Can you format a 2.5inch harddrive through a usb enclosure?

[yoda313]

Ok I got a mp3 player that is really a usb enclosure but I can't see it to format the harddrive. I bought a 40gb 2.5 inch harddrive. Now I looked more closely and the manual states you can't format the harddrive through the unit itself. So can I just buy any usb 2.5 inch enclosure and hook it up so I can format the harddrive?

The mp3 player only supports fat32. Now can I get the full 40gb without multiple partitions? I think I was reading you can only do 32gb on fat32. Is that correct? What's the largest single partition allowed under fat32?

Basically I just want to be able to format the 2.5 inch hard drive with my desktop pc. I want to make sure the usb 2.0 enclosures for 2.5 inch hard drives will allow you to format a new hard drive through them. Thanks for any advice.

[classfour]

I'd use an USB to IDE enclosure, or for about the same money, you can find a 2.5 in. external - most are USB powered. FAT32 will format higher than 32GB without issue on most hard drives.

[redwudz]

I've used an inexpensive adapter to plug the 2.5 drive into a regular IDE cable to format laptop drives, and even load the OS when the laptop couldn't format it or load it. http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=17705

[InXess]

You can format a drive via USB provided that the particular interface supports it. I doubt that it's functioning as "just an enclosure" in your case.

[yoda313]

Thanks for the tips guys. Actually I'm kicking myself now because they were selling a ide to usb cable at the website I bought the hard drive and mp3 unit. I should have bought it at the same time so I'd already be formatted - but oh well live and learn huh?

But now it sounds like it won't be a problem if I go buy a 2.5 usb enclosure. Best Buy has one for $30. I'll go grab that today and I'll have all of my mp3's on my new 40gb hard drive tonight

I'm glad 40gb shouldn't be an issue for fat32. THanks for the info. And since this is a music only device I don't need to worry about the fat32 4gig limit. I don't have any mp3 files that are more than 4 gigabytes! Of course I don't have any ones close to 20 Megabytes for that matter! I just have about 10gb in total on my computer right now that I want on my new portable unit.

Thanks again.

[Craig Tucker]

I just formatted a 125gb hard drive to fat32 for a stand alone media player with no problems. But I got a program with the player for fat32 formatting.

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

It might be an idea to look for a third party formatting tool rather than using windows.

[yoda313]

Ok I'm back to square one. I got a 2.5 inch enclosure at best buy but the darn thing wouldn't power up with the usb port! It took too much power. It had two usb cables - one for data and one for power. It just wouldn't work. It said you could format a hard drive with it but I couldn't get it working.

I saw an adaptec 2.5 inch enclosure at best buy but it specifically stated that you had to have an initialized and formated hard drive before you could use the enclosure.

So I ended up at a little computer store in the area and it had a ide to usb cable but they wanted $65 for it! That was nearly double the cost of the enclosure.

I think I'll end up at Compusa tomorrow. They have a housebrand for 2.5 inch enclosures for around $30 I believe and I'll take a look at it. They may also carry a cheaper ide to usb cable as well.

Meanwhile tonight I might surf the web and try another approach at formatting the drive through my media player.