How do I format a Flash Drive to FAT16?

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Level 1

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How do I format a Flash Drive to FAT16?

I was able to format a 2GB flash drive to FAT16 using Terminal, but I can't figure out how to format the 8GB drive into 4 partitions, FAT16. Too many arguments or not enough... can't seem to get the correct number.

Could someone please tell me what the command line would be? Thanks!

Powerbook G4 1.33 Mhz, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 7200 RPM HD, 1Gig RAM

Posted on Aug 21, 2010 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 21, 2010 1:31 PM in response to VitoArc

Hi, can I ask why Fat32 from Disk Utility wouldn't work & be better?

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Answer 2

VitoArc Author

Level 1

85 points

Aug 21, 2010 5:41 PM in response to BDAqua

You can ask it. But can I ask why you are asking?

Why? Because I need it that way. From experience, I've found FAT16 works better fast forwarding and reversing while watching AVI files on a DVD player that has USB 2.0. With FAT32 sometimes the movies will freeze while fast forwarding and the picture isn't as smooth.

Happy? 🙂

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 21, 2010 6:25 PM in response to VitoArc

Ah, I see, good reason, but sorry, I do not know how to do that, hang in there & if nobody replies I'll try to get help. 🙂

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Answer 4

Aug 21, 2010 6:55 PM in response to VitoArc

Do you have access to a PC? Look at this link for PC & Mac instructions. http://www.ehow.com/how2006214format-flash-drive.html

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 5

Aug 21, 2010 9:48 PM in response to VitoArc

Sorry, I couldn't do it with Darwin. That's why I keep a GNU/Linux around. FAT16 partitions are very flexible:

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

Gparted is standard in the GNOME Desktop.

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Answer 6

VitoArc Author

Level 1

85 points

Aug 24, 2010 9:05 AM in response to BDAqua

I appreciate the help. I spent about an hour on it already. Here's the Terminal Command that worked for a 2 GB flash drive:

Vito Computer:~ Vito$ diskutil partitionDisk /Volumes/ARC 1 MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT16" "FLASH" 1860M

Now here's the supposed way to setup an 4 GB flash drive (found within a thread in Discussions), which must be partitioned into four:

diskutil partitionDisk /Volumes/FLASHDRIVE 2 MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT16" "PART1" 1860M "MS-DOS FAT16" "PART2" 1860M

However when I make the necessary changes to the above command line, allowing for an 8 GB drive, it's not working.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 24, 2010 10:02 AM in response to VitoArc

Started experimenting with a 4 GB DMG instead, initial results...

diskutil partitionDisk /Volumes/FAT16b MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT16" "PART1" 1860M "MS-DOS FAT16" "PART2" 1860M
Started partitioning on disk disk7
$<3>Creating partition map
$<3>Formatting disk7s1 as MS-DOS (FAT16) with name PART1
$<3>Formatting disk7s2 as MS-DOS (FAT16) with name PART2
$<3>[ \ 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%.......................... ]
Partitioning encountered error on disk disk7s2: The chosen size is not valid for the chosen filesystem (-9962)

Not sure why it gets half way through the second partition, even if I lower the values.

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Answer 8

Aug 24, 2010 10:49 AM in response to BDAqua

Very nice!

However, I can't find 'diskutil' on MacOSX 10.4.11. Typing 'apropos partition' brings up only three old commands; so, has it a manual page? Have you a directory?

Thanks!

Bruce

PS. Oh, my apology to all. This machine's OS was trashed, and I've not yet rebuilt it. Now I remember using diskutil and a similar Darwin command ON THIS MACHINE when I maintained it, before it became a ‛gift‛ to me. 😟

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Answer 9

VitoArc Author

Level 1

85 points

Sep 2, 2010 7:56 AM in response to BDAqua

That's the problem with the flash drive. I keep getting incorrect size errors.

Oh well. Very cleaver using a DMG for practice! Looks like I'll be forced to go to a PC for this solution.

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Answer 10

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Sep 3, 2010 5:19 AM in response to VitoArc

Hi all,

Don't want to spoil all the "fun" here... 😉

But according to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileAllocationTable a FAT16 volume can only be 2GB in size or 4GB when using 64kb cluster size.

Stefan

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