>
>>John
>>
>>PS: http://articles.networktechs.com/printer-24.html
>>
>>
>>computerguy wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I have an old but very useable Win2k system (933MHz P3, Intel 815E MB,
>
> 512MB
>
>>>RAM) and recently had to change my C: drive. I bought a Seagate 120MB
>
> ATA
>
>>>drive and, using the Seagate tools formatted and partitioned it to 110GB
>
> and
>
>>>10GB logical partitions (FAT32). Everything went fine. I happened to
>
> call
>
>>>Seagate tech support about something else and mentioned my
>
> configuration.
>
>>>Both the support people to whom I spoke said that this was impossible!
>
> The
>
>>>said that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get more than one FAT32 partition larger
>
> than
>
>>>32GB, i.e. I can get either one 120GB partition or ~four 32GB partitions
>
> but
>
>>>not what I have nor two 60GB partitions. However, I have this and it
>
> is
>
>>>working so what is going on?
>>>
>>>Curious......
>>>-GB
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>