See the Wikipedia entry on ' File Allocation Table'.ĭoes not work when i try to format 80GB partition with format.exe.

How big is the volume you are trying to format? FAT32 has a maximum volume size of 2 TB. What version of XP are you using? I'm on SP3. Unfortunately at the very end (an hour later) I got this message So I tried without /q and it started formatting like normal. I'm back to say I think this post is incorrect.Īt first I tried it with the /q flag and it didn't work. Note it doesn't seem to work with quick format option (/q) though. I have been searching for a free partition tool now I don't need one. After answering a few confirmation questions, Windows will start to format your large disk to FAT32 no special program needed. Substitute drive parameter with the drive letter of the drive you want to format into a FAT32 volume. All you have to do is open up the command prompt and issue the following command: Unknown to almost everyone, the command-line FORMAT.EXE utility, installed with every copy of Windows operating system, will be more than happy to help you format your drive to FAT32. The FAT32 option will not show up under 'File system' in the 'Format Local Drive' dialog as shown in the screen shot below.Īccording to Microsoft, many tasks on a very large FAT32 file system become slow and inefficient. When you try to format a drive that is larger than 32 GiB, Windows XP and Vista will force you to use the NTFS format, even though it can read and write FAT32 drives of any size. Format Large Disks to FAT32 on Windows XP and Vista

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