>>> To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
>>>
>> Sure it will. You don't create partitions of "a type", you select the
>> type during format.
> You have to have a partition to format in the 1st place. You can't
> format free space.
You can actually. Under Windows you still need something
like a pseudo-partition (called ''Superfloppy'' structure),
but under Linux, e.g., you can format any block device with a
filesystem, without any partitioning or device-superblock
at all.
I used bootitng to remove the NTFS partition on the thumb drive.
Amazingly, XP Home did let me create a partition on it. Just FAT32,
though. But it won't let me remove the partition, so if you want to
scratch a bad partition you would need bootitng, not just windows. Now
to go put the NTFS back ...
---
Ed Light
Ed Light wrote:
> Arno:
>
> I used bootitng to remove the NTFS partition on the thumb drive.
> Amazingly, XP Home did let me create a partition on it. Just FAT32,
> though. But it won't let me remove the partition, so if you want to
> scratch a bad partition you would need bootitng, not just windows. Now
> to go put the NTFS back ...
Very strange. I created an NTFS partition on the thumb drive using
bootitng ("BING"). It has to be formatted in Windows. Upon being
Welcomed into the sacred shrine of XP Home, I went to Disk Management,
where it would only offer to format in FAT32. Hmm.
I went to my free version of PowerDesk 5 and right-clicked on the thumb
drive. There I could format it NTFS. Back in business.
Compared to FAT 32, the thumb drive rips through groups of little files
in NTFS. However, I did get a corrupt file once. I think that was
related to one backup program, which I stopped using on thumb drives,
but I've been running with write cacheing on and had no further trouble,
whether because of that or not.
---
Ed Light
Eric Gisin wrote in news:AvadnefYL9NfPObVnZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d@posted.unise rvecommunications
> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
> news:487b8859$0$18580$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> > Eric Gisin wrote:
> > > "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message news:xdzek.15940$Oq1.6624@fe95...
> > > > Eric Gisin wrote:
> > > > > > You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
> > > >
> > > > > Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all that.
> > > > >
> > > > In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
> > > >
> > > > Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
> > > >
> > > Because the SD card had no partition table, like a floppy. Which is usually preferable.
> >
> > I'm no expert, but why, then, could I create an NTFS partition and format it in Windows? On a
> > thumb drive.
> >
> > To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
> >
> Sure it will.
> You don't create partitions of "a type",
Yes, you do. Whether it makes any difference .......
Previously, on Usenet Ed Light <nobody@nobody.there> wrote:
>You have to have a partition to format in the 1st place. You can't
>format free space.
Once my brother had bought a new HD. He meant to have it in just one
large partition, so he did not partition it. Still he must have
formatted it because he installed Windows on it and loaded other
software and files on it too.
But it behaved strangely and he found that he had duplicates of many
(all?) files on it. That is when he called me.
On my asking he insisted that he had _not_ partioned it.
This was obviously a mistake by him, but he was not new to computers
and knew well enough what partioning means. I am quite sure he had
actually not partioned the drive at all.
This was in the days of W98 and he would have done the formatting in
Dos.
Lars wrote:
> Once my brother had bought a new HD. He meant to have it in just one
> large partition, so he did not partition it.
--
> But it behaved strangely and he found that he had duplicates of many
> (all?) files on it.
"Squeeze" <rubberduck@duckies.au> wrote in message
news:4887246d$1$13866$8f2e0ebb@news.shared-secrets.com...
> Eric Gisin wrote in news:AvadnefYL9NfPObVnZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d@posted.unise rvecommunications
>> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
>> news:487b8859$0$18580$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
>> > Eric Gisin wrote:
>> > I'm no expert, but why, then, could I create an NTFS partition and format it in Windows? On a
>> > thumb drive.
>> >
>> > To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
>> >
>
>> Sure it will.
>
>> You don't create partitions of "a type",
>
> Yes, you do. Whether it makes any difference .......
>
>> you select the type during format.
The created partition type is 07 (HPFS/NTFS),
but formatting will always reset that to match the FS.
Which is quite different from DOS-like tools.
Re: Can't format FAT16 microSD card 
Linear Mode
