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    fat32 and large files

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by xbender, Jan 18, 2009.

  1. xbender

    xbender Notebook Consultant

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    I am considering a dualboot on my laptop and for that I will need my data partition to be FAT32. Since it will be my data partition, I want to ask how does it work with e.g. ISO files larger than 4GB. Will I be able to store them at all? or does FAT32 not know how to work that...
     
    xbender, Jan 18, 2009
    #1
  2. DetlevCM

    DetlevCM Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    It wont move/copy the file onto an FAT32 partition.

    I had that problem with an external HDD in FAT32 - file was too large, I couldn't move it.
    Changed to NTFS and it worked.
     
    DetlevCM, Jan 18, 2009
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  3. whizzo

    whizzo Notebook Prophet

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    the maximum file size for FAT32 partitions is (2^32)-1 bytes, which is just under 4Gb. anything larger won't get copied/moved.
     
    whizzo, Jan 18, 2009
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  4. xbender

    xbender Notebook Consultant

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    thanks a lot....which basically means, I will have to keep that folder with ISOs on Vista NTFS partition....not accessible to the other os
     
    xbender, Jan 18, 2009
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  5. Big Mike

    Big Mike Notebook Deity

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    What OS are you using that requires FAT32 still?

    FWIW you MUST boot from a fat32 volume but there are at least 2 drivers avaialble to access NTFS volumes inside Win95-WinME:
    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/NTFSDOS-Professional.shtml

    There are a few others, including one made by Avira. The only problem is these drivers generally do not support the user access security models present in Win2k-Win7 so anyone with access to the OS with this driver can access any file on any NTFS partition.
     
    Big Mike, Jan 18, 2009
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  6. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    All Microsoft Operating systems came after Windows 2000 and most major Linux distributions can access NTFS. So why do you want a FAT32 partition ?
     
    PhoenixFx, Jan 18, 2009
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