Portable HDD: How do I change from NTFS to FAT?

The Den SG

I accidentally formatted my portable heard disk to NTFS when I connect it to XP. Now I can't use it on WIN98. Any kind souls have any idea how to convert it back? I dun mind losing the data.

Thanks all

chanff8 SG

Win XP
Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management

From there, you can format and change your HDD format.

The Den SG

Thank you for your reply. For this method I can only re-format it to NTFS mode... can't format to FAT32... any more suggestions? I need it urgently. Thanks~!

chanff8 SG

oh ops sry. Hm... I think will require third-party programs liao. Windows itself has no tools to convert ntfs to fat32, Forumites, anyone has ideas Question

The Den SG

I made the huge mistake of formatting it to NTFS at home (XP Pro). Now I can't use it at the pc at work -Win98-. Any DOS commands anyone? I cant seem to recall... FAT32 to NTFS is easy but no the other way round. Alamak. My boss is going to slaughter me Neutral

chanff8 SG

http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1820

2nd last paragraph onwards

The Den SG

In short, cannot. Crying or Very sad

chanff8 SG

Can, just delete partition and create new ones, as long as less than 32GB you can partition it into fat32

Ito_^ SG

x2.. not juz format. delete the partition itself.. den create a new one.

octega SG

Not sure if this work but u can try.

After u connect to ur XP, note down the drive letter, say example h:

open ur command prompt in the program,accesories.

type in the command prompt
format h: /fs:FAT32

If not u can try searching the web for Win98 boot disk. Load into ur floppy and boot from it. Then use FDISK and Format to switch back to FAT32.

The Den SG

Cannot detect using this method. Anyway thanks for ur help, I'm planning to RMA it. Mad