Jul 27, 2011 and, sorry, i dont know the limitations for fat32 for all that tools. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format a usb flash drive in fat32. Use the mac os disk utility to format the drive to msdos fat32. Follow the steps below to change the file format type of the portable drive for it to be compatible with both mac and windows. Fat32 formatter added support for bytes per sector values of other than 512 2. And for those people wanting to connect a large hard drive to one of these devices, this article will be extremely valuable. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. Format usb drives beyond fat32 32gb limit for ps4 and mac os tuesday, 3 october 2017 by adrian gordon. A warning message appears, saying formatting will erase all data on this disk. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Aug 16, 2017 download smartdisk fat32 format utility format exfat microsd cards as fat32 quickly and effortlessly using this portable application that supports over 32gbsized devices. Fat32 has a limit that files larger than 4gb cant be stored on a fat32 drive. Is there a way of formatting a 4tb external drive to fat32.
How do you format a 4tb hard drive to fat32 format. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. I recently discovered that a brand new usb hard drive promoted as apple mac compatible was formatted using the ntfs file system. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. According to this page and a few others, the maximum fat32 partition is 2tb, so you will need to create two partitions.
Fat32 has been widely used all through the dos years, and can even be used in mac os x. Then to top it off i had to download an hp program jut to reformat to fat32. Most usb drives, even those with only 2 tb of storage or less. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. Free fat32 formatter alternative format hard drive to fat32 without any limitation supports up to 2tb for computer internal hard disk, windows external hard drive with a xbox360 and sony external hard drive with a ps3. Both fat32 and exfat have advantages and disadvantages. Data recovery for mac fat32 formatter is provided by iskysoft. In this video i show how to format a 4tb hard drive to a fat32 format so you dont have to spilt partitions anymore too allow both wii and gamecube games to be stored on the same partition. The fat formatter download is available on the provider website with a step by step guide for installation and use of the same. Cannot format 2tb hard drive to fat32 in windows i have a 2tb external hard drive that i need to use at home with my windows 7 pc and at school where i use a mac. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems. No luck formatting 4tb seagate to fat32 for media use, help.
Download fat32formatter easily format disk drives larger than 32 gb to fat32 file system in the blink of an eye with the help of this lightweight application. Being as a free ntfs to fat32 converter tool, macrorit ntfs to fat32 converter, this system utility, is. Here please choose ntfs as the target file system so as to break fat32 partition size limit, and hit start button. Wd quick formatter, also known as wd advanced format drivers afds, is an external hard drive format utility for windows and mac, developed by western digital technologies, inc. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. Formatting large harddisks on mac os x guido flohr. May 09, 2009 been searching 12 month for some software to do this on vista,last night found a frre program called formatter fat32,worked a treat,just converted a 2tb external harddrive n hooked it up to ps3. I believe windows can mount a fat32 partition formatted on a different os, like os x as large as 2tb. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on. Avolusion hddgear 2tb 2000gb 7200rpm 64mb cache usb 3. Jul 18, 2014 download fat32formatter easily format disk drives larger than 32 gb to fat32 file system in the blink of an eye with the help of this lightweight application. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility.
You can also change cluster size, and partition label on this window. You can use apples builtin disk utility before you format the drive, make sure theres nothing valuable on it thats not also backed up elsewhere, since all data will be lost. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac, linux, the ipod. I mistakenly formatted a thumb drive to exfat, making it unreadable in all my other devices. How to format 2tb or 1tb hard drive to fat32 successfully. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. If youre using a mac, you dont need special software to format a usb drive in the fat32 format. There is nothing difficult to format it to fat32 or exfat. One member here told me that it can be done at the windows disk management, but i cannot do that and. It is therefore an excellent crossplatform file system. A fat32 partition can reach 2tb when formatted on a mac. If you do you can format the drive to mac hfs with macdrive software. Supports up to 2tb for computer internal hard disk, windows external hard drive with a xbox360 and sony external hard drive with a ps3. Click convert now button at the lower right corner of the main interface.
Fat32 works with all versions of windows, mac os, linux, game consoles, etc. Ive found so many forums where people have had success reformatting an external drive larger than 2tb but none of the programs have worked for me. No luck formatting 4tb seagate to fat32 for media use. Format usb drives beyond fat32 32gb limit for ps4 and mac os. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Jul 16, 20 fat32 is readwrite compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including dos, most flavors of windows up to and including 8, mac os x, and many flavors of unix. It has added support for bytes per sector values except 512. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Then the format window appears, with many options for you to choose. Fat32 is readwrite compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including dos, most flavors of windows up to and including 8, mac os x, and many flavors of unix.
Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd. Mac os extended refers to the file system used by mac os x. However, fat32 now is losing popularity due to fat32 partition size limit why. I know ntfs is for windows only and fat32 works on both windows and mac. If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you. I might partition the drive in two 2tb then format to fat32 on mac osx and on windows format in ntfs and then try. However when i format it to fat32 using wd drive manager on my mac it only formats about 2tb. What is fat32 partition size limit and how to break it. Whats more, if your ntfs partition is larger than 32gb or contains sensitive data, the conversion or formatting task will become more difficult. Using the xp disk management utility under computer management, select the disk, initialize the drive, but dont format. I have tried many free format programs on the web for both mac and pc, however they only allow up to 2tb to format to fat32. So not all implementations will support such a disk.
Fat32 is a really old format, and 2 tb disks are really new. With windows builtin disk management, fat32 can be converted to ntfs but it is not so easy to convert ntfs back to fat32. Microsoft do not supply tools that can format this size of disk in fat32 by limiting the format program to a maximum 32gb size and recommending ntfs for larger drives or partitions. Download smartdisk fat32 format utility format exfat microsd cards as fat32 quickly and effortlessly using this portable application that. That is the mac equivalent of ntfs and the software will run on a pc and the xbox 360 will recognize the full drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. Oct 03, 2017 usually these apple mac compatible drives would be formatted as fat32 allowing the drive to be used in both windows and mac systems. Wait for seconds, the 2tb hard drive will be formatted to be fat32.
Apr 14, 2020 as long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between mac and windows. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Mbr for drives under 2tb and gpt for drives over 2tb. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Back to the main interface, click apply proceed to commit the pending operation. Can only be formatted up to 2tb per partition so you could theoretically have 2 partitions in fat32 that are 2tb each on that single drive. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Amazons choice for fat32 external hard drive silicon power 2tb rugged portable external hard drive armor a60, shockproof usb 3. Extremely easytouse free ntfs to fat32 converter formatter. I can confirm the msdos fat option on mac disk utility is not the same as fat32,as i wasnt able to use the card formated that way in a device that required fat32. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command.
Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. I might partition the drive in two 2tb then format to fat32 on mac osx and on windows format in ntfs and then try to make it one partition, i will keep you guys updated comment windels. On the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. Fat32 works with all versions of windows, mac os x, and linux.
Click ok to confirm this operation and ntfs to fat32 formatter will convert this partition. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Fat 32 format external drives for mac wd community. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. It supports up to 2 tb of bytes and is compatible with windows vista and higher versions. Nov 23, 2012 2tware fat32format can format hard drives up to 2tb to fat32 file system. How to format 2tb or 1tb hard drive to fat32 successfully in. Fat32 can have a maximum number of 268,435,445 clusters. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx.
And, sorry, i dont know the limitations for fat32 for all that tools. Because by using 32 bit addressing, fat32 can have partitions up to 2tb, significantly more than the 4gb limit of fat16. Although linux and mac osx can work with ntfs, there is hardware, such as dvdbluetooth devices or game consoles, that can work with external storage media, but only if it is formatted with fat32. The truth is that fat32 has a theoretical volume size limit of 16 tb, with a current practical limit of about 8 tbplenty for most usb drives. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. As of now, fat32 formatter has worked on disks 2tb. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. With windows builtin disk management, fat32 can be converted to ntfs. Fat file allocation table file system is created in 1977 by microsoft, and fat32 file allocation table 32 is the most popular version of fat. As kryptonhite mentioned above, you can format it to fat32 with the mac os. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac, linux, the ipod 40gb, various nas boxes and media players and norton ghost 2003 fat32 formatter works on windows 2000, windows xp, and windows server 2003 and vista win7.
How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. I want to format the whole thing into fat32, but i have no clue. Youll be able to see the progress in the white box. Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Format my 6tb my book studio edition ii to fat32 external. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. Fat32 formatter format volume to fat32,support up to 2tb bytes volume 3. Nov 19, 2009 4tb hard drive formatted for mac os, need help.
However, single files on a fat32 drive cant be larger than 4gb. However, i have been unable to format 2tb hard drive to fat32. I can confirm the msdos fat option on mac disk utility is not the same as fat32,as i wasnt able to use the card formated that way in a device that required ing sd card formatter app solved the issue. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Apr 20, 2020 cannot format 2tb hard drive to fat32 in windows i have a 2tb external hard drive that i need to use at home with my windows 7 pc and at school where i use a mac. And most game consoles, such as playstation, require external usb drive with the fat32 format. As long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between mac and windows.