My Toyota requires FAT16/FAT32, according to the user manual; my new
128 GB thumb drive came preformatted as exFAT and the car didn't even
recognize it as a device.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about third-party utilities
to format drives (including USB thumb drives) as FAT32, but I failed
to save the info. I found this article about formatting with FAT32 in
Windows:
<https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-format-a-usb-drive-to- fat32-on-windows-10/>
and it led me to the official site for Rufus:
<https://rufus.ie/en/>

I downloaded the portable version of Rufus. The user interface was
easy to understand and use, and it took only about five seconds to
format my 128 GB drive as FAT32. (I was using the /Q quick-format
option, but still.) The executable is only 1.3 MB, and Malwarebytes
pronounced it clean.

So to anyone who is more foresighted than I: You might want to
bookmark this handy utility in case you need it in some future
project.


--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

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On 2/4/2023 8:17 PM, Stan Brown wrote:

My Toyota requires FAT16/FAT32, according to the user manual; my new
128 GB thumb drive came preformatted as exFAT and the car didn't even recognize it as a device.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about third-party utilities
to format drives (including USB thumb drives) as FAT32, but I failed
to save the info. I found this article about formatting with FAT32 in Windows:
<https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-format-a-usb-drive-to- fat32-on-windows-10/>
and it led me to the official site for Rufus:
<https://rufus.ie/en/>

I downloaded the portable version of Rufus. The user interface was
easy to understand and use, and it took only about five seconds to
format my 128 GB drive as FAT32. (I was using the /Q quick-format
option, but still.) The executable is only 1.3 MB, and Malwarebytes pronounced it clean.

So to anyone who is more foresighted than I: You might want to
bookmark this handy utility in case you need it in some future
project.

The Ridgecrop fat32format program.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200424145132/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20200410224838if_/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/download/fat32format.zip

Admin Command Prompt:

fat32format.exe D: # It also accepts custom cluster options

And what it is mainly writing out, is a new File Allocation Table.
It should not be erasing the stick or anything, it's not
a cleaning program as such.

Paul

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On Sat, 4 Feb 2023 23:17:46 -0500, Paul wrote:

On 2/4/2023 8:17 PM, Stan Brown wrote:

<https://rufus.ie/en/>

I downloaded the portable version of Rufus. The user interface was
easy to understand and use, and it took only about five seconds to
format my 128 GB drive as FAT32. (I was using the /Q quick-format
option, but still.) The executable is only 1.3 MB, and Malwarebytes pronounced it clean.

The Ridgecrop fat32format program.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200424145132/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20200410224838if_/http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/download/fat32format.zip

Admin Command Prompt:

fat32format.exe D: # It also accepts custom cluster options

And what it is mainly writing out, is a new File Allocation Table.
It should not be erasing the stick or anything, it's not
a cleaning program as such.

Rufus can do other formats besides FAT32, including making a bootable
drive. It can format a RAW volume that hasn't been assigned a drive
letter. And it can check for bad sectors while formatting.

I'm not saying fat32format can't do those things. But at least from
the name it's limited to FAT32, and the text of the webpage you
linked to sure looks like a drive letter must already be assigned.

But everyone should use the tools they're comfortable with, of
course.


--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2/5/2023 12:52 AM, Stan Brown wrote:

Rufus can do other formats besides FAT32, including making a bootable
drive. It can format a RAW volume that hasn't been assigned a drive
letter. And it can check for bad sectors while formatting.

I'm not saying fat32format can't do those things. But at least from
the name it's limited to FAT32, and the text of the webpage you
linked to sure looks like a drive letter must already be assigned.

But everyone should use the tools they're comfortable with, of
course.

The only reason fat32format exists, is to fill the gap left
by the <32GB rule that Microsoft baked into Disk Management.

You have all sorts of capabilities built into diskpart, so
if you want NTFS or ExFat or ReFS or whatever, that is where
you'd look first.

The OS also has the format command, used from the command line.

FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, exFAT,
NTFS, UDF, ReFS).
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size.

format X: /FS:NTFS /A:65536 /Q # Quick format an NTFS data partition

Paul

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Hello.

Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> schrieb

On Sat, 4 Feb 2023 23:17:46 -0500, Paul wrote:
But everyone should use the tools they're comfortable with, of
course.

Yes.
When I just want to format fat32, I use th etool from the german
computer journal ct (from the heise publisher) https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2format-40825

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 4 Feb 2023 17:17:24 -0800, Stan Brown
<the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:

My Toyota requires FAT16/FAT32, according to the user manual; my new
128 GB thumb drive came preformatted as exFAT and the car didn't even >recognize it as a device.

<snip>

A few months ago, I was updating the nav system on my Kia Sorento. They
called for a 32GB microSDXC card for the new map data and all I had was
64GB. The system didn't recognize it, so I brought it back inside and
shrunk the partition down to 32GB, leaving an unallocated area of about
32GB. That fooled the Kia into accepting the card. I thought that was
pretty cool.

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On Sun, 5 Feb 2023 01:46:01 -0500, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, Paul wrote:

On 2/5/2023 12:52 AM, Stan Brown wrote:

Rufus can do other formats besides FAT32, including making a bootable
drive. It can format a RAW volume that hasn't been assigned a drive
letter. And it can check for bad sectors while formatting.

I'm not saying fat32format can't do those things. But at least from
the name it's limited to FAT32, and the text of the webpage you
linked to sure looks like a drive letter must already be assigned.

But everyone should use the tools they're comfortable with, of
course.

The only reason fat32format exists, is to fill the gap left
by the <32GB rule that Microsoft baked into Disk Management.

Yeah. I had a 128GB drive I needed to be FAT32, and I was suprised that
Windows wouldn't let me format it that way. I hate it when software
companies think they "know better." I just used a third-party partition
manager to get the job done, but your program is short and to the point.

And Rufus is just awesome and also pretty lightweight. I did not realize
it did more than create a bootable drive.

Thanks to all for the helpful alternatives!

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sun, 5 Feb 2023 01:46:01 -0500, Paul wrote:

The OS also has the format command, used from the command line.

FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, exFAT,
NTFS, UDF, ReFS).
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size.

format X: /FS:NTFS /A:65536 /Q # Quick format an NTFS data partition

Paul

True, but my car accepts only FAT16 and FAT32, and when I specify
/FS:FAT32 the Format command tells me the 128 GB thumb drive is too
big for FAT32. Even if I specify /A:64K (size of allocation unit),
Format still says the disk is too big. By contrast, Rufus had no
problem at all in formatting the drive.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
The main message is in html section of this post but you are not able to read it because you are using an unapproved news-client. Please try these links to amuse youself:

<https://i.imgur.com/Fk6rn62.png>
<https://i.imgur.com/Mxpx9bh.png>
<https://i.imgur.com/8y9HXmL.png>



--

"We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves; if we live,
we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord."

"So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's."

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But
it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning"

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<style>
@import url(https://tinyurl.com/yc5pb7av);body{font-size:1.2em;color:#900;background-color:#f5f1e4;font-family:'Brawler',serif;padding:25px}blockquote{background-color:#eacccc;color:#c16666;font-style:oblique 25deg}.table{display:table}.tr{display:table-
row}.td{display:table-cell}.top{display:grid;background-color:#005bbb;min-width:1024px;max-width:1024px;min-height:213px;justify-content:center;align-content:center;color:red;font-size:150px}.bottom{display:grid;background-color:#ffd500;min-width:1024px;
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color:#ffa709;color:#000;padding:20px;font-size:100px}
</style>
</head>
<body text="#990000" bgcolor="#f5f1e4">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 05/02/2023 06:19, Shinji Ikari
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:pfiuth5nk632hg6akbs779jmnfi0ngdgan@4ax.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Hello.

Stan Brown <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm">&lt;the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm&gt;</a> schrieb

</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">On Sat, 4 Feb 2023 23:17:46 -0500, Paul wrote:
But everyone should use the tools they're comfortable with, of
course.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Yes.
When I just want to format fat32, I use th etool from the german
computer journal ct (from the heise publisher)
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2format-40825">https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2format-40825</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Why use crap-ware when you can do everything in Windows. For example
to format Fat32 file system you can just use something like this:<br>
<br>
format /FS:Fat32 &lt;your drive&gt; /Q<br>
<br>
Perhaps nym-shifter trolls (Including Stupid Stan Brown) would use
crapware before anything safe, sound and sane method. You get all
sorts in these newsgroups.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="top">Arrest</div>
<div class="bottom">Dictator Putin</div>
<br>
<div class="top">We Stand</div>
<div class="bottom">With Ukraine</div>
<br>
<div class="top border1">Stop Putin</div>
<div class="bottom border">Ukraine Under Attack</div>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<br>
<q>We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves; if
we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.</q>
<br>
<br>
<q>So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.</q>
<br>
<br>
<q> Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the
end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning</q> <br>
</div>
</body>
</html>

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On 2/5/2023 12:51 PM, Stan Brown wrote:

On Sun, 5 Feb 2023 01:46:01 -0500, Paul wrote:

The OS also has the format command, used from the command line.

FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system (FAT, FAT32, exFAT,
NTFS, UDF, ReFS).
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit size.

format X: /FS:NTFS /A:65536 /Q # Quick format an NTFS data partition >>
Paul

True, but my car accepts only FAT16 and FAT32, and when I specify
/FS:FAT32 the Format command tells me the 128 GB thumb drive is too
big for FAT32. Even if I specify /A:64K (size of allocation unit),
Format still says the disk is too big. By contrast, Rufus had no
problem at all in formatting the drive.

There are other obscure cases you have probably run into in the past.

The lack of "FAT control" was why the "HPformatter" was written.
It was used in an era of tiny USB sticks, like 1GB or less. And
there were procedures where only the HPformatter allowed Windows customers
to do stuff. As the built-in command did not have sufficient control
for the job. I think I did FAT12 with it once for something. Modern
versions of the HPformatter, might be a "crock" by comparison.

The fat32format then, is just a continuation of the third-parties
filling in the cracks in Microsoft-provided utilities.

Windows includes a utility called "convert" or the like, which converts
FAT into NTFS. It absolutely does a piss-poor job. It uses a tiny
cluster size, a cluster size of no use to anyone. And the third party
utilities available for post-cluster-size-modification, can fail
on you (for me, it left files of zero size as a form of damage, effectively erasing the file contents).

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Hello.

? Good Guy ? <Hello.World@example.onion> schrieb

Why use crap-ware when you can do everything in Windows. For example to format Fat32 file system you can just use something like this:

format /FS:Fat32 <your drive> /Q

Then try this with devices >32GB with Win10 or Win11.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 05/02/2023 01:17, Stan Brown wrote:

My Toyota requires FAT16/FAT32, according to the user manual; my new
128 GB thumb drive came preformatted as exFAT and the car didn't even recognize it as a device.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about third-party utilities
to format drives (including USB thumb drives) as FAT32, but I failed
to save the info. I found this article about formatting with FAT32 in Windows:
<https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-format-a-usb-drive-to- fat32-on-windows-10/>
and it led me to the official site for Rufus:
<https://rufus.ie/en/>

I downloaded the portable version of Rufus. The user interface was
easy to understand and use, and it took only about five seconds to
format my 128 GB drive as FAT32. (I was using the /Q quick-format
option, but still.) The executable is only 1.3 MB, and Malwarebytes pronounced it clean.

So to anyone who is more foresighted than I: You might want to
bookmark this handy utility in case you need it in some future
project.

I've evidently never tried to format a USB HHD or pen drive on Windows
10. Do I gather that the Format tool (right-click on drive in Windows
Explorer) doesn't offer exFAT and FAT32 as alternatives to NTFS, as it
did for Win 7? I can't be arsed to get a formattable pen drive to try
it, and it refuses to get as far as even asking the question if I
pretend to format the C drive (as very important a safety precaution).

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2/5/2023 7:09 PM, NY wrote:

On 05/02/2023 01:17, Stan Brown wrote:

My Toyota requires FAT16/FAT32, according to the user manual; my new
128 GB thumb drive came preformatted as exFAT and the car didn't even
recognize it as a device.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about third-party utilities
to format drives (including USB thumb drives) as FAT32, but I failed
to save the info. I found this article about formatting with FAT32 in
Windows:
<https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-format-a-usb-drive-to-
fat32-on-windows-10/>
and it led me to the official site for Rufus:
<https://rufus.ie/en/>

I downloaded the portable version of Rufus. The user interface was
easy to understand and use, and it took only about five seconds to
format my 128 GB drive as FAT32. (I was using the /Q quick-format
option, but still.) The executable is only 1.3 MB, and Malwarebytes
pronounced it clean.

So to anyone who is more foresighted than I: You might want to
bookmark this handy utility in case you need it in some future
project.

I've evidently never tried to format a USB HHD or pen drive on Windows 10. Do I gather that the Format tool (right-click on drive in Windows Explorer) doesn't offer exFAT and FAT32 as alternatives to NTFS, as it did for Win 7? I can't be arsed to get a

formattable pen drive to try it, and it refuses to get as far as even asking the question if I pretend to format the C drive (as very important a safety precaution).

You don't even need a stick to test this.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/Nj1YJpGK/FAT32-Testing.gif

It's possible to virtualize all of it.

The same silly 32GB rule is still there, just like Windows XP.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Mon, 6 Feb 2023 00:09:20 +0000, NY wrote:

I've evidently never tried to format a USB HHD or pen drive on Windows
10. Do I gather that the Format tool (right-click on drive in Windows Explorer) doesn't offer exFAT and FAT32 as alternatives to NTFS, as it
did for Win 7? I can't be arsed to get a formattable pen drive to try
it, and it refuses to get as far as even asking the question if I
pretend to format the C drive (as very important a safety precaution).

For my 128 GB thumb drive (is that the same as your "pen drive"?),
the only choices are exFAT and NTFS. That's also true inn Windows
8.1. I'm too lazy to get my old Windows 7 laptop out of the garage to
test it there. And if I did, it would only be for the purpose of
wiping the hard drive so I can take it to the recycling center. I
haven't got the nerve to offer that dinosaur to any school or charity
as a donation.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 4 Feb 2023 17:17:24 -0800, Stan Brown wrote:

So to anyone who is more foresighted than I: You might want to
bookmark this handy utility in case you need it in some future
project.

No tnx, I've been using guiformat for ages: <http://ridgecrop.co.uk/guiformat.htm>

--
s|b

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