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Date:	Sat, 6 Jan 2007 19:32:40 -0800
From:	Steve Carter <scarter@vcnet.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Fat32 maximum size...?

Content Type: text/plain

Although you cannot get there with Windows tools,
the FAT32 size limit is ~8 TB.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184006
=======================================

The Win98 formatting tool will format FAT32 larger than Win2K+
will, I believe. The Win98 FAT32 format limit may be around 64GB
or more, while the Win2K FAT32 format limit _is_ 32GB.
(They're trying to make you use NTFS for "larger" partitions.)

[Note that the Win98 Fdisk program has a software flaw and MS
offers a fix: Q263044. The MS fix is not designed for 48-bit LBA
hard disks, and is not supported on hard disks larger than 137 GB.
The (less-flawed) Win ME Fdisk program is frequently used instead.]

The Win2K Format tool cannot format larger than 32GB as FAT32.
While the Win2K FAT driver can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger
than 32GB, you cannot create one using the Win2K Format tool.
Presumably this applies to WinXP as well.

So, "support" can have different meanings depending on what
you are trying to do. The partition (volume) size limit for
FAT32 is quite large, 8TB according to MS and Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table

although others report a maximum accessible limit of 2.2 Terabytes.
Dunno why.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On 1/5/07, Martin Rosenfeld wrote, in part:
>What is the maximum size for a FAT32 volume that Windows will support?
>
>Martin
>
>=====================================================

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