Description
How to format a drive larger then 2TB as FAT32
By: danielibarnes
I used a Linux virtual machine rather than any Windows utility. The steps from the above link are replicated below (using /dev/sdb as the usb drive) with the last step modified for FAT32.
% sudo gdisk /dev/sdb GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.8 Partition table scan: MBR: not present BSD: not present APM: not present GPT: not present Creating new GPT entries. Command (? for help):
First, create a new GPT partition table
Command (? for help): o This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR. Proceed? (Y/N): Y
Now create a partition. The defaults will create a new partition that spans the whole drive with the first sector already aligned. Be sure to choose the correct type 0700!
Command (? for help): n Partition number (1-128, default 1): First sector (34-16326462, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: Last sector (2048-16326462, default = 16326462) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: Current type is 'Linux filesystem' Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): 0700 Changed type of partition to 'Microsoft basic data'
Write the changes to the drive and exit
Command (? for help): w Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING PARTITIONS!! Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sdb. Warning: The kernel is still using the old partition table. The new table will be used at the next reboot. The operation has completed successfully.
Finally, format our new partition with the FAT32 filesystem using 4k sectors and 64k cluster size.
% mkfs.vfat -s 16 -S 4096 /dev/sdb1 mkfs.vfat 3.0.3 (18 May 2009)
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