Trying to partition a 400 GB drive in one FAT 32 partition....


Floyd Davidson wrote:

> But I'm shivering from the OP's description of having 400Gb,
> months worth of work, all unsorted on one partition and not
> backed up or duplicated. I would *not* even begin to consider
> just one partition... or even just one disk.

I never described the data as "unsorted" or not backed up or duplicated
so I don't know how you got that idea but it wasn't from me! My
existing NTFS drives are formatted in single partitions and I don't
have any problems findng my data. I use a date structure for the
folder names (e.g. 2006-01-01-NYD for photos on new years day) as well
as renaming all the files by prepending the date on the filename. The
date folders are then sorted into folders for months (2005-12, 2006-01)
and the months are sorted into folders by year (2005, 2006). Part of
this project involves having 2 disks so that they backup each other.
In the meantime, before I remove my photo files from the laptop drive,
I back them up to DVDs in addition to saving them on the existing (NTFS
formatted) external hard drive.

The problem is that when I finally DO migrate off of Windoze, I'll have
to move all that data to a new disk format. I don't want to make that
problem bigger than it has to be, I want to use a OS-agnostic disk file
format for this new disk and then reformat the older drives as I move
the data off of them, with improved sorting and cataloging of the data
as I go. The end result will be tidier disks, all on one OS-agnostic
format. Ultimately I'll mount the older disks on a server so that I
can get to the older files over the net. But that doesn't work for the
current files - it would take WAY too long to upload the files to a
server (and retrieving them when I need to print) because I'm shooting
many gigs a day when I'm shooting events.

> What I would do, though I don't have a clue if this is possible
> on anything other than a Unix type OS, is look at packing around
> not one, but four USB storage devices... as a RAID5 array, with
> three active disks and one spare. That would be three times as
> likely to have a disk fault, but it would be infinitely more
> likely to be recoverable too. Alas, I doubt that can be made
> suitable for plugging into different OS's, which is a shame.

It's relatively easy to configure a file server which can be accessed
by any other system (Windoze, Mac, *nix, etc.) via FTP/SSH/HTTP etc.,
but it won't be *portable* which is a requirement for MY needs.

> But the next step, which might make it portable, is to have the
> RAID array work on a laptop running Linux, and use it as a
> portable file server. Almost everything has Ethernet today, but
> it might also be possible to use USB, wireless, and even serial
> or parallel ports too, if needed.

I don't need a RAID, and I don't want to lug around a RAID laptop (or
pay for the expense of a RAID laptop) when all I need is a USB drive.

> Alternately another, smaller USB storage device, could be packed
> around and data could then be moved between the RAID array on
> the laptop and other machines by transferring it to the smaller
> USB device. Somewhat less convenient than it could be, but it
> still provides data integrity.

I'm an event photographer. I take LOTS of photos (upwards of 10 gigs a
day at some events). I create and upload small jpeg proofs to my
gallery site. When orders come in I need quick access to the raw files
so I can process the print image. Orders come in for several months
after the event, so I need to have all the files from the past few
months with me where ever I am (such as at another event), which means
I need a large portable disk. Your suggestion is not just "somewhat"
less convenient, it is very much less convenient and simply will not
work for my situation.

<rant>

Why is it so damn hard to get people to recognize that I've given my
own requirements some serious thought and am asking for help with the
solution that I'm fairly confident will meet my needs? Do I really
need to write a novel about why my requirements ARE my requirements?
Isn't it enough to just describe what I want?

</rant>

I really do appreciate your suggestions, but I would just like help
with solving my current problem - which is how to get a 400 GB drive
formatted into ONE FAT32 partition, when the drive is mounted in a USB
enclosure and all I have is a laptop running WinXP or which I can boot
into Knoppix. So far I'm striking out. I'm unable to get Partition
Magic to format the drive in one partition - the "wizzard" starts out
with offering to make it all into one parition but then when it writes
it to the pending tasks list it writes the partition size as 196,600.1
MBs and it refuses to let me increase the partition size. I can't get
Knoppix to see/mount the drive and I'm not really fluent in Linux - if
there's a magic way to get Knoppix Linux to mount an unparitioned drive
on a USB connection I haven't found it yet.

jc

.

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