Boot Camp Partition - FAT32 or NTFS?

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Level 2

290 points

Boot Camp Partition - FAT32 or NTFS?

I'm trying to install Windows XP SP2 on a Leopard machine using Boot Camp.

I ran the Boot Camp Utility in Leopard, and made a 160 GB MS-DOS (FAT32) partition. Is this in conflict with itself? I think I read somewhere that FAT32 partitions can only go up to 32 GB. So, if you want to install Windows XP on your Mac, with a partition over 32 GB in size, what do you do?

When I start up my Mac now, holding down the option key, and clicking on the Windows partition, it says "disk error. click any key to restart". Could this be something to do with me creating a 160 GB FAT32 partition?

 iMac 17" 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, Mac OS X (10.5.5),  16GB iPod touch  40GB Apple TV

Posted on Nov 2, 2008 9:48 AM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Nov 2, 2008 8:42 PM in response to Reuben Feffer

Hi Reuben,

in addition to Neones post, see this article http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1722?viewlocale=en_US

You have to format the Windows partition during the initial setup which leaves you only with the option to use NTFS with your 160GB partition, since Windows will not format it with FAT32 because of Windows built-in 'inabillity' to format partitions greater than 32GB with FAT32.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

Neone

Level 1

5 points

Nov 2, 2008 11:22 AM in response to Reuben Feffer

Fat 32 can be over 32 GB (most external hard drives are formatted in Fat 32 so every common OS can recognize the drive and format it into HFS or NTFS or something similar).

You cannot store files larger then 4GB on Fat 32, and NTFS can be read faster then Fat 32.

Boot Camp cannot format into NTFS, so when you boot up your XP cd you get the choice of where you want to install it (where the boot camp partition is going to be designated as C:\). Then you have to format it into NTFS (NOT Quick-Format).

Mac can read and write Fat 32 and only read NTFS. Windows cannot read HFS. (without 3rd party programs)

Message was edited by: Neone

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Answer 3

Reuben Feffer Author

Level 2

290 points

Nov 3, 2008 7:12 AM in response to Fortuny

Ok, thanks a lot guys. I've done it now and it all works properly. I used the NTFS format on a partition of 160 GB.

The answer was actually in Apple's own Boot Camp Install Setup PDF. Here's a quote from it:

*Even though Boot Camp pre-formats the Windows partition, this partition can’t be used to boot the computer. You must reformat the new Windows partition using the Windows installer.*

*To format the partition for Windows XP:*

*Select an NTFS or FAT format:*

*Important: Do not select “Leave the current file system intact.” To successfully install Windows XP, you must select one of the other options.*

The first time I ran the Windows Installer, I selected "leave the current file system intact" because I assumed Leopard's pre-format was all that was needed. But I was wrong. Leopard pre-formats the partition first, but then you need to use the Windows Installer to reformat it again, preferably to NTFS.

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Answer 4

SHOOT

Level 1

0 points

Nov 8, 2008 8:12 PM in response to Fortuny

QUESTION:

I am trying to format my 1TB external HD so it is friendly with my MAC and my PC, I used FAT32 but 4GB files are common these days so this is not the ideal solution.... What is the best approach? I have to keep the external friendly for MAC an PC as my wife's laptop for work is a PC....

THANKS !

SHOOT

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Answer 5

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Nov 4, 2008 3:16 AM in response to Reuben Feffer

Hi Reuben,

thanks for reporting back.

Glad to hear that we could work this one out.

Have Fun and thanks for the star.

Stefan

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