Changing the size of a FAT32 partition?

Question

The size of a FAT32 partition cannot be changed without activities associated with reformatting the disk. Explain why this is so.

Answer 1

The size of a partition on a FAT 32 disk cannot be changed without activities associated with reformatting the disk.

says who?

of course you can expand FAT32 partitions without 'reformatting' or data loss (e.g. with EASEUS Partition Master)

however, it is recommended to backup the drive before tampering with partition tables.

EASEUS Partition Master Home is freeware.

Answer 2

I didn't see a FAT32 partition in a while, though I do remember the underlying format. Anyway, are you certain that tools like gParted and Partition Magic cannot resize it?

Answer 3

False premise. Microsoft Windows for a long time provided no tool to resize partitions, and apparently the Disk Management tool from Windows 7 only supported NTFS. However, it is possible using 3rd-party tools such as GParted. Here's an example of how you would shrink a FAT32 partition:

A common method to do this is to boot off of a Linux live CD and run a resizing program. GParted provides a small live CD to do this. For more detailed instructions, see Ubuntu's guide.