Resize FAT32 Partition in Windows Vista

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but are not
available).

Thanks,
Juan

Hi Juan,

You already have the answer in front of you. The volume is selected but the
options you want are not available. So, no, Vista's disk manager cannot
resize a FAT32 volume.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B614FB3E-E39E-412C-B43F-FDDEF7161E60@microsoft.com...
> Hi everyone,
>
> Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
> I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
> NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
> partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but are
> not
> available).
>
> Thanks,
> Juan
>

On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:35:01 -0700, Juan wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition? I have a
> HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a NTFS), and
> the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS partition
> (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but are not
> available).
>
> Thanks,
> Juan

So, try a Linux Live CD, like the Gparted CD.

Thanks for your answer. I had read that it could so I had to ask (I thought
that maybe I had some specific problem with my disk). So, the only solution
to resize it would be a third party software, right?

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi Juan,
>
> You already have the answer in front of you. The volume is selected but the
> options you want are not available. So, no, Vista's disk manager cannot
> resize a FAT32 volume.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B614FB3E-E39E-412C-B43F-FDDEF7161E60@microsoft.com...
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
> > I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
> > NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
> > partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but are
> > not
> > available).
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Juan
> >
>
>

You have answered your own question yet again. (-:

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:921AD2B8-CA71-4195-9745-7130661A96CD@microsoft.com...
>
> Thanks for your answer. I had read that it could so I had to ask (I
> thought
> that maybe I had some specific problem with my disk). So, the only
> solution
> to resize it would be a third party software, right?
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Juan,
>>
>> You already have the answer in front of you. The volume is selected but
>> the
>> options you want are not available. So, no, Vista's disk manager cannot
>> resize a FAT32 volume.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:B614FB3E-E39E-412C-B43F-FDDEF7161E60@microsoft.com...
>> > Hi everyone,
>> >
>> > Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
>> > I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
>> > NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
>> > partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but
>> > are
>> > not
>> > available).
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Juan
>> >
>>
>>

Juan has an answer in front of him, but not necessarily THE answer. There
might be some system setting that can easily be changed to make that option
available. A broken system can't be trusted to tell you the truth about
what it can or can't do.

Having a Microsoft KB article that spells it out would be sufficient to make
one realize it can't be done.

-Paul Randall

"Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:ezgagcT9JHA.4900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi Juan,
>
> You already have the answer in front of you. The volume is selected but
> the options you want are not available. So, no, Vista's disk manager
> cannot resize a FAT32 volume.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B614FB3E-E39E-412C-B43F-FDDEF7161E60@microsoft.com...
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
>> I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
>> NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
>> partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but are
>> not
>> available).
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Juan
>>
>

Hi,

This line is from the Help files for Disk Manager:

"You can only shrink basic volumes that have no file system or use the NTFS
file system."

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:ekW5IHX9JHA.4560@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Juan has an answer in front of him, but not necessarily THE answer. There
> might be some system setting that can easily be changed to make that
> option available. A broken system can't be trusted to tell you the truth
> about what it can or can't do.
>
> Having a Microsoft KB article that spells it out would be sufficient to
> make one realize it can't be done.
>
> -Paul Randall
>
> "Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:ezgagcT9JHA.4900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi Juan,
>>
>> You already have the answer in front of you. The volume is selected but
>> the options you want are not available. So, no, Vista's disk manager
>> cannot resize a FAT32 volume.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:B614FB3E-E39E-412C-B43F-FDDEF7161E60@microsoft.com...
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> Does anyone know if Windows Vista can resize a FAT32 partition?
>>> I have a HD with 2 partitions (the 1st one is a FAT32 and the 2nd is a
>>> NTFS), and the expand / shrink options are only available for the NTFS
>>> partition (for the FAT32 partition the options appear in the menu but
>>> are not
>>> available).
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Juan
>>>
>>
>
>

"Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:e5z1aIY9JHA.5044@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
>
> This line is from the Help files for Disk Manager:
>
> "You can only shrink basic volumes that have no file system or use the
> NTFS file system."

Thanks. Now we know for sure.

-Paul Randall

Thanks for your answers.

Is it possible to convert a FAT32 disk into NTFS, shrink it, and then
convert it back to FAT32?

"Paul Randall" wrote:

>
> "Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:e5z1aIY9JHA.5044@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> > Hi,
> >
> > This line is from the Help files for Disk Manager:
> >
> > "You can only shrink basic volumes that have no file system or use the
> > NTFS file system."
>
> Thanks. Now we know for sure.
>
> -Paul Randall
>
>
>

Hi Juan,

Not with the file tools in Vista. You can convert from NTFS to FAT32, but
not the other way around. If you just want to shrink/alter a FAT32 volume,
there are plenty of third party drive tools that will do this like BootIT NG
and Paragon.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Vote for my shoe: http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Juan" <Juan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:13190C4F-F2BA-46DC-8DAE-6909549485C3@microsoft.com...
>
> Thanks for your answers.
>
> Is it possible to convert a FAT32 disk into NTFS, shrink it, and then
> convert it back to FAT32?
>
> "Paul Randall" wrote:
>
>>
>> "Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
>> news:e5z1aIY9JHA.5044@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > This line is from the Help files for Disk Manager:
>> >
>> > "You can only shrink basic volumes that have no file system or use the
>> > NTFS file system."
>>
>> Thanks. Now we know for sure.
>>
>> -Paul Randall
>>
>>
>>