Hi Guys,

I have a USB disk with ext3 file system created in linux. I want to re format it to FAT16 somehow. I dont have a linux system but have only a windows xp machine. Please help me to do it. Thanks.

XP by it's self does not recognise the ext3 filesystem partition so you will need some sort of application that knows about ext3. Unix filesystem utilities for windows, Paragon HD manager, partition magic, etc.

XP by it's self does not recognise the ext3 filesystem partition so you will need some sort of application that knows about ext3. Unix filesystem utilities for windows, Paragon HD manager, partition magic, etc.

Thank you,
Is there any freeware you can suggest?

You cant read it in XP, but you can still wipe the drive and start again with a new FAT partition.

Right click my computer -> Manage
Go into "Disk management"

In there you can partition and format the drive as you see fit.

You cant read it in XP, but you can still wipe the drive and start again with a new FAT partition.

Right click my computer -> Manage
Go into "Disk management"

In there you can partition and format the drive as you see fit.

Hi,

Thanks.
It was indeed possible. XP was showing the device as UNKNOWN device so that I was not able to do anything on it. After some time, after a few trials of insert and removal on another XP machine, XP "magically" started to detect them again and I was able to format simply by trying to read the USB from My Computer. Thanks to all who replied.

Well i think its the USB jack problem u had face or your Pen drive jack is dirty with dust, by putting again again in USB port it cleaned.
I also face such type of problem with my USB disk, Just use the cotton cloth to clean it & Its work fine.

TO format a USB disk, the utility i love most is "HP USB format utility ", able to format a bad drive.

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