advise on pationiong an external hard drive - Page 2

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 15:23

my system is swann so your help is spot on. thank you for the heads up, i'll give it a go and come back to you
fingers crossed... here goes

macafee2

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 15:31

I have transferred the files but not yet formatted as I have a concern.
Explorer is now showing used space 4kb and free space 255mb, this is supposed to be a 3TB drive. File system not that I know what it is, is FAT32.
why am I seeing only 255mb of free space? is it because it is not formatted?
if I format to NTFS can I format back again and what do I format too, FAT32?
only file on the drive is a recycle bin and that's the 4kb

macafee2

Alikris · 3rd June 2017, 16:31

Drives can be partitioned into as many partitions as one wants. It sounds like the partition you are seeing is a small partition and there's a much larger unformatted partition there which the computer isn't seeing. (the unformatted partition may be invisible to your computer).

Download a free partiton manager (see https://www.lifewire.com/free-disk-p...-tools-2624950 for some examples) then delete all partitions, create a new one which fills the disk, then format it.

You can format it to whatever you like, Fat32, NTFS, but best format it to whatever the CCTV system prefers (probably FAT32).

Imagine a thick book, a compendium of many individual stories bound into one book. These individual stories are like partitions, but the paper has to be primed before the words can be printed on the pages, as without priming they are invisible. that's what formatting does. What you've got, by the sounds of it, is a book with one short story in it but the rest of the book hasn't been primed, so you can't see the empty pages because they are invisible. You know it's a thick book, but can only see and read a few pages, so it looks like a very thin book.

What you need to do is erase everything on all the pages, and delete the contents page and index. You can then make the whole book one long story (write a table of contents of one story, which starts at page 1 and ends at the last page) , and prime the pages ready to accept the words.

Hope that helps?

Alternatively, find a 12 year old geek and he'll do it for you in 30 seconds! LOL

Ali.

MSS · 3rd June 2017, 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by macafee2

I have transferred the files but not yet formatted as I have a concern.
Explorer is now showing used space 4kb and free space 255mb, this is supposed to be a 3TB drive. File system not that I know what it is, is FAT32.
why am I seeing only 255mb of free space? is it because it is not formatted?
if I format to NTFS can I format back again and what do I format too, FAT32?
only file on the drive is a recycle bin and that's the 4kb

macafee2

If you are still stuck after the weekend, I can talk you though what to do over the phone one day next week whilst you do it and tell me what's on the screen. I use Gnome's GParted which is a free Linux based application for partitioning and formatting hard disks.

Or,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alikris

Alternatively, find a 12 year old geek and he'll do it for you in 30 seconds! LOL

Ali.

Excellent idea - Southampton is full of 18-23 year old geeks from the uni.

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 17:35

I have tried to format the drive but the attached picture are my options of size.
the 260mb figure at the top has no other options. File system options are NTFS, FAT(default), FAT32, EXFAT

no idea what to do?

macafee2

Alikris · 3rd June 2017, 18:14

Have you read my post above?

Ali.

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alikris

Have you read my post above?

Ali.

yes. please bear with me I'm not confident with computers and so need my hand holding.
I have not downloaded a partition manager as from your post I did not think it was required.
I don't know how to delete a partition or create one but thought it could all be done from explorer.
if I have not understood your advice, I apologise

I'm totally lost

macafee2

MSS · 3rd June 2017, 19:10

That is the formatting window. You need to create a partition.

Why not use the software that came with your drive as I suggested earlier. It will be very user friendy and you have a manual on that 256MB partition.

Here are the instructions.

http://manuals.lacie.com/en/manuals/...v3c/formatting

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by mss

That is the formatting window. You need to create a partition.

Why not use the software that came with your drive as I suggested earlier. It will be very user friendy and you have a manual on that 256MB partition.

ok i'll take a look at the files.

macafee2

macafee2 · 3rd June 2017, 19:37

I have formatted the drive. explorer now sees it as H drive and I drive.
H has 2.69TB of free space and formatted to NTFS.
I drive has 31.6 GB of free space and is formatted to FAT32.

no idea what either of these are.

I will now try plugging into my swann system to see what happens

macafee2

3rd June 2017, 16:31	#13
Alikris Gets stuck in Rover 75 1.8 Connie SE Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Vindolanda, Northumberland Posts: 539 Thanks: 111 Thanked 153 Times in 105 Posts	Drives can be partitioned into as many partitions as one wants. It sounds like the partition you are seeing is a small partition and there's a much larger unformatted partition there which the computer isn't seeing. (the unformatted partition may be invisible to your computer). Download a free partiton manager (see https://www.lifewire.com/free-disk-p...-tools-2624950 for some examples) then delete all partitions, create a new one which fills the disk, then format it. You can format it to whatever you like, Fat32, NTFS, but best format it to whatever the CCTV system prefers (probably FAT32). Imagine a thick book, a compendium of many individual stories bound into one book. These individual stories are like partitions, but the paper has to be primed before the words can be printed on the pages, as without priming they are invisible. that's what formatting does. What you've got, by the sounds of it, is a book with one short story in it but the rest of the book hasn't been primed, so you can't see the empty pages because they are invisible. You know it's a thick book, but can only see and read a few pages, so it looks like a very thin book. What you need to do is erase everything on all the pages, and delete the contents page and index. You can then make the whole book one long story (write a table of contents of one story, which starts at page 1 and ends at the last page) , and prime the pages ready to accept the words. Hope that helps? Alternatively, find a 12 year old geek and he'll do it for you in 30 seconds! LOL Ali. __________________ Vicky: born Thursday, 15th April 2004 @ 08:20:55. The 95,246th 75 to be produced, and the 4,783rd 75 in British Racing Green Pearlescent. Last edited by Alikris; 3rd June 2017 at 16:51..

3rd June 2017, 18:14	#16
Alikris Gets stuck in Rover 75 1.8 Connie SE Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Vindolanda, Northumberland Posts: 539 Thanks: 111 Thanked 153 Times in 105 Posts	Have you read my post above? Ali. __________________ Vicky: born Thursday, 15th April 2004 @ 08:20:55. The 95,246th 75 to be produced, and the 4,783rd 75 in British Racing Green Pearlescent.

3rd June 2017, 19:10	#18
MSS This is my second home Rover 75CDT, Jaguar XF-S 3.0V6, V'xhall Omega V6 Estate, Twintop 1.8VVT, Astra Estate and Corsa 1.2 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Suffolk Posts: 7,085 Thanks: 283 Thanked 624 Times in 440 Posts	That is the formatting window. You need to create a partition. Why not use the software that came with your drive as I suggested earlier. It will be very user friendy and you have a manual on that 256MB partition. Here are the instructions. http://manuals.lacie.com/en/manuals/...v3c/formatting Last edited by MSS; 3rd June 2017 at 19:20..

3rd June 2017, 15:23	#11
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,926 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	my system is swann so your help is spot on. thank you for the heads up, i'll give it a go and come back to you fingers crossed... here goes macafee2

3rd June 2017, 15:31	#12
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,926 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	I have transferred the files but not yet formatted as I have a concern. Explorer is now showing used space 4kb and free space 255mb, this is supposed to be a 3TB drive. File system not that I know what it is, is FAT32. why am I seeing only 255mb of free space? is it because it is not formatted? if I format to NTFS can I format back again and what do I format too, FAT32? only file on the drive is a recycle bin and that's the 4kb macafee2

3rd June 2017, 19:37	#20
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,926 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	I have formatted the drive. explorer now sees it as H drive and I drive. H has 2.69TB of free space and formatted to NTFS. I drive has 31.6 GB of free space and is formatted to FAT32. no idea what either of these are. I will now try plugging into my swann system to see what happens macafee2