1 Topic by Charmed

  • Charmed
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Topic: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

Hey,
I have a big problem. I convert my NTFS hard drive to FAT32 because I need it for my PS3 (It only accept FAT32).
I cannot do this with MS Vista because it is 80 GB big so I used GParted.
But now after I converted it to FAT32, Vista and the PS3 do not recognize it anymore.
I think I did something wrong because the convert finished after 5 seconds!? Maybe the hard drive is not formated!?
Can anyone help me?

Thx and greetings

Charmed

2 Reply by class413

  • class413
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Re: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

I don't understand. Is it an external drive? internal drive in a computer? Sure, it isn't the system disk for vista.

What *exactly* did you do on this disk with Gparted?
Can you show any screenshot of Gparted or copy here information on partitions?

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by Charmed

  • Charmed
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Re: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

Hey,
yes it is an external drive and not the system disk!
In Gparted I chose the external drive, clicked right on it and chose "Formate to -> FAT32" then I push "Apply". That was all!
But now my external drive would not be recognized by any pc or the PS3.
I cannot show a screenshot but my external drive had not any partionions. It is one disk
Is this enough of informations?

4 Reply by class413

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Re: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

You can't format just a hard disk to FAT32. You can format a partition or logical disk.
Are there partitions in the disk?
You can first delete the existing partition(s) in the external drive.
Then, you have to make a new partition and choose filesystem FAT32.

Try to do each step separately, not all together.

(It's right that the latest windows versions don't like to format big FAT32 partitions).

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

5 Reply by Charmed

  • Charmed
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Re: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

Yes but I did that! And now no PC detect it.
There wasn't any partitions on it!
So I had to delete the hole disk and the format it new with FAT32?

6 Reply by class413

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Re: Hard Drive doesn't work anymore?!

So, I hope the disk is detected by Gparted. I don't know the type of the disk and connection, i.e. USB, Firewire, e-sata, ...

If the disk is now all empty (=unallocated), you must see it in Gparted: it must be drawn in grey, and marked in the table under the graph "unallocated" with its entire size.

You choose the unallocated space and you click for a "New partition".
Leave about 50 sectors at the starting point (give the start sector number 50 units bigger than the initial value). This is normally needed for ntfs, but this loss is very small. If you give the size in MB, you give 1MB as preceding space.

You choose "Primary partition" and "FAT32" as filesystem.
After that, you give "Apply".
Leave Gparted do the work (it must be very fast, just a few seconds, as the entire disk isn't erased sector by sector, only the filesystem structure is created).

Next, check the information about the new partition. Take your time before rebooting, because cache content needs perhaps some seconds to be written. So, reboot 1 minute later.


When you reboot in windows, you have to see the new disk.
I sometimes had an external USB disk not directly detected on the restart, I had to boot windows first, and then plug the usb cable and turn disk "ON" to be detected.

In windows you can open the "Disk Management" to see how the system understands the new disk: size, filesystem, letter (name).

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***