[Lorna1403]

Thanks for that link, it did answer one question for me and probably explains why I cannot format the ext drive as it is 1TB and XP will not format anything over 32GB.

The whole NTFS vs FAT32 debate confuses me though, can anyone tell me if you can have both FAT32 and NTFS file systmes on the same PC running XP??

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Good question, I didn't actually try to format it on the other computer. At that point I was just trying to find out if it was faulty or formatted for a MAC. But I was told it was ok to use on a pc as the person who plugged it into their pc was using XP.

It should have been a simple case of plug and play but that is not the case. There is supposed to be an auto run setup but it does not work on my pc.

[Lorna1403]

Good question, I didn't actually try to format it on the other computer. At that point I was just trying to find out if it was faulty or formatted for a MAC. But I was told it was ok to use on a pc as the person who plugged it into their pc was using XP.

It should have been a simple case of plug and play but that is not the case. There is supposed to be an auto run setup but it does not work on my pc.

[dennisK16]

mac drives don't work on windows based computers

what you can do is what i always do.(i work with hdd's so i run in to this problem pretty often
right click my computer go to manage
then select disk management
[attachment=45539:untitled.JPG]
then select Delete partition.
[attachment=45540:untitled1.JPG]
then you have this screen right click on the unallocated and select new partition.
[attachment=45541:untitled2.JPG]
in the wizard that pops up select primary partition.
set the size you wanted (default is the full drive size if you want more partitions change it to the size you want it in)
assign a letter to it i normally do E: or F:
then in the next window you can give the drive a name and select how you want to format it i would keep it like it is and not check the box with perform a quick format and then click finish
it might take a while for you drive to show up in my computer because its formatting.

[123Runner]

Real quick here because I have 1 foot out the door.

I believe that Fat can not see NTFS, but NTFS can see FAT32.
So if the computer/laptop is Fat32 that could be your problem.

How is the computer that can see it formatted? NTFS or Fat32?

[iammykyl]

Don/t know if you tried the Windows GUI version of fat32.format from post #12. If not, here is the link again, > http://www.ridgecrop...fat32format.htm Click on the image and save to desktop.

I have done the following. Downloaded the file to the desktop.

Connected an enclosure vie USB to a PC running XP, containing a NTFS formatted 80GB HDD with 2 partitions.
switched on the enclosure, clicked on the desktop file.

A box opens. From the drop down list selected the larger partition, (Y, over 32GB). clicked start.

Formatted the partition in about 4 seconds.

Am able to read/write files to the NTFS and FAT32 on both partitions in windows XP.

Being a clever d!!!, i completely missed what may be the simple answer, IE format using a PC running 98. which I have in the store room.

If the above does not work for you, let me know, and I will dig it out and give it a go.

[123Runner]

Your problem is that your laptop can not see the NTFS file system. If you want to use that drive you need to format it with a computer that has a Fat32 system.
You can try FDISK from a floppy (if you have a floppy drive), but need to be careful you get the correct drive.
You can also convert your main drive to NTFS (see quote below), provided you do not have a specific reason it is formatted Fat32.

The following taken from Elder Geek. Fat32 or NTFS

NTFS volumes are not recognized by Windows 95/98/Me.

FAT and FAT32 volumes can be converted to NTFS volumes. NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 without reformatting.

In Windows XP, the maximum partition size that can be created using FAT32 is 32GB. This increases to 16TB (terabytes) using NTFS.

FAT32 drives are much more susceptible to disk errors.

NTFS volumes have the ability to recover from errors more readily than similar FAT32 volumes.

Log files are created under NTFS which can be used for automatic file system repairs.

NTFS supports dynamic cluster remapping for bad sectors and prevent them from being used in the future.

FAT and FAT32 volumes can be converted to NTFS volumes. NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 without reformatting.