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Cant fromat Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 3tb to Fat32

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by stuntman_, Oct 12, 2010.

  1. stuntman_

    stuntman_ Regular member

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    I am issues getting my external hard drive to format to FAT32. I downloaded and tried to use seagates disc utility but when it asks me to choose which file system I want all the options are grayed out.

    I also tried to use swissknife but it kept giving an error (also I don't think swissknife will work because it only allows up to 2tb drives.


    I have already contacted seagate support and they have no idea why its grayed out and said I should be able to format to fat32 just fine
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    why would you want to format a 3tb drive to fat32? do you have a floppy drive whether internal or external?
     
  3. stuntman_

    stuntman_ Regular member

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    I am formatting it to fat32 so its compatible with xbox360 and PS3 as well as mac when I need it to be
     
  4. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    can the 360 & ps3 read/write to 3tb size hard drives?
     
  5. KillerBug

    KillerBug Active member

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    You will have to partition the drive.

    From windows xp-7, goto the command prompt and type "diskpart"...let it load, then type "list disk".

    Note the disk number that refers to the 3TB drive.

    Type "select disk X" (where X is the number from the last step)

    Type "clean"

    Type "create partition primary size=1907347"

    Type "exit" twice.

    Use fat32format.exe to format.

    This method wastes the last 1TB...but it is the only way. We can format the last 1TB as an additional partition...but I am not sure how the PS3 or 360 would respond to that.
     
  6. squeakm06

    squeakm06 Member

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  7. roman5566

    roman5566 Member

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    hey guys.... i went to the site that the user on previous post recommended the ridgecrop.demon.co.uk and they have a utility that is a gui version of windows's format utiltiy and it's setup to format to FAT32 only.... it worked on my seagate FreeAgent GoGlex 2 TB drive....

    get the utility here:
    http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe
     
  8. RightLit

    RightLit Member

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    I also wanted to confirm that the utility squeakm06 linked to works. I used it to format a 3TB WD My Book USB 3.0 drive as FAT32. No need to partition or anything as was suggested by others.

    Also, the drive works fine with my PS3. It has no problem reading/writing to it.
     
  9. RzaCat

    RzaCat Member

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    Thanks guys!!!!

    The "GUI Format" software worked perfectly for my external hard drive. It converted my 3tb Western Digital My Book Essential to FAT32 in minutes. The hard drive works great on my PS3. Thanks again!
     
  10. gfunk0311

    gfunk0311 Member

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    hey guys, i got a seagate goflex desk 3tb and have 2 of those fat32. my ps3 will see the video files i have, and i can get all the info by pressing triangle but none of them seem to be playing. screen goes black like its about to start but then just quits a few seconds later with no explanation. perhaps someone here has one?
     
  11. burndog79

    burndog79 Member

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    Ok, Im having the same problem as GFUNK 311 ^^^. Glad to know its not just me, but if anyone has a solution... PLEASE let me know. I did what was suggested to basically reduce a single partition to 1.8TB, as mentioned above. I did not even create a partition for the rest of it, i dont really need the space. But i am having the same problem on ps3 and the xbox wont even see it. If anyone figures this on out, PLEASE email me brendongunn@gmail.com It would make my day.

    seagate goflex desk 3tb 1.8fat32 self partitioned and formatted to fat32 with seagate software
     
  12. algrande1016

    algrande1016 Member

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    Same here as above two, but mine is a 4TB GoFlex Desk. Will not really work on my ps3. Some files load up, not others, and when attempting to play, goes to black, then quits after a couple seconds.
     

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