format from dos

R

reg

New Member
Hi, I have an external usb drive that I have formated to NTFS for my new computer XP.
I would like to now use it on my old computer ME as well but it only likes fat32 format.
Now I think I will have to format the drive on old computer ME in dos but do not know how.
Any help would be fine but make it simple please.
Reg.
 
There is no DOS prompt option in Windows ME. Well, there is, but Microsoft went out of their way to hide it. It requires a hack to do it and I don't know if you feel comfortable doing that. I can tell you how to hack the boot up if you require a prompt.

Otherwise, go to www.bootdisk.com and download a Windows 98 startup disk and boot into DOS from there and do your FDISK and format from there. You will have to take the drive out of the enclosure and put it in your case though.

You can always do the procedure in XP and then move the drive over, can't you?
 
Correction there is no "shutdown to msdos" mode in ME. All versions of Windows have some type of command prompt. How large is the drive connected by usb? If it is over a certion size you will need the updated version of FDisk from Microsft. That will only upto 55gb approximately there. FreeDos carries one version that will work upto a 120gb drive. You can download free at http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/

The best way to format the drive with the ME system is install in the case itself and boot from either the ME or earlier 9x boot floppy that has the updated fdisk from Microsoft or the link above. That will allow you create as well as delete the existing one or more partitions. XP's disk management would be a waste of time since that could only delete not create partitions. You use the "format C: /s" command to format the new partition only if the drive is in the case by itself. For detailed instructions on using fdisk save the link here for reference. http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/
 
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