# confused: 160Gb WD passport hard drive



## a12b3c (Jun 27, 2007)

Hi there,

I have just bought a WD hard drive and I am really confused. It is 160GB however, when i looked at the installation guide, it mentions something about FAT32 and NTFS can affect the maximum storage level......This is what it says exactly:



> This WD drive is preformatted as a single FAT32 partition for the compatability with all Mac and windows os. The FAT32 file system has a maximum individual file size of 4 GB and cannot create partitions larger than 32 GB in Windows 2000/XP; however, windows 2000/XP users can overcome these file size limitations by reformatting the drive to NTFS using the Disk Management utility.


I have to admit that I am no good at computers and I did not understand what the above meant. What I am confused about is whether it is a good idea to convert the file system from FAT32 to NTFS? Will it affect the running of my computer? And if I keep the WD drive as FAT32, how much memory will it have out of the 160 GB?

Many thanks.


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

Basically, it is up to you. The external will run fine formatted as FAT32, but you will have a file size limitation for each file of 4gb. If you are saving large files then you should reformat to NTFS. You will have the same amount of storage space on the drive whether it's formatted as FAT32 or NTFS. The actual storage space on the drive will be roughly 7% less than the advertised size.

If you are going to partition the drive with FAT32, each partition cannot exceed 32GB. If you partition with NTFS the partitions can be whatever size you choose or you can just have a single partition.


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## stantley (May 22, 2005)

Yes you're better off changing it NTFS, it's the newer file stucture and works well with XP. Here's how WD recommends to re-format the drive:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...mwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD0xMDIx&p_li=

If you have any data on the drive back it up because all data will be erased.


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## a12b3c (Jun 27, 2007)

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a partition? And to make sure, if i keep it as FAT32, i will still be able to store files up to 160 GB?

Thanks.


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## a12b3c (Jun 27, 2007)

Sorry  , i am asking so many questions but i just want to make sure if i change it to NTFS, would everything (OS and the hard drive) operate the same?


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## stantley (May 22, 2005)

For most users the easiest way to go is to make one partition for the whole drive.

Everything will work OK with the change to NTFS.


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## AWAIS GHOURI (Oct 19, 2007)

HI guys,

i have just bought a wd external passport size hard drive of 80 gb


worked one week perfectly, i have moved almost 1 tera byte without any problem

but now when i conects to the computer and copy more than 2 gb or higher file 

it completely stucks the windows untill i unplug the power of my pc and restart it

and it happends 10 times on three different systems


would you please tell me what i need to do now??????


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You moved a terabyte to an 80gig drive? That's a neat trick!


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## AWAIS GHOURI (Oct 19, 2007)

i was not expecting such a sense less answer from this forum 

and i dont know why i joined this forum


dear,

i have said that in one week i have moved almost 1 tera byte, (in one week means different times) some day full drive some day 40 gb and some day 60 gb 

thats how i used total 1 tera byte 

you


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## AWAIS GHOURI (Oct 19, 2007)

now may i have the experts opinion ????


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

AWAIS GHOURI said:


> i was not expecting such a sense less answer from this forum
> 
> and i dont know why i joined this forum
> 
> ...


You know what, you jump on here in the middle of someone else's post and rudely ask for an answer, totally disregarding there is another poster, and then you insult one of the most knowledgeable Moderators here, who actually asks a legitimate question any of us would have asked. I suggest you go out and come back, and while you do that learn some manners and make a new post so as not to detract from the original poster here and ask your question in a thread that you start for yourself.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

a12b3c said:


> Excuse my ignorance, but what is a partition? And to make sure, if i keep it as FAT32, i will still be able to store files up to 160 GB?
> 
> Thanks.


Start here as to what a partition is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_(computing)
You have no need to make multiple partitions in average use of a hard drive if you read email, browse for information and write letters etc...it depends on your computer usage but for the average user, they leave drives as 1 partition.
As to formatting, XP is really based in Ntfs file format which provides smoother running OS with less corruption or driver issues. If your basic system is set up on Ntfs, which you can tell by right clicking my Computer and reading the information that comes up under Properties, then the external drive will run better in Ntfs also because XP in Ntfs file system has a tendancy to continually want to check the consistency of a drive running Fat32 attached to it's system and that can slow your bootup.
See here for full explanation:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/russel_october01.mspx
Oh and the best way to format is to right click My Computer, choose "Manage" and then "Disk Management" and format and partition in that Windows utility.


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