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Forums › Desktop computing › Partitioning an external hard drive???


4 posts

Wannabe Geek


# 37265 9-Jul-2009 19:55
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I have an new set top box that will allow me to record to a usb device, but it has to be in FAT32 format. I also have an external hard drive (500GB Seagate Free Agent) which is in NTFS format. Can I partition my external hard drive to have a FAT32 sector so I can plug it into my set top box? If so can I do it with data on the hard drive or do I have to remove it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Tim.

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16 posts

Geek


  # 233663 10-Jul-2009 14:01
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Best idea is to backup the data on your drive just in case. Setup a new partition on it using Disc Management (under Admin Tools in control panel) and set file system option to FAT.

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Ultimate Geek
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  # 235266 14-Jul-2009 17:36
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There are utilities that allow you to convert NTFS-to-FAT32 without loosing data. Unfortunately the only decent one I know of is Symantec PartitionMagic, but it's not free and no longer under development. I would second the above advice and backup the data first.

 
 
 
 


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  # 235341 14-Jul-2009 20:30
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even if you find and use a tool to convert, i would backup the data first.

you might be able to shrink the NTFS partition using free tools (do a defrag first to get the blocks consecutive) and the create a new fat32 partition




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