gparted changes FAT16 to FAT32 when it shouldn't

[tz]

(Karmic)

For a FAT16 DOS partition on a USB key, gparted correctly limits the new size to 4088 megabytes, but libparted will silently (unless you expand the log messages) and WITHOUT WARNING change the format from FAT16 to FAT32, though it does not need to. This is the reason for the setup limiting the size to 4088 M - any larger and it would require FAT32.

No indication is given that the filesystem type is going to be converted (destroyed).

You can create a NEW FAT16 partition of 4088 meg, but you cannot alter any existing one to be this size.

Also note the various other disk areas are NOT changed - e.g. the partition type in the MBR or in the extended partition will still say FAT16, and the bootloaders or other things dependent on it being FAT16 will all be broken.

This DESTROYS THE FUNCTIONALITY, THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION WARNING, AND IS NOT RECOVERABLE.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Looks like a bug in libparted.

[Curtis Gedak (gedakc)]

This problem should be resolved with the upstream release of GParted 0.12.0 on Feb. 21, 2012.

A dialog box will pop up asking if the file system should be converted to FAT32. The user can then choose how to proceed.