About FAT32
There are two common methods to convert an external hard drive from NTFS to FAT32 file system: 1. Format external hard drive from NTFS to FAT32 This is the easiest way to change file system of external hard drive to FAT32. What you can do is to run Command prompt to convert FAT32 to NTFS. Please refer to this article: how to extend c drive server 2008. Free to Change Hard Disk Partition from NTFS to FAT32. Hard disk usually refers to the internal hard drive on a computer. Windows system like Widows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Windows 10 support both NTFS and FAT32. Jul 31, 2019 Method 1 Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, click Drive Converter (FAT32), and then click Next. In the Drives box, click the drive you want to convert to the FAT32 file system. Click Next, and then click OK.
The existing FAT (file allocation table) file system was invented in 1977 as a way to store data on floppy disks for Microsoft stand-alone Disk Basic. Mathcad for mac download. Although originally intended for floppy disks, FAT was modified to be a fast and flexible system for managing data on both removable and fixed media. In 1996, Windows 95 OSR2 came out with FAT32, a new and improved FAT.
With new generations of very large hard drives, the existing FAT data structures has reached the limit of their ability to support ever-larger media. FAT currently can support a single disk volume up to 2 Gigabytes in size. FAT32 is an enhancement of the FAT file system that supports larger hard drives with improved disk space efficiency.
System Requirements: FAT32 cannot be downloaded and is only available with Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98.
Features
FAT32 provides the below enhancements over previous implementations of the FAT tile system:
Supports up to 2 terabytes in size.
FAT32 uses space more efficiently with smaller clusters (e.g., 4 kb clusters for drives up to 8 GB in size), resulting in up to 5% more efficient use of disk space relative to large FAT drives. The below table demonstrates the cluster size for various sizes of hard drives. As you can see, a 32 GB drive or larger supports the same cluster size as FAT16.
Drive Size | Default Cluster Size |
---|---|
Less than 512 MB | 512 Bytes |
< = 8 GB | 4 Kilobytes |
< = 16 GB | 8 Kilobytes |
< = 32 GB | 16 Kilobytes |
> = 32 GB | 32 Kilobytes |
More robust. FAT32 can relocate the root directory and use the backup copy of the FAT instead of the default copy. The boot record on FAT32 drives was expanded to include a backup of critical data structures, so they are less susceptible to a single point of failure.
More flexible. The root directory of a FAT32 drive is now an ordinary cluster chain, so it can be arbitrarily larger and located anywhere on the drive. FAT mirroring can be disabled, allowing a copy of the FAT other than the first to be active. These features allow for dynamic re-sizing of FAT32 partitions. Note, however, that while the FAT32 design allows for this compatibility, it cannot be implemented by Microsoft in the initial release.
Compatibility
For compatibility with existing applications, networks, and drivers, FAT32 was implemented with as little change as possible to Windows 95's existing architecture, internal data structures, APIs, and on-disk format. However, because 4 bytes are now required to store cluster values, many internal add-on disk data structures and published APIs fail on FAT32 drives. Most applications are unaffected by these changes. Existing utilities and drivers should continue to work on FAT32 drives. However, MS-DOS block device drivers (e.g., ASPIDISK.SYS) and disk utilities for these need to be revised to support FAT32 drives.
Microsoft's bundled disk utilities (format, fdisk, Defrag, MS-DOS ScanDisk, Windows ScanDisk, and DriveSpace) were revised to work with FAT32. Microsoft has worked with the leading device driver and disk utility vendors to support FAT32.
Performance
For most users, FAT32 has a negligible performance impact. Some applications may see a slight performance gain from FAT32. In other applications, particularly those heavily dependent on large sequential write operations, FAT32 may result in a modest performance degradation. The overall effect on raw disk performance is less than 5%, however, and the overall impact on application performance as measured by Winstone is typically less than 1%.
Creating FAT32 drives
In OEM Service Release 2, if you run the fdisk utility on a large system with a drive over 512 MB, it asks whether to enable large disk support. If you answer yes, any partition you create that's greater than 512 MB is marked as a FAT32 partition.
Why not add NTFS to Windows 95?
NTFS is an advanced file system, with support for many features not present in FAT32, including per-file compression, security, and transitioning. It is not feasible to implement NTFS in the memory and compatibility constraints of the Windows 95 platform. Windows 95 still supports real mode MS-DOS for booting and running some MS-DOS-based games. Adding NTFS support to the MS-DOS kernel would have required a significant amount of MS-DOS memory, and that would have precluded the use of many MS-DOS mode games and applications. Protect-mode only support for NTFS would not have allowed Windows to boot from an NTFS volume.
Technical implementations
Because of the compatibility considerations described above, the implementation of FAT32 involved very little change to Windows 95. The Major differences between FAT32 and earlier implementations of FAT are as follows:
Two new partition types are defined: OxB and OxC. Both indicate FAT32 volumes; Type OxC indicates a FAT32 partition that requires LBA (extended INTI3 support).
The boot record on FAT32 drives requires 2 sectors (due to expansion and addition of fields in the BPB). As a result, the number of reserved sectors on FAT32 drives is higher than on FATI6, typically 32. This area allows two complete copies of the boot record to be stored, and a sector, where free space count and other file system information is stored.
The FAT is now larger, because each entry now takes up 4 bytes and there are typically many more clusters than on FAT16 drives.
The root directory is no longer stored in a fixed location.
A pointer to the starting cluster of the root directory is stored in the extended BPB.
The on-disk format directory entries are unchanged, except that the two bytes previously reserved for extended attributes now contain the high order word of the starting cluster number.
MS-DOS APIs that rely on an intimate knowledge of the file system layout fail on FAT32 drives. For instance, GetDPB (int21 h, function 32h), Int 25/26h Absolute disk read/write, and most of the Int 21 h, function 440Dh IOCTLs fail on FAT32 drives. New forms of these APIs are provided in OEM Service Release 2, which work on all FAT drives.
Win32 APIs are not affected by FAT32, except for one additional API called GetFreeSpaceEx() for determining the true free space on a FAT32 volume.
FAT32 FAQ
Which operating systems come with FAT32?
Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
Can I download FAT32?
FAT32 cannot be downloaded.
Can FAT32 be converted back to FAT16?
Unfortunately, it cannot be converted without erasing all the information that is on the hard drive. To remove the FAT32 and re-initialize FAT16, you must fdisk the hard drive, delete all partitions, and recreate without using extended support (FAT32).
Does Windows NT support FAT32?
No
Additional information
- See our FAT, file system, and NTFS definitions for further information and related links on these terms.
Summary :
Are you looking for a professional FAT32 formatter to format your USB flash drive, external hard drive, SD card to FAT32 for better compatibility? This post will show you some ways and you can try them according to your needs.
Quick Navigation :
Why Choose FAT32
What Is FAT32
When it comes to FAT32, you should know it refers to a version of the file allocation table (FAT) which is available since Windows 95 OSR 2 and Windows 98. It increases the number of bits used to address clusters and also reduces the size of each cluster. As a result, it can support larger disks (up to 2 terabytes) and better storage efficiency (less slack space).
FAT32 is an old file system, so many old operating systems including Win95, Win98, Win2000, Win2003, Win Vista and more support this file system.
What's more, as for some old game consoles, FAT32 is available. When reading here, you know FAT32 has very good compatibility. Besides, USB drives adopt the FAT32 file system by default.
Why Format to FAT32
Generally speaking, this is mainly because of the better compatibility of FAT32, despite that it can not support files larger than 4GB file size for single files.
Play minecraft online website. Let's focus on a common issue for more information: What is the best format for a USB drive?
If you are using a USB drive but the partition is formatted to NTFS before, now you want to use your USB disk to connect to a game console PS3/PS4, Linux, or Mac OS X. In this case, you need to use a FAT32 formatter tool to change the file system to FAT32. Otherwise, PS4 can't read USB flash drive or you are unable to write in Mac OS/Linux.
Moreover, there is another case showing the necessity of formatting a hard drive to FAT32. You want to connect your USB disk or Seagate/Western Digital external hard drive to a NAS but the NTFS permissions cause the NAS not to access the drive. Under this circumstance, the better solution is to adopt FAT32.
How to Change Your Drive to FAT32
In order to get the best compatibility of your drive, using FAT32 as the file system is a good choice. Then, it is likely that you are wondering: How do I format a USB drive to FAT32? How do I convert NTFS to FAT32?
As a matter of fact, these two problems are often asked by many users. Today, in this post, we will show you how to change your external drives, USB disk or SD card to FAT32 in two cases in Windows 10/8/7. Paint x 4 5 36.
Case 1: Important Data Are Saved on Your Hard Drive
Usually, there are some important files stored on the USB drive, SD card, memory stick or external USB hard drive. When there is a need, it is a better solution to adopt a professional FAT32 formatter tool to convert NTFS to FAT32 because of the limits of Windows Disk Management. (We will show you some details later.)
The Best FAT32 Format Software - MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard, professional FAT32 Converter, is recommendable since it enables you to not only convert NTFS to FAT32 but also convert FAT32 to NTFS without any data loss. It is compatible with many OSes including versions of Windows 10/8/7 and Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016 depending on different editions.
Convert NTFS to FAT is a paid feature, so you should use MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition or a more advanced edition to change your SD card, USB disk or external hard drive to FAT32.
Step 1: Launch this FAT32 format software and enter its main interface.
Step 2: Focus on your SD card, USB disk or external hard drive partition to choose Convert NTFS to FAT from the right-click menu. Alternatively, you can select partition and click this feature from Change Partition column.
Step 3: At last, hit the Apply button at the top-left corner to execute this FAT32 conversion formatting process.
With the help of this application, you can easily and effectively change your external hard drive, USB drive or SD card to FAT32 from NTFS, which won't have any influence on the data of your hard drive.
Case 2: No Data Are Stored to Your Drive
Suppose that there are no important data stored on your hard drive, you can choose to directly format your disk to FAT32. Here we will show you four ways to format NTFS partition to FAT32 and just choose one according to your needs.
FAT32 Format USB/SD Card - MiniTool Partition Wizard
To convert USB disk/SD card/external hard drive from NTFS to FAT32, this professional partition manager can also be used as a dedicated FAT32 formatter to format SanDisk/Kingston USB drives, SD cards (SDHC/SDXC cards) to FAT32 effectively in Windows 10/8/7. This way, you can use the drive in between Mac OS, Windows and Linux freely. (Also works to format drives to other file systems.)
Before the FAT32 format USB flash operation, you can free download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition and install this best FAT32 formatting application on your computer and have a try.
Here is how to format to FAT32:
Step 1: Run MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition to its clear main interface to start FAT32 format SD card/USB drive.
Step 2: Choose the target partition and click Format Partition under Partition Management in the left pane.
Step 3: Specify the partition label, file system and cluster size for your target partition. Here FAT32 should be chosen. After finishing these settings, go back to the main interface.
Step 4: At last, hit the Apply button to perform formatting operation with this FAT32 format software.
Change Raw To Fat32
Built-in FAT32 Formatter – Windows Disk Manager
In Windows 10/8/7, there is a snap-in FAT32 formatter which is used often. Usually, when referring to Windows format, Windows Disk Management is a good choice due to its clear user interface and accessibility (built-in free tool).
Macos edit image. With it, you can create/delete/format volume, change drive letter and path, extend/shrink volume and so on. How do you format a flash drive to FAT32 with this disk manager? Follow the guidance as follows:
- Press Win + R keys to open the Run window.
- Type msc to open Computer Management. Then, go to Disk Management.
- Choose the target partition of your removable disk or external hard drive that you want to format to FAT32 and click Format from the right-click menu.
- In the disk formatting interface, specify volume label, file system (FAT32) and allocation unit size. Perform a quick format is selected by default in Windows 10/8/7.
After clicking OK, a warning 'Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. Back up any data you want to keep before formatting. Do you want to continue' appears. If no important data is saved on your disk, just ignore this warning. If you have some files on the target partition, please refer to case 1.
FAT32 Format Tool – Windows Explorer
In addition to the above two FAT32 formatters, you can also format a hard drive to FAT32 via Windows File Explorer.
- When right-clicking the target USB drive partition you want to format in Windows Explorer, there is an option Format, just click it.
- Custom file system (FAT32), allocation unit size, volume label, and quick format. Click Start to begin FAT32 format process.
Like that, your USB drives, SD cards or external hard drives will be formatted to FAT32 in Windows 10/8/7.
Optional FAT32 Formatter - Command Prompt
Now we will show you the last method that is to use Command Prompt. This way requires you to input some commands. How to format to FAT32? Do as the following:
Convert avi to flv linux. 1. Run diskpart by inputting diskpart in the search box and pressing the Enter key.
2. Then type the following commands in turn and end each command with Enter.
- list disk: all disks are listed here.
- select disk n: n should be the number of the disk you want to format to FAT32.
- list partition
- select partition n: n refers to the partition number.
- format fs=fat32 quick
Also, a very similar tool called Windows Powershell has the same feature. Office for mac deals. To use this tool:
1. From Windows Search bar, type 'Powershell'. From the search result, run Windows Powershell with admin privilege. (Or you can find it under Windows power user menu by pressing Win + X.)
2. Next, in the new bule window, execute the following commands: Connect ender 3 to pc.
- get-disk | get-partition
- format-volume -driveletter K -filesystem FAT32 -newfilesystemlabel TEST (*author says: the drive letter and file system label can be changed at your own situation)
- exit
Simply doing the above will bring you drives with FAT.
Exfat To Fat32 Converter
Which Is the Best FAT32 Format Utility?
In this part, we show you how to change a hard drive to FAT32 in two cases: important data exist or no important data are saved to your disk. Four FAT32 formatting tools for USB disk, SD card or external hard drive are introduced to you in detail.
So, when reading here, you probably are wondering: which tool is the best one?
Third party utility MiniTool Partition Wizard enables you to convert NTFS to FAT32 without losing data. Besides, this tool also supports formatting partition of which the volume size is larger than 32GB to FAT32, which breaks the limit of FAT32. Disk Manager and Windows Explorer cannot be used to format the drive larger than 32GB to FAT32.
Ntfs To Fat32 Converter
By contrast, you get that MiniTool Partition Wizard is the best FAT32 formatting tool in Windows 10/8/7. If you have a need, just get its Professional Edition to convert to FAT32 from NTFS and download its Free Edition to format a large hard drive to FAT32.
Bottom Line
Now we come to the end of this post. Need to format your USB flash drive, SD card or external hard drive to FAT32 with this FAT32 formatting tool? Four FAT32 formatters are displayed. Just choose one to quickly format FAT32 in Windows 10/8/7.
By contrast, we highly recommend you to use MiniTool Partition Wizard to convert NTFS to FAT32 or format SD card, USB disk or external hard drive to FAT32 without any limit.
Suppose that you have some questions or suggestions to this post, please don't hesitate to tell us by sending an email via [email protected] or leaving your comment in the following text box. Much appreciated.
FAT32 Formatter FAQ
- Run MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Choose the USB disk, click Format Partition, and choose FAT32 as the file system.
- Click Apply to execute the operation.