Fat 32

Hi

What do I have to do when my Fat 32 allocated space is full?

What are the pros and cons of using Internal HHD vs External HHD?

Thanks

When your hdd is full, it's time to get another

Internal hdd's have the advantage of being inside your case, and thus tucked away out of site, and are faster, you can move data to/from them much quicker.

External's have the advantage of being easily removable, just unplug the USB plug and go. But they will also be more expensive, and I believe will run a tad louder.

If you plan to move a lot of data to and from it, and you have the space, an internal hdd would be your best best. However, if you're running pretty full inside and you don't necessarily have a ton of data to move to and from it, then an external should be great as well.

If I was to do a massive HHD tidy up would I be able to reformat it and start again, or is there critical operating data on the Fat 32?

If you format your hard drive, you will lose *everything*

Assuming you only have one hard drive, you will need to reinstall *all* programs and the operating system.

Again, if you format your hard drive, you will lose *everything*

Reformatting every once in a while is something many of us do every so often. You just have to make very sure that you've backed up everything you need to somewhere else (another HD, CDs, whatever). From there you reformat, reinstall the OS and all the programs you need, and restore your backup.

This is an easy way to "clean up" too, since you back up only what you need, then nuke everything and start over. Everything you don't need is thrown out in the format.

Just be very careful to backup everything you absolutely need. If you forget something, you're basically screwed after you format. While you can restore it, it's very difficult and almost always not worth the effort.

I'm not sure formatting is the best option when your hard disk is full.
[formatting regularly for cleanup purposes is common, but not something i would enjoy doing]

Perhaps deleting some files, uninstalling old applications, or writing some of your downloaded junk to cds/dvds is better.

There is no easy way of undo-ing a format.
Make sure you know what you're about to do...

Actually, there is, but it's expensive....

Shelling out a lot-o-cash is not easy.

You have my attention?!...........

Why? Did you lose something?

There are many data recovery places that specialize in recovering data from hdd failures, formats, accidental deletes, etc.... recovering data from a simple format is peanuts in comparison to their harder tasks....

No just shocked at thinking about spending money.

Thought there was a way of doing my HHD clean up / format that was gonna cost but be easy.

Hi

My newest idea is to just install a second hard rive. Could I then just transfer all onto the 2nd and reformat the original hhd putting back only what I wanted?

If it when bad I could clone all back onto original??? Would that work?

Also If I just did nothing and used a 2nd HHD as an overspill, would I still be filling up the Fat 32 on the original HHD?

Could I clone all of the originals HHD onto 2nd drive and just expand the disc allowance on the fat 32 on the 2nd, the making it the primary drive?

What is the fat 32’s reason/ What does it do? Can you only contemplate deleting it if you are rolling back to the bare bones of the system factory setting?


Aaaaaaarh! All these questions and so little time.

Installing a seperate hard drive truly is the best solution.
Transfer all your media files and non-application files there and just use it as a Junk drive.

Hard drives are cheap enough nowadays, just make sure your computer has extra space for it [most computers have at least one extra drive bay and IDE connector]

There isn't much room to "go bad". So long as you have the new hard drive in, and windows recognizes it, you should be able to copy files onto it without too much worry of losing data.

Myself, I have three hard drive. One for Windows itself and installed applications and two for media and junk [mp3s/movies/whatever].

Can you explain what you mean by Fat32?
I'm not sure you are using the correct term.

I think he means that he's using the FAT32 filesystem.

I figured that, but it feels like you can replace "Fat 32" with "hard drive" in most instances of shedload's posts.
The difference between FAT32 and any other filesystem plays no role in this thread so far... which is why I asked for shedload's clarification...

FAT32 is a filesystem, but it would make no difference if your NTFS was full and you needed more space.

Actually it would. If I recall correctly, the newer incarnations of NTFS (XP Pro/Home) can do transparent on-disk compression, so if it was NTFS he could have enabled this to increase the potential size of the disk.

I mean the allocated sector I see when I look at my HHD properties.

Once I have another HHD installed, can I set the fat32 file ssytem and allocate more discspace suss encroaching further into my old HHD?

If I am posting in the wrong bit please let me know. Thought this kinda stuff is relaxation!????

What would happen if I did nothing and the Fat 32 file system used all of it's allocated space?

You would have no more room to save stuff.
Windows might run slower if it has no room for the swap file.

Why don't you just go through what's on your hard drive and delete what you don't need. Surely there's something you can delete to make more room, unless you still have a 4GB drive or something.

Hi

Overall it might be more time consuming trolling through everything than installing a new drive.
Ultimately will store more of my mp3.

Does the fat 32 file systems contain historical data critical to system operation?

Huh?

Your file system, whether it's FAT, FAT32, NTFS or anything else, stores everything. If it's on your hard drive, it's in the file system. This includes the entire operating system. If you screw your hard drive, you screw your operating system, and you screw your computer.

Basically, your hard drive (and thus the file system) stores everything critical to system operation.

However a second hard drive would likely not contain any vital system information.

My assumptions so far have been that you have one hard drive, containing one partition, and your operating system, media files, applications, and other junk are all stored in this one place.

shedload, perhaps if you give us a little background on your system we could better diagnose your problem.

This is a good solution, if you have no problem buying a new hard drive. Heck, I wish I had the money to do so.

System Details

XP home
2.53 processor
500mb ddr ram
80gb HHD nearly all full!

Boot(c) : 3.73gb free.NTFS
Backup (d) : 6.77 free.NTFS
Recover ( e ) : 1.70 free.FAT32

I understand the concept of storage, but am baffled at what the fat32’s purpose is.

Presuming I install another hardrive and choose to store on that, will I still be clogging up my ( e ) Recovery sector of the original hhd? Do processes/ actions/ system changes I employ affect or write to this recovery FAT32 file system regardless of how many HHD’s I have installed?

Many thanks

So you have Windows and stuff installed on C: drive...
Are your applications and stuff also on C:?
What do you store on D: and E:?

What's the total capacity of each of those partitions?

Is this a personal computer, or is it used for business/corporate purposes?

Hi


Here are the spec.

Total capacity;
C:37.2GB D:34.3GB E:2.92GB

C has appz and mp3 and anything else I have ever put on the system. I always install to there.

D until very recently had what I assume was the basic system factory op appz. Now I have over spilled media on it.

E: Has a file called;

File Recover>retten 000>retten exe and

Pass.rpt>SWCONT.dat I have never dealt with this sector.

Initially I want to employ an affective strategy to my home computer. Ultimately though I need to utilize an appropriate strategy for the computers at my work.

So to answer your question: Both home and business! Though initially home first.

Many thanks

FAT32 is a type of filesystem which is used to organise the drive, it holds information about every file such as its name, where on the drive the file is stored, the files size; the amount and location of free space on the drive etc...

If you remove FAT32 from a drive, ie by format or removing parition then all this information about files is lost, and although the files may still be on the drive, it is inaccessable as nothing knows where each file starts and ends on the disk.

Hope this helps.

Necromancing is posting a reply in a thread that died a natural death more than a few weeks old... the practice is frowned upon by nearly all civilized forum members.