Question

Win2000, Trouble Reading FAT32 Drive

Asked by: CarlGin

External-back-up drive is formatted using FAT32 for backwards compatibility.  (I used a PC running WIN98SE to do the FAT32 formatting.  However I use the back-up drive on a WIN2000 PC.)
As stated, PC uses WIN2000, NTFS.
PC using WIN2000 HardDrive was reformatted.  WIN2000 was reinstalled with all updates.
PC no longer reads the external-back-up drive BUT it does recognize the back-up drive as not having been formatted ("unallocated").  Furthermore, I know my old data is on the back-up because only 50 out of 80 gigs is showing up on disk-manager.

Any suggestions on how to get my data back out of the back-up drive?  Assume I don't have access to a WIN98SE or WIN-ME PC.

Much Thanks...

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2002-12-12 at 01:42:21ID20423504
Tags

reading

,

fat32

,

drive

,

trouble

Topic

Windows 2000 Operating System

Participating Experts
5
Points
0
Comments
11

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

    Free Tech Articles

    1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
      It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
    2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
      SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
    3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
      This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
    4. Create a Win7 Gadget
      This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
    5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
      There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
    6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
      There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

    Cloud Class Webinars

    1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
      Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
    2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
      Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
    3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
      Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
    4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
      Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
    5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
      Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
    6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
      Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

    Join the Community

    Give a Little. Get a Lot.

    Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

    Join the Community

    Answers

     

    by: jwc02026Posted on 2002-12-12 at 05:46:16ID: 7571856

    strange 1
    what type of external drive are we talking about?

     

    by: bootsectPosted on 2002-12-12 at 10:29:36ID: 7573645

    just curious - what happens when you access the external drive from a dos prompt?

     

    by: dudlioPosted on 2002-12-12 at 22:15:23ID: 7576701

    I had this problem once, I think it was exactly the same.  I formatted a drive as FAT32 in one OS (Win98/2k) and it was not readable in the other one.  Only happened once as I quickly went back to using DOS command-line format.

    I can't imagine how you are going to get the data off without using some system with DOS/Win98/ME that can read the drive.

    The closest thing I can think of is to install a FAT32 drive that your PC *can* read, boot a DOS disk and xcopy the files.

     

    by: CarlGinPosted on 2002-12-13 at 07:14:45ID: 7578481

    1.0) we are talking about an external HD; specifically a WesternDigital 80GB 7200RPM with 8mb buffer mounted inside a PYRO 1394 drive kit, hence the formatting...
    2.0) I cannot access the external drive with a dos prompt.  Disk Manager shows the driver as DISK1 Unallocated.
    3.0) This was my first option (to access using a WIN98 and then burn a CD), but again, assume I have no access to WIN98 or any other PC for that matter...

     

    by: jwc02026Posted on 2002-12-13 at 12:10:30ID: 7580097

    have you checked for an updated pyro driver for w2k?
    IS the 1394 onboard or a card?
    If onboard perhaps a BIOS flash is order

     

    by: CarlGinPosted on 2002-12-16 at 00:04:23ID: 7587861

    1) Updated Pyro driver checked for;
    2) Onboard 1394 BIOS is the latest version.

     

    by: bootsectPosted on 2002-12-16 at 10:25:06ID: 7590484

    just curios....did you try accessing the drive from a start up disk dos prompt?
      What about creating a FAT 32 partition on the 2000 HDD (You will need to use a boot manager to create the partition ,you can use disk management in 2000 to format it) and moving(x copy) the files to it using a start up disk.
      Reboot the pc and format the external HDD (fat32 with disk management) ,then xcopy the files back to it
      You will end up with an extra partiton on the 2000 drive,but you can reformat it back to ntfs.Just a thought,hope this helps.

     

    by: dudlioPosted on 2002-12-27 at 04:19:49ID: 7635363

    Okay, if I am reading this correctly...

    1.  You formatted the external drive elsewhere, then brought it to the Win2k PC where it worked.

    2.  You reinstalled Win2k

    3.  Now it does not work.

    The next question is, what parts *are* working?

    1.  The 1394 is working, since you can see the drive
    2.  The PYRO seems to be working, also because you can see the drive.  And you said that you reinstalled the drivers.

    So what is different about this Win2k installation then?

     

    by: cempashaPosted on 2003-04-21 at 23:43:05ID: 8371397

    This question is still open today and needs to be closed. If any of the comments above helped you please accept it as an answer, if not can you please post an update about your problem so that the question can be finalised. Thanx

    Pasha

    Cleanup Volunteer

     

    by: cempashaPosted on 2003-04-30 at 13:22:32ID: 8431311

    CarlGin,
    No comment has been added lately (9 days), so it's time to clean up this TA.
    I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area for this question:

    RECOMMENDATION: PAQ/No Refund

    Please leave any comments here within 7 days.

    PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!

    Thanks,

    cempasha
    EE Cleanup Volunteer
    ---------------------
    If you feel that your question was not properly addressed, or that none of the comments received were appropriate answers, please post a request in Community support (with a link to this page) to refund your points. http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/

     

    by: RotaredoMPosted on 2003-05-28 at 14:48:30ID: 8601476

    Finalized as recommended.

    75 points removed & question PAQed.

    RotaredoM
    CS Mod @ EE

    20120131-EE-VQP-002

    3 Ways to Join

    30-Day Free Trial

    The Experts

    98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

    He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

    The Experts

    97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

    The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

    Testimonials

    "...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

    Testimonials

    "I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

    Testimonials

    "WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

    Business Clients

    Business Clients

    In the Press

    "If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

    In the Press

    "...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

    In the Press

    "where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

    Business Account Plans

    Loading Advertisement...