How to format to FAT32, and how to mount my FAT32 partition.
 

Situation:
I am trying to have a 40Gb partition formatted to FAT32, so that both my XP and Fedora Core 4 can access it (to share file). There are two problems.
1. I can't/don't know how to format that partition into FAT32. It is hda6 on my partiton table posted below. (XP cannot format it to FAT32, I tired)
2. I can't mount hda6 to /osshare. I get the error posted below.

my partition table
[root@localhost lineak_kdeplugins-0.8.3]# fdisk /dev/hda -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1912 15358108+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 1913 1925 104422+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 1926 2053 1028160 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4 2054 9729 61657470 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 2054 3831 14281753+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 3832 9728 47367621 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)

my /etc/fstab file
# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/shm /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hda6 /osshare vfat umask=000 0 0
/dev/proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/sys /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
LABEL=
*�
1`� swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrecorder auto pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0

thing that appears when I mount hda6
[root@localhost lineak_kdeplugins-0.8.3]# mount /osshare
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda6,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

Thank you very very much.

First: Read the manpage for Mount, the command you typed to mount de partition is wrong. typing 'mount --help' and 'man mount' will help you a lot.

Second: read the partition-howto (search for it with google, i don't know by head where you can find it) You want to mount a fat32 filesystem, but your partitiontable tells you having only fat16... not recommended, but possible though...
Maybe it's a good idea to read the 'filesystem-howto' (again, search for it) too...

Learing linux is learning to read.

Easy peesy:

1. Use fdisk to create the filesystem: fdisk /dev/hda - follow the prompts
2. Format it using mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/hda6
3. Add it to fstab

L

Edit: Ooops - too late.

I was able to use mkfs to format the partition to FAT32.
But.... Now.... windoze does not reconzie that partition.

Hmm, if you're sure you made a FAT32-partition, it's a Windowsproblem that it not recognizes the partition...

How sure are you?

I am very sure it is FAT32. I checked it from the partition table in linux, and I also checked it using diskpart in msdos.

So MSDOS shows you the partition but Windows doesn't? You gotta call Bill for that I guess... ;)

For a SWAG I would try changing the partition ID type from 0xe to 0xb. i.e. from FAT16 to FAT32.

For xp see partitions made by linux i think it needs to be fat32 LBA id 0c. IIRC winxp cant see fat32 partitions above 32gigs so your gonna have to chopped it up. Any feel free to correct me if im wrong.

Correct, that was supposed to be a 0xc not a 0xb.

XP can read / write to a FAT32 partition of any size. It is only limited in creating and formating a partition of up to 32GB.

Thank you very much.
It was the id problem. It works now.

I cannot access FAT32 file system fro fedora core 4.Fedora core 4 has ext3 file system ,though i know fedora can access FAT32 but not working.

I have this exact problem,

Can someone please tell how to change partition IDtype ?

this is quite interested thread to follow. I am a total noob with command line. So when I had a similar issue, I tried using QTParted from MEPIS live CD and selected the partition I wanted to format in FAT32. It did the trick, and windows could see and write to partition (and can linux). I thought I should jsut throw this. Interesting how many ways are there to skin a cat...
regards,
smiley

Thankyou and good to hear it works for you~~


but i just wanna learn more stuff for my own knowledge~


so it would be nice if someone could tell me how to change partition IDtype

You can use cfdisk with the t option.
http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/lab/labman/l...n.cgi?cfdisk(8)

Thankyou, it works