Fat32 Format External Hard Drive

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Hi,

I thought I would share this info to help other DJs (apologies if has already been covered).

I recently purchased at 1tb External hard drive for my music collection to be used with my Denon 2500.

The majority of hard drives are in the Ntfs file system and have to be converted to Fat32 system for the denon to recognise it.

Tried to format my hard drive through windows xp to the fat32 system but after trying several times it would not to it. Apparently you cannot format anything over 32gb to fat32 using

Then connected my hard drive to the denon and tried to format the hard drive using the denon utility features.

This worked but I lost nearly half the capacity of my hard drive. My 1tb drive was now showing 600gb capacity instead if 1tb but had been changed to fat32 format.

After a lot oh google trawling trying to find a way to overcome this common problem I found the following link. I followed it, downloaded the file exe and managed to format a 1tb external hard drive to Fat32 keeping the entire capacity.

Here is link

http://www.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

Hope it helps.

Steve

[soundtracker]

File...he no work!

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Sorry!!! Try this

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

[AndyC]

for drives or partitions up to 500gb i use SwissKnife V3.22 it quick and workes well but doe'nt work on vista or 7 if you use xp it's great

Andy

[Fullforceeventsltd]

I tried the swissknife programme but coukd not do a 1tb drive as it ended up reducing the capacity of my hard drive too.

[Corabar Steve]

What make is the drive?

Maxtor do a programme that does it, but it only appears to work on Maxtor & Seagate drives

[DJ James Lake]

Or format it on a mac and you get the option of choosing which format

[Excalibur]

I thought the Denon had caught up with Cortex and Numark, and now recognised NTFS. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[deltic]

Or format it on a mac and you get the option of choosing which format

yep thats the way to go,still can't understand why people still use windoze seems to make things far more complicated than they need to.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

What make is the drive?

Hitatchi Drive

[CRAZY K]

I thought the Denon had caught up with Cortex and Numark, and now recognised NTFS. :confused: :confused: :confused:

I find all these posts confusing Peter, I just bought a Cortex and a Seagate, connected up and off you go.( Well 2 of each actually)

Whats the problem in case I buy a different Hard Drive :confused:

Confused of Northamptonshire:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Fullforceeventsltd]

I think most hardrives are in a NTFS file format as standard and the cortex and numark can read and use this file system no problem. The Denon 2500 will not read a NTFS file system so the hard drive has to be converted into a system called FAT32.

[Excalibur]

I find all these posts confusing Peter, I just bought a Cortex and a Seagate, connected up and off you go.( Well 2 of each actually)

Whats the problem in case I buy a different Hard Drive :confused:

Confused of Northamptonshire:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Dear Confused,
You will be relieved to know that your chosen machine requires only that the hard drive connected to it has its own power supply. Follow that simple rule, and you will have no problems. Resist the urge to "Upgrade" to the Denon. That way lies madness.


PS, I have found no unpowered drives which work with the Cortex. I have a couple which will work with the Numark, and a couple which will only work with a PC.

[TONYTIGER]

Hi,

I thought I would share this info to help other DJs (apologies if has already been covered).

I recently purchased at 1tb External hard drive for my music collection to be used with my Denon 2500.

The majority of hard drives are in the Ntfs file system and have to be converted to Fat32 system for the denon to recognise it.

Tried to format my hard drive through windows xp to the fat32 system but after trying several times it would not to it. Apparently you cannot format anything over 32gb to fat32 using

Then connected my hard drive to the denon and tried to format the hard drive using the denon utility features.

This worked but I lost nearly half the capacity of my hard drive. My 1tb drive was now showing 600gb capacity instead if 1tb but had been changed to fat32 format.

After a lot oh google trawling trying to find a way to overcome this common problem I found the following link. I followed it, downloaded the file exe and managed to format a 1tb external hard drive to Fat32 keeping the entire capacity.

Here is link

http://www.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

Hope it helps.

Steve
Well i never as i read your post i am in the middle of formatting a new hard drive to fat 32

Do a search on the net for HP usb formatting tool this is a free download and is simple and works a treat.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Well i never as i read your post i am in the middle of formatting a new hard drive to fat 32

Do a search on the net for HP usb formatting tool this is a free download and is simple and works a treat.

Cool, will have to chek that out. I have another 2 hitatchi hard drive I need to format too - one road back up and a spare copy of master.

If its easier than using the cmd, defo worth checking out.

[CRAZY K]

Dear Confused,
You will be relieved to know that your chosen machine requires only that the hard drive connected to it has its own power supply. Follow that simple rule, and you will have no problems. Resist the urge to "Upgrade" to the Denon. That way lies madness.


PS, I have found no unpowered drives which work with the Cortex. I have a couple which will work with the Numark, and a couple which will only work with a PC.

Dear unconfused

So I got lucky again huh:D :D :D

Upgrade--sounds like a wasted effort;)

Nice to know life can be simple sometimes:daft:

[TONYTIGER]

As a general comment re portable hard drives i always format to Fat 32 what ever controller i use and always use powered hard drives.

I have the following Mep 7000 ,Cortex, and Numark d2 have never had a issue with any and the dozen or so drives i have will work on all of these.

[Vectis]

Quote "

Reliability

FAT32 drives are much more susceptible to disk errors.

NTFS volumes have the ability to recover from errors more readily than similar FAT32 volumes.

Log files are created under NTFS which can be used for automatic file system repairs.

NTFS supports dynamic cluster remapping for bad sectors and prevent them from being used in the future.
"

Source:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm



So if you value your data and have the choice, bear this in mind :)

[TONYTIGER]

Quote "

Reliability

FAT32 drives are much more susceptible to disk errors.

NTFS volumes have the ability to recover from errors more readily than similar FAT32 volumes.

Log files are created under NTFS which can be used for automatic file system repairs.

NTFS supports dynamic cluster remapping for bad sectors and prevent them from being used in the future.
"

Source:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm



So if you value your data and have the choice, bear this in mind :)

Pioneer will only work with Fat 32 Numark recommend Fat 32 for the D2 if you want to update,so no choice really.

[Vectis]

Pioneer will only work with Fat 32 Numark recommend Fat 32 for the D2 if you want to update,so no choice really.

I ran a d2 (and an iDJ2) for a long time with HFS+ (OSX format) and NTFS drives without a single corruption in hundreds of gigs. After having a FAT32 screw up on me at a wedding in the early days and reverting to laptop for the evening.

I suddenly lost the need to update anything on the device itself.

That's what memory sticks are for ;)

[Jiggles]

NTFS all the way. Much mess likely to corrupt its self as Martin has said.

[TONYTIGER]

NTFS all the way. Much mess likely to corrupt its self as Martin has said.

Not if it will not work with your controller.:confused:

[Jiggles]

Not if it will not work with your controller.:confused:

Always used a D2 and it worked fine no problems at all with using it.

[TONYTIGER]

Always used a D2 and it worked fine no problems at all with using it.

Read the manual you have to reformat to Fat 32 for updates which means you have to wipe your drive & Pioneer only supports Fat 32 and is my far the best controller out there.

[Jiggles]

Read the manual you have to reformat to Fat 32 for updates which means you have to wipe your drive & Pioneer only supports Fat 32 and is my far the best controller out there.

What? Never had to do any of that to do any of the updates. A simple flash drive does it fine no need to use the hard drive at all. Having had my D2 for 3 years now with only need to update it once.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Pioneer will only work with Fat 32 Numark recommend Fat 32 for the D2 if you want to update,so no choice really.

Same for the denon 2500 - will only recognise external hd in fat32