# NTFS to FAT32 :(



## tracy

i bought a WD 500GB portable hard drive (Elements) and i need to use it between a Mac and Windows computer so i can do my video assignments. 

Mac can't write to NTFS and i have tried the WD fat32 formatting off the WD website but it says it cannot copy disk image (i did this on win vista. Won't install on win 7).

How can i format my hdd to Fat32?? 

please help


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## Sean89

tracy said:


> i bought a WD 500GB portable hard drive (Elements) and i need to use it between a Mac and Windows computer so i can do my video assignments.
> 
> Mac can't write to NTFS and i have tried the WD fat32 formatting off the WD website but it says it cannot copy disk image (i did this on win vista. Won't install on win 7).
> 
> How can i format my hdd to Fat32??
> 
> please help



Start>Computer, right click on what ever drive/partition it is and click format, then choose fat32, and the size


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## tracy

no fat32 option only exFAT


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## Aastii

put the hard drive in your windows computer

go to computer and right click the drive and click format. Change File System to FAT32 and click start. It will keep the drive how it was but in FAT32 instead.

=EDIT=

I just googled it and assuming you haven't already formatted it in NTFS and have it straight out of the box, apparently it already comes formatted in FAT32 

oh, and I am looking stuff up because just read that you can't choose FAT32, so ignore my initial advice


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## tracy

Aastii said:


> I just googled it and assuming you haven't already formatted it in NTFS and have it straight out of the box, apparently it already comes formatted in FAT32



thats what i thought, cause it does say its compatible with Mac Os X.

The one i got is a WD elements 500GB portable HDD.


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## tlarkin

you can write to NTFS file systems on a Mac if you use FUSE, NTFS3G is the commercial product which you can buy

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

There is an open source version that probably has a higher learning curve but is free here

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/


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## tracy

tlarkin said:


> you can write to NTFS file systems on a Mac if you use FUSE, NTFS3G is the commercial product which you can buy
> 
> http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/
> 
> There is an open source version that probably has a higher learning curve but is free here
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/



thanks, but the mac computer is'nt mine, its the schools and i need a password to install it on there which i dont have.


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## Sean89

tracy said:


> thanks, but the mac computer is'nt mine, its the schools and i need a password to install it on there which i dont have.



Just use a windows computer and do what I said?


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## tlarkin

tracy said:


> thanks, but the mac computer is'nt mine, its the schools and i need a password to install it on there which i dont have.



Ask the system administrator, they may install it for you



> Just use a windows computer and do what I said?



FAT32 is a old and out dated file system, and if you have files over 4gigs in size then forget-about-it.  exFAT isn't widely supported because it is a proprietary FS owned by Microsoft and they aren't releasing any source code so anyone can adopt it.


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## tracy

ok i found a solution, i used paragon partion manager free edition and it worked perfectly.

thanks for all the responses.


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## tyttebøvs

Microsoft likes to implement all sorts of limitations - which is why you cannot format a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB with Windows' own format tool (including disk management).


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## /\E

tyttebøvs said:


> Microsoft likes to implement all sorts of limitations - which is why you cannot format a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB with Windows' own format tool (including disk management).



Yes you can. I've done it with my 500GB external. You're thinking of the installation program.

If there are any limitations, it's not by Microsoft as a company. It would be a limitation by design. Like the maximum file size is 4GB on a FAT32 volume.


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