Formatting Large External HD for PS3

Purity

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I've just had the dilema of buying a 500gb drive for the PS3 to stream media and then realising that I can only format the drive in 32GB partitions!

So I thought I 'd write a bit of info to tell you how to get the full drive formatted in FAT32 as I'm sure others will come across the same issue as me.

1) Delete any NTFS partitions on the drive so the disk is now with unallocated space
2) Create new partition on the drive
3) Select Primary Partition and set the maximum partition size
4) Choose a drive letter for the drive
5) Select "Do not Format this partition" and click Finish

Download the freeware tool fat32format

h**p://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

Once downloaded, extract the file and run:

fat32format [drive letter]

You will now have a full sized FAT32 formatted drive :)
 
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Thanks Mate! Just bought myself a Seagate 500 Gig HDD to do exactly that.

Cheers
 
I only made a 50Gb (1TB HDD) partition of Fat32 format and kept rest as NTFS. Thinking about it now i might go back and make the full thing FAT32. Would make more sense than moving stuff about when want to watch it via my PS3.
 
Hopefully Sony will realise a new firmware that supports NTFS to overcome the limits.

Any idea why they opted for the old FAT32 standard?
 
Hopefully Sony will realise a new firmware that supports NTFS to overcome the limits.

Any idea why they opted for the old FAT32 standard?

NTFS is a microsoft thing and really only used by microsoft based things (i.e. your PC). Everything else uses FAT32.
 
I forgot to metion that fat32format only does a quick format. It doesn't check for bad sectors.

If you need integrity checks, run a chkdsk /R [drive letter] after the format.

This will also be handy info for 360 users wanting to stream media to their boxes
 
I plugged the USB drive into the PS3 and it was recognised but I could not see any of the movies on it. What I did was press triangle on the drive and selected "Display All". I can now see the file structure and play the movies
 
I plugged the USB drive into the PS3 and it was recognised but I could not see any of the movies on it. What I did was press triangle on the drive and selected "Display All". I can now see the file structure and play the movies

The reason why you saw no movies is that you need to create a folder in the root of the drive called VIDEO and then put all your movies in there. The movies will then be shown linked to the video icon.
 
The reason why you saw no movies is that you need to create a folder in the root of the drive called VIDEO and then put all your movies in there. The movies will then be shown linked to the video icon.

ok thanks for the info fella
 
Mate, create a PS3 folder with folders inside called PHOTO, VIDEO and MUSIC to avoid having to press triangle and 'display all' all the time.

Note: The folder names are case sensitive.

Cheers!
 
is this just relevant for an external drive or does it go for internal drives too?
 
top post m8
thanks alot
u should ask for this to become a sticky
bobo
 
Re: Formatting Large HD for PS3

ive tried all day doin it the way describe with no luck


so if you want an easy way then download this programme and you can do it all in 1 go with out the cmd prompting


takes about 4 mins to do a 250g hdd

bobo
 
Re: Formatting Large HD for PS3

ive tried all day doin it the way describe with no luck


so if you want an easy way then download this programme and you can do it all in 1 go with out the cmd prompting


takes about 4 mins to do a 250g hdd

bobo

I'd be interested to know exactly what the problem was?
 
Re: Formatting Large HD for PS3

like i told u in the pm m8

but as ive said its sorted now
bobo

I've just read the PM's again and you haven't explained anything to me. You just said that you can't format it? And you didn't know where to extract the fat32format program?

If you got an error message, or similar it would be good to know, as other members may have the same problem
 
Re: Formatting Large HD for PS3

it wouldnt reconise the drive at all m8 and like i said i couldnt get the fat32 programme to work , thats why i asked exactly wot to put in the cmd m8
bobo
 
Re: Formatting Large HD for PS3

ive tried all day doin it the way describe with no luck


so if you want an easy way then download this programme and you can do it all in 1 go with out the cmd prompting


takes about 4 mins to do a 250g hdd

bobo

did this on a friends 1TB drive

took about 15 mins to do

but now it says that theres only 190G spare and nearly 800G is used up

any ideas?
 
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