# here's a hard 1...



## rtfgirl (Nov 11, 2011)

what i'm trying to do... format my second drive as fat32 instead of NTFS!

i have 2 seagate drives... the first is barracuda 7200.9 160Gb which has xp pro and is partitioned as C and D. i have another barracuda 40Gb drive that i did a LLF (used a different pc) and want to format that drive as E. Thus i'll have drives C, D and E.

My problem: when i start the pc using a windows 98 startup disk, the ramdrive is set to E. this prevents me from formatting the 40Gb seagate drive as E. what i would like to do is not have the ramdrive as a variable but as a fixed ramdrive such as Z. these are the 2 batch files involved...

*autoexec.bat*
@ECHO OFF
set EXPAND=YES
SET DIRCMD=/O:N
set LglDrv=27 * 26 Z 25 Y 24 X 23 W 22 V 21 U 20 T 19 S 18 R 17 Q 16 P 15
set LglDrv=%LglDrv% O 14 N 13 M 12 L 11 K 10 J 9 I 8 H 7 G 6 F 5 E 4 D 3 C
cls
*call setramd.bat %LglDrv%*
set temp=c:\
set tmp=c:\
path=%RAMD%:\;a:\;%CDROM%:\
copy command.com %RAMD%:\ > NUL
set comspec=%RAMD%:\command.com
copy extract.exe %RAMD%:\ > NUL
copy readme.txt %RAMD%:\ > NUL

:ERROR
IF EXIST ebd.cab GOTO EXT
echo Please insert Windows 98 Startup Disk 2
echo.
pause
GOTO ERROR

:EXT
%RAMD%:\extract /y /e /l %RAMD%: ebd.cab > NUL
echo The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive %RAMD%.
echo.

IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.
GOTO QUIT

:HELP
cls
call help.bat
echo Your computer will now restart and the startup menu will appear.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
restart.com
GOTO QUIT

:QUIT
echo To get help, type HELP and press ENTER.
echo.
rem clean up environment variables
set CDROM=
set LglDrv=

*setramd.bat*
@echo off
*set RAMD=*
set CDROM=

echo.
echo Preparing to start your computer.
echo This may take a few minutes. Please wait...
echo.

*a:\findramd*

if errorlevel 255 goto no_ramdrive

if not errorlevel 3 goto no_ramdrive

goto do_shift

:loop
if errorlevel %1 goto no_shift

:do_shift
set cdrom=%2
shift
shift
if not %1*==* goto loop
goto no_ramdrive

:no_shift
set ramd=%2

if "%RAMD%"=="C" goto c_drive

goto success

:c_drive
echo Windows 98 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or
echo FAT32 partition. There are several possible causes.
echo.
echo 1. The drive may need to be partitioned. To create a partition on the drive, 
echo run FDISK from the MS-DOS command prompt. 
echo.
echo 2. You may be using third-party disk-partitioning software. If you are using 
echo this type of software, remove the Emergency Boot Disk and restart your 
echo computer. Then, follow the on-screen instructions to start your computer from 
echo a floppy disk.
echo .
echo 3. Some viruses also cause your drive C to not register. You can use a virus 
echo scanning program to check your computer for viruses.
echo.
goto success

:no_ramdrive
echo The Windows 98 startup disk could not create a temporary drive for the 
echo diagnostic tools. This may be because this computer has less than the 
echo minimum required extended memory. 
echo.
:success

i think the *set RAMD=* and *a:\findramd* commands need to be modified somehow... or if someone see exactly what needs to be done, that would be great! thanks guys for helping me!!!


----------



## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Why are you trying to do his with a 98 boot disk? Why aren't you doing it within windows?


----------



## rtfgirl (Nov 11, 2011)

well as i said... i don't want NTFS!!!! windows will not format ur drive in fat32!!!!!!!


----------



## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

rtfgirl said:


> well as i said... i don't want NTFS!!!! windows will not format ur drive in fat32!!!!!!!


Since when. Disk management will be more than happy to format fat32.


----------



## rtfgirl (Nov 11, 2011)

HUH? well i tried!!! but all i saw was NTFS! ohhh i would love that if i could do it from windows! is there a special way i have to do it? ok well i think i have to say that, i jus did a LLF and i didn't assign a drive letter like C or D... does that matter?


----------



## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Partition and format the drive in disk management.


----------



## rtfgirl (Nov 11, 2011)

ok well the partition part worked... it's now drive E but it still wants me 2 use NTFS! squashman thank u 4 helping me!!!! be patient! hahahaha


----------



## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

http://www.ke5ter.com/archives/2007/11/01/format-hard-drive-with-fat32-in-two-steps


----------



## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

I was totally confusing the 137GB limit of XP with your issue.
You can format the partition with your 98/ME boot disk from what I have read online.
You may be able to format it from the cmd line as Leroy has said as well.
There is also a 3rd party utility that allows you to do this as well.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

Microsoft thought it would be a great idea to cripple Windows to only format 32GB FAT32 partitions. Anything above that can only be formatted as NTFS with Disk Management. This was their way of forcing people to use NTFS.

But then Microsoft came out with ExFAT. Which is the successor to FAT32. You could use this to format your disk as well if you wanted to.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955704


----------



## rtfgirl (Nov 11, 2011)

yaaaaaaaaaay!!! squashman ur my hero!!!!!!! it worked!!!! thank you so much for your help! and it's always good to learn something new like this!!!! thank you!!!


----------

