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  1. Member
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    My new cheapo, $50, external HDD has FAT32 file structure vs NTFS. I'm having problems with it and thinking of starting over with another drive. Are all external HDD's FAT32? Would I be better off putting an internal HDD in a good external case with power supply and formatting it as NTFS or just buying a better quality backup drive?
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  2. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by videobread
    Are all external HDD's FAT32?
    It looks like they are. I just bought a 320gb Western Digital external with usb2.0, firewire, and esata connectivity and it was preformatted at FAT32.

    I just did a quick format in vista and set it to ntfs and boom I'm all set.

    Unless you need more storage space you might as well keep the drive. Reformatting it is no big deal. Just copy any preinstalled apps on it that you may want to use later. Than again you can probably download them from the company website.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  3. Although you can format an external drive with NTFS or any other file system many devices (like Divx/DVD players) can only read FAT32.
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  4. Member p_l's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by videobread
    Are all external HDD's FAT32?
    Not all. My new Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB USB 2.0 / eSATA / FireWire External Hard Drive came formatted as NTFS.

    Although some say it is preferable to format, it's also possible to convert from FAT32 to NTFS without formatting.

    Code:
    1.	Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
    2.	At the command prompt, type the following, where drive letter is the drive that you want to convert:
    convert drive letter: /fs:ntfs
    For example, type the following command to convert drive E to NTFS:
    convert e: /fs:ntfs
    Note If the operating system is on the drive that you are converting, you will be prompted to schedule the task when you restart the computer because the conversion cannot be completed while the operating system is running. When you are prompted, click YES.
    3.	When you receive the following message at the command prompt, type the volume label of the drive that you are converting, and then press ENTER:
    The type of the file system is FAT.
    Enter the current volume label for drive drive letter
    4.	When the conversion to NTFS is complete, you receive the following message at the command prompt:
    Conversion complete
    5.	Quit the command prompt.
    I've done this and all my data remained intact, but it's always a good idea to make a backup of anything important beforehand.
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  5. Member ViRaL1's Avatar
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    Larger drives (500GBand above) will probably come formatted NTFS. I recommend converting vs reformatting since most external drives come with some software already on them. You can copy them off somewhere else and copy them back after the formatting, but converting the filesystem preserves file dates, etc.
    Nothing can stop me now, 'cause I don't care anymore.
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    Both my Seagate FreeAgent Essential 320GB (3.5") and Seagate FreeAgent Go 160GB (2.5") came formatted NTFS.
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  7. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Almost Human
    Both my Seagate FreeAgent Essential 320GB (3.5") and Seagate FreeAgent Go 160GB (2.5") came formatted NTFS.
    Current Maxtor "One Touch" drives also come formatted NTFS with backup/utility software preloaded. There is no CD.
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  8. Member
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    I just bought a Fantom 1.5tb external (USB2.0, firewire A & B) which came formatted as FAT32 and drive was empty. Instructions recommended reformatting for XP and Vista. I use XP so I did a reformat and - bingo! That firewire is awesome as my 2001 computer is only USB1.1 and I have no more slots for a USB2.0 card.
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  9. Member p_l's Avatar
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    By the way, as HDDs get bigger and bigger, the deceptive practice of playing on the old 1 GB = 1024 MB difference is really starting to show. On a "120 GB" HDD, which shows 114 GB of free space in Windows, that was only 6 GB lost.

    Now, a "1 TB" drive only shows 931 GB of free space. That's like a 69 GB HDD chiseled off.

    I'd like to pay them in "1024" dollars, so for a drive advertised at $199.99, the customer should only pay $185.98. 8)
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    I prefer to format my external drives in FAT32 because i can plug them into my Xbox360 and watch movies from HDD, also my portable dvd player has usb and i plug my Seagate Freeagent 120gig drive into the players usb input to watch movies (downside is..the dvd player's battery only lasts about an hour because the drive is sucking a lot of juice)

    i use a program called SwissKnife to from my NTFS drives back to FAT32 (program is freeware)

    http://www.compuapps.com/Download/swissknife/swissknife.htm

    anyways, just my 2 cents worth

    phil
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  11. Member ViRaL1's Avatar
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    1.5 TB is quite a few files when you can't have files larger than 4GB.
    Nothing can stop me now, 'cause I don't care anymore.
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  12. Member
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    Seems like my last 2 USB drives 250 gb were formatted with Fat 32. The first time I accessed them a pop up from somewhere on my operating HD just asked me if I wanted to change to them to NTFS. I clicked the yes button and it was done without formatting. I recently looked to see where the popup came from but no luck. So now that I want to convert one of these back to Fat 32 for use with a DVD player, I guess I'll just have to reformat it.

    Tony
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  13. Member p_l's Avatar
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    From Microsoft (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881):

    • The conversion to NTFS is a one-way process. After you convert a drive or a partition to NTFS, you cannot convert it back to FAT or to FAT32. To restore the volume to the previous file system, you must reformat it as FAT or as FAT32. This action erases all existing data including your programs and personal files. In this case, you must either restore your data from a backup, or reinstall your operating system and programs.
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