Converting from NTFS back to FAT 32 in XP.

JustinJustin Atlanta
edited January 2006 in Hardware
Is there any way to do this? I tried the administrative tools aproach and it will only format to NTFS. Is there software that would help or just somehting simple that I am not thinking of? I have this 160GB drive that needs to be FAT 32 so I can use it in a TIVO upgrade. ANy suggestions would be greatly appreciated.:scratch:

Comments

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Justin, I believe you need something like Partition Magic or possibly Linux for that.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    I was under the impression you couldn't go back. :range:
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Why would anyone want to go back???
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited January 2006
    I thought that you couldn't format anything larger than 80GB or so with FAT32.


    (mtgoat, your avatar is up-side down)
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited January 2006
    danball1976 wrote:
    (mtgoat, your avatar is up-side down)

    (Read the Location: underneath)

    Look at this
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited January 2006
    Qeldroma wrote:
    (Read the Location: underneath)

    I kind of figured he might of done it for that reason, but I felt compelled to point it out.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    danball1976 wrote:
    I kind of figured he might of done it for that reason, but I felt compelled to point it out.
    hehehe :D
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Use an external hard drive, transfer all data over and then reformat the orginal hard drive for FAT32, then transfer the data back... {POOF} FAT32.... oh, and It doesn't work if you're talking about the operating system disk....
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2006
    It was just for a Tivo, I found some things that should help. Word to the wise: If you rip out a Tivo HDD, and stick it in an XP machine, and boot it up, you will trash the boot sector on the Tivo HDD.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2006
    OK, need more help. not sure if this is a linux question but, here are the instructions to do what I am trying to do:

    MakeTiVoBootbale -This is a dangerous program! If you're not careful,
    you can really break things with this. Basically, it writes a fresh TiVo
    block 0 (boot sector) over a hard drive. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THINGS WITH THIS,
    ONLY OVERWRITE WHAT'S THERE. Lots of W2K users will need this one. The
    syntax is the following:

    -d <device> REQUIRED. Device to make bootable
    --pk <Partition> Primary Boot Partition
    --ak <Partition> Alternate Boot Partition
    --bp <Params> Boot Parameters
    --host <hostname> Hostname
    --ip <Address> IP Address
    --mac <Address> MAC Address

    If you wanna create a new boot sector that's supposed to boot from a kernel
    on partition 3 and a root that's on partition 4, you would use the following
    command:

    MakeTiVoBootable -d /dev/hdX --pk 3 --ak 6 --bp root=/dev/hda4

    if that doesn't work, try this:

    MakeTiVoBootable -d /dev/hdX --pk 6 --ak 3 --bp root=/dev/hda7

    contrary to the online help, this program will not automatically swap bytes,
    so you must enable that yourself.

    HINT: You can (and should) backup your existing block 0 with dd before you
    use this program. You can also direct output to a file and verify that it
    looks good before you dd that to the hard drive (You can even use dd's swab
    option).

    Here is the link that I am getting this from:

    http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=117404

    I know SM is the best tech site on the web and I need some instruction. What the hell do I do with this info. I'd like to pretend that I know but seriously, I don't have a clue...
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    It means you'll need a Linux rig in order to reset the boot sector for TiVO.
  • JustinJustin Atlanta
    edited January 2006
    I downloaded a program that boots up from a disk whitch I believe is what I am looking for. I boot up and it gives me a command prompt that is different from DOS so I am guessing that is it? Should I just copy what is posted above into that prompt?
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited January 2006
    mtgoat wrote:
    Why would anyone want to go back???
    Change the past....change mistakes you've made! ;D
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