Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

Javascript Disabled Detected

You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Cannot format a usb drive as fat32

Started by wadnib , Apr 28 2005 12:56 PM

Please log in to reply

#1
wadnib

Posted 28 April 2005 - 12:56 PM

New Member

Member
2 posts

I am trying to format this 28gig usb2 external drive as fat32 filesystem under Windows XP, but windows just keeps coming up with the message 'Windows was unable to complete the format'. I can format as ntfs no problem, just not fat32. I have tried doing it by right clicking on the drive and choosing format, using the disk manager to delete the logical drive and create a new logical drive with no success. The closest I have managed to come is by using the command 'format X: /FS:FAT32 /q' from the command prompt. This performs the format, asks me for the drive label, and seems to complete without any errors. However when I then try and open the drive from my computer I just get the message 'This drive is not formated. Would you like to format it now?'.

This is driving me nuts! Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers.

#2
gerryf

Posted 28 April 2005 - 01:02 PM

Retired Staff

Retired Staff
11,365 posts

what kind of thumbdrive?

haven't bought one in a while, but some used to have formatting utilities on a cd....

#3
wadnib

Posted 28 April 2005 - 01:32 PM

New Member

Topic Starter
Member
2 posts

No it's some old no-name external firewire/usb2 2.5" hard drive. It may have had some software but no idea where that may be now. Hadn't needed it up till now as it just shows up as a generic mass storage device.