How To Re-Partition An External Hard Disk Drive From NTFS to FAT32

NTFS is great if you plan to use your drive with Windows but you may have problems if you want to use it with earlier versions of Windows or with other operating systems such as Linux. In this case you should choose one of the following methods to convert your drive to FAT32.

• Warning!
• Use Windows?
• Use A Windows 98 / ME Boot Disk?
• Use Another Operating System
• Use A 3rd Party Partition Editing Tool
• How To Re-Partition An External Hard Disk Drive From FAT32 to NTFS

Repartitioning your drive will wipe all your data, make sure you have backed up first. When re-partitioning your external drive, please be absolutely certain you are working on the correct drive, it would be very easy to accidentally wipe your C: drive. When using a 3rd party Partition Editor you may want to disconnect your C drive first, just to be on the safe side.

Use Windows?

No. Unfortunately Windows will not allow you to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB. More info from Microsoft.

Use A Windows 98 / ME Boot Disk?

Not with an external USB drive. You would have to remove the drive from it's housing and plug it directly in to your PCs IDE bus.

Use Another Operating System.

If you have a Mac or a Linux PC then this is probably the easiest option, but then if you did you wouldn't have come looking for this guide.

Use A 3rd Party Partition Editing Tool.

A 3rd party partitioning tool is the easiest method for most people, I recommend GParted (Gnome Partition Editor) which is FREE. Please read the warning above and follow these steps.

1. Download a disk image of GParted from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/.
   (At the time of writing the latest version, gparted-livecd-0.3.4-9.iso, did not work for me so I used gparted-livecd-0.3.4-8)
2. Use your CD burning software to burn the disk image to a CD.
3. Boot from the CD.
4. At the menu choose the first option GParted-LiveCD 0.3.4-8 (auto-configuration).
   
5. You will be prompted to select a keymap by typing in the appropriate name or number, for example type 'uk' for British.
   
6. Enter the number that matches your language, for example type '33' or hit Enter for English.
   
7. If the graphical environment fails to load type 'Forcevideo'.
   
8. When prompted to type the name of the driver you want to be forced type 'vesa'.
   
9. Type in a screen resolution that suits your monitor and click enter.
   
10. Select the drive you want to partition from the drop down list on the right hand side of the screen.
    
11. Select the partition you want to delete and click the 'Delete' button on the tool bar.
12. Click the 'Apply' button and the partition will be deleted.
    
13. Select the unallocated drive and click the 'New' button.
    
14. Set the size of the partition you want to create, change the files system to FAT32 and click the 'Add' button.
    
15. Click the 'Apply' button and the new partition will be created.
    
16. Done, you can now reboot.

• How To Re-Partition An External Hard Disk Drive From FAT32 to NTFS.