Need Large FAT32 Partition

[klear6]

Everyone keeps saying it is impossible to make a partition larger than 32 GB in FAT32 format unless you format the whole drive. I have a 1 TB external HD. I need about 160 GBish to be FAT32 so I can use it as a device that will connect to my Xbox 360 and I can access media. I need the rest of the drive to be formatted in exFAT so I can read/write on it with a Mac and a PC (plus some of my files - like .isos - are larger than 4GB and wont work with FAT32.) Someone figured out a way to do it in Linux but that isn't very helpful to me given that I run Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate. I have access to 2 Macs (laptops: one is a dinosaur and the other is new) but I don't know the specs or the operating system. I'd be happy to check if needed. Get creative guys, I'm on a mission! One idea I had was tricking the Xbox into thinking the HD is smaller than it truly is so that it will only format part of it to FAT32 while thinking it is processing the whole thing. I have no idea how to do that but it was just an idea to work with. Please help - don't give up on the idea until you consider all the angles. There must be a way to do this.

 

[drtweak]

Which Xbox do you have? If it is the 360 it depends on what you want to use it for. if it is to just put in and used to watch videos and what not off of FAT32 is fine. If you want to use it an actual storage for games, saves, etc you HAVE to format it in the 360. Now if you can use the extra space after that IDK. Also you will need to use special software to copy off the 360 partition if you are using that more so as a backup. Also I think the max USB size the 360 supports is either 8 or 16. if it a XBone I'm not sure as I do not have one.

Now as far as having two separate partition types that shouldn't be an issue. Just keep in mind that making a formatting a partition larger than 32GB with FAT32 CAN'T be done though computer management. What you need to do is first make the partition but DO NOT FORMAT IT! Once it is made it should have a drive letter for it. Open up a Command Prompt (Start, CMD in search or if you have UAC enabled go to All Program, Accessoceries, Right click on Command Prompt and run as administrator) Then you want to type in

Format /FS:FAT32 x: where X is the drive letter. It WILL take a while as you can not do a quick format.

If that doesn't work search for the tool Fat32Formatter. You will have to DELETE the partition for the FAT32 in order to format in FAT32. So you delete it, then click on the empty space and format it as FAT32 in the tool. Again it will take a long time for 160GB.

Then you can use the rest as exFat.

 

[klear6]

its a 360

what do you mean by "Also I think the max USB size the 360 supports is either 8 or 16. if it a XBone I'm not sure as I do not have one."?
are you talking about the maximum size of drive that can be used with it? i use a 32 gig stick most of the time and it works fine. I have a bigger one coming in the mail so we will find out soon if 32 is the max.

i found a cool program at partition-tool.com or maybe it was partition-tools.com Anyway it seems to have done what I needed but if i find out it doesnt work i will definitely do what you said. its made by EaseUS called partition master.

 

[drtweak]

i was talking about if you format it in the xbox file system for actual game storage not media storage. but yea there are partition tools that will do it

 

[klear6]

i was talking about if you format it in the xbox file system for actual game storage not media storage. but yea there are partition tools that will do it

How do you format it thru the xbox? Seems like a good idea for backups in case the console dies or something.

 

[drtweak]

On the 360 you have to put in the thumb drive (I think it will format 16 gigs max though. been a while) you have to go into settings and then storage. You will see your thumb drive there. You should then be able to format it in the xbox files system. You have to have a special program to read the thumb drive on a PC. I had to do this when my orginal xbox's hard drive started to die. I copied all my saved games off. Then the whole thing died all together and i got a new one and then just copied it all over!

 

[klear6]

Ok so I partitioned part of the ext HD in FAT32 so it would work as the Xbox's external flash drive, but I think it can tell the difference, even though I made it a relatively small partition. It doesn't even recognize when I plug it in. I know the partition is good because I tested it with 2 computers. I bought a bigger flash drive and got ripped off twice so now I'm on my third ebay venture to get a new one. wish me luck....I might try formatting part of the newer external hard drive I have at some point just to mess with the idea of using it as a virtual thumb drive but for now it is full full of media I need to sort through. I get myself into so many projects at once. Thanks for the info!

 

[drtweak]

Welcome! Yea as far as using it as a media drive and just reading from it there is no real size limit. Just has to be FAT32. if you format something to use as xbox storage then you can only do 32GB max