external HDD via usb2.0, pwede ikabit sa PC and Imac?

**swordsman** · February 22nd, 2008 04:01 PM

patanong na rin po. if i want a non-powered(thru a separate adaptor) external harddisk, para saksak na lang ng saksak sa USB port, i will buy the 2.5" kind. tama ba?

up to how many gigs ba kaya ng 2.5", na hindi sya mag-require ng separate power adaptor?

speaking of FAT32 formatting, gaano max size na kaya nya i-handle or size limitation?

**Jun aka Pekto** · February 22nd, 2008 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by swordsman

patanong na rin po. if i want a non-powered(thru a separate adaptor) external harddisk, para saksak na lang ng saksak sa USB port, i will buy the 2.5" kind. tama ba?

up to how many gigs ba kaya ng 2.5", na hindi sya mag-require ng separate power adaptor?

speaking of FAT32 formatting, gaano max size na kaya nya i-handle or size limitation?

Ummm. Yeah.

A non-powered hard drive is almost always 2.5" or smaller. I assembled one together where it has 2 usb connectors just in case the power from 1 usb port isn't enough.

I'm not sure what's the biggest capacity 2.5" drive. But, the eSATA 2.5" hard drive in my Toshiba laptop is 250gb.

As for FAT32, I'm also not sure if Windows can handle it. I'm not about to test it on any of my hard drives. I think it can, though. Maybe someone can shed more light.

But, even if Windows can't, most hard drives come with formatting utilities that allow it to go past the normal size limit. I mean my 500gb WD My Book is FAT32.

**Yoda** · February 22nd, 2008 07:13 PM

Wikipedia says FAT32 can handle volumes of up to 8Tb. That's 2^40 bytes.

Although that's probably large enough for most of us, there's another limit that we're more likely to bump into and that's the maximum file size. A single file on a FAT-based drive can only be up to 4Gb in size. Something to consider if you have a lot of DVD ISO's you want to copy over.

Windows, starting with 2000, was "crippled" as far as creation of FAT32 drives go. Win2K won't let you create a large enough FAT32 partition, forgot how large, 32Gb yata. XP doesn't even have that option anymore. MS wants everyone to go NTFS. :bleh: That's why I still have a Win98 boot disk.

**Jun aka Pekto** · February 22nd, 2008 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by Yoda

Wikipedia says FAT32 can handle volumes of up to 8Tb. That's 2^40 bytes.

Although that's probably large enough for most of us, there's another limit that we're more likely to bump into and that's the maximum file size. A single file on a FAT-based drive can only be up to 4Gb in size. Something to consider if you have a lot of DVD ISO's you want to copy over.

Windows, starting with 2000, was "crippled" as far as creation of FAT32 drives go. Win2K won't let you create a large enough FAT32 partition, forgot how large, 32Gb yata. XP doesn't even have that option anymore. MS wants everyone to go NTFS. :bleh: That's why I still have a Win98 boot disk.

Vista XP1 RC1 added a new file format called exFAT. I'm formatting my 2.5" 60gb external USB2 drive right now with the new format. I'll test to see if it'll work with my Divx-capable DVD player.

**Yoda** · February 22nd, 2008 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Jun aka Pekto

Vista XP1 RC1 added a new file format called exFAT. I'm formatting my 2.5" 60gb external USB2 drive right now with the new format. I'll test to see if it'll work with my Divx-capable DVD player.

I'm gonna bet it doesn't. From what I know of exFAT, it's not backward compatible unlike say, ext3 and ext2 on Linux.

It's still worthwhile to try though.

**Jun aka Pekto** · February 22nd, 2008 09:46 PM

For now, I can say exFAT sucks. XP SP2 won't even recognize the format asking if I want to have the drive formatted. Now reformatting to FAT32 via XP Home.

**ssaloon** · February 22nd, 2008 10:37 PM

dito, wd 250gb external hdd nasa 205 sgd. pwede na, balak ko bumili

**boybi** · February 22nd, 2008 10:55 PM

205 sgd = 5800 php. How much ba dito sa pinas?

**Jun aka Pekto** · February 22nd, 2008 11:25 PM

Anyway, I found out a few things. If the hard drive is already FAT32, leave it alone.

If by chance you need to reformat, don't use Windows Format, be it the desktop utility or via the Command Prompt. Use the Utilities that came with the hard drive such as WD Lifeguard Data Tools because it supports the size of the disk plus it's a heck of a lot quicker to finish.