LaPastenague

Q: Create VHD (virtual disk) from Windows on TC to avoid FAT32 issue.

To answer another thread,

https://discussions.apple.com/message/30518554#message30518554

I spent a bit of time messing around with fixing the FAT32 limitations from windows, by using the same trick Time Machine does, ie create a virtual disk on the TC and write to that instead.

 

This is not a question but would appreciate others giving it a try.

 

I have a newly installed Win10 on a computer to run this configuration.

 

Open the Computer Management /Disk Management.

 

Create a VHD on the TC drive. (My test device was a Gen4 2TB).

 

I used a size of 100GB and VHD rather than VHDX ..

 

It took sometime to create the file and it might need a reboot of the computer and open the network to connect to it.. you can then open disk management again.. I set it as GUID drive and formatted it NTFS.

 

I have it mounted now and can copy files larger than 4GB FAT32 limit to it.

 

No idea how well this will work long term.. but it might help someone else.

 

I am still checking if the TC disk will spin down even with the virtual disk open.

Posted on Aug 10, 2016 9:01 PM

Close

Q: Create VHD (virtual disk) from Windows on TC to avoid FAT32 issue.

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Aug 11, 2016 9:47 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 9 (54,684 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2016 9:47 AM in response to LaPastenague

    I followed along with your instructions and created the VHDs on my 5th gen TC. I done this both from a dedicated Windows 10 PC and from a virtual PC running under Parallels on my Mac mini. In both cases, it worked as advertised. Great find!

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Aug 11, 2016 1:38 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 9 (52,715 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2016 1:38 PM in response to Tesserax

    Thanks for the testing.

     

    My TC is behaving well. Disk spins down so that is great.

     

    The connection on the PC is lost when it hibernates.. so any help in auto mounting which I haven't looked at yet.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Aug 11, 2016 2:32 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 9 (54,684 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2016 2:32 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Let me dust off my Windows scripting skills and see what I can come up with ...

     

    Something around the "net use z:\\server\share" adding it to a batch file, and then, add that to the startup list seems to come to mind. I'll do some experimenting and let you know.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Aug 11, 2016 2:55 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 9 (54,684 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2016 2:55 PM in response to LaPastenague

    How about the following:

    • Open Windows text editor.
    • Enter: net use <drive letter>: \\<servername>\<sharename> /persistent:yes
      • Substitute the mapped drive letter for <drive letter> above.
    • File > Save As
    • Save as Type: All Files
    • Name it something like: mapdrive.bat
    • Add batch file to: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

     

    Have not tried it after PC hibernation, so I may have to do some more digging.