fat32

Once the drive has been changed to Fat32 the only way to go back is to delete the partition and create it over again.

That will destroy all the data on your drive so the proper way to do it, is to make a backup first.

Fat32 allows you to create partitions greater then 2GB so why do you want to go back?

Today with hard drives being so big every system is built with Fat32 unless it is using Windows NT, 2000, or XP.

The option is not available to convert back to Fat16,once you have enabled large disk support using fdisk.

You can check the Partition Magic web site for info,the product will covert your partition back but is it worth the cost of purchasing the software,if only used for that purpose.

To delete a partition, you boot from the Windows startup floppy, and run fdisk.

There are links to tutorials posted at www.fdisk.com/fdisk

REMEMBER, ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU DELETE THE PARTITION!!!!

Chas

Hi Marcy,

The only way to change it back is to repartition
and reformat the hard drive, And you will loose
all data from your hard drive (including windows)
If you decide that you must change it back. You
will need a startup disk to get to the DOS or
A-prompt. Run fdisk and also reformat the drive.
at the microsoft website there is a good article
In the " how to " section on running fdisk. You
will need to print it and follow the directions
to the letter! And or courseyou will have to
reload windows. That is your only option.
Regards Gil

Start the computer using a boot (floppy) disk for the operating system you're running. At the A:\ prompt type "fdisk". Type "Y" for yes when asked about the size of the hard disk and go through the options (usually 1-4 when you only have one hard disk; a 5th option exists when you have more than one disk). First look at the partitions (choose option 4 to display them. If you want to delete the partition, choose 3. Don't forget: you 'll lose everything on the hard disk. Before fdisking the hard disk, you could also type the command: fdisk /mbr. This clears the master boot record. after this, proceed with the deletion of your partition. I would advise to read up on this stuff, because besides deciding whether you want to use the full available space of the drive for one partition or not,you need to do some more things like formatting the hard drive etc. Good luck.

Peter N.