Vista file format

[Guest]

We all know that the file format for Windows XP is either NTFS or FAT32. I
have not seen any reference linking Vista to either of these formats. How
then can one upgrade to Vista on a hard drive formatted to NTFS with the
existing Windows XP?

 

[Don]

We all know that the file format for Windows XP is either NTFS or FAT32. I
have not seen any reference linking Vista to either of these formats. How
then can one upgrade to Vista on a hard drive formatted to NTFS with the
existing Windows XP?

Are you saying that your existing XP is running on FAT32? Otherwise
your question (as written) doesn't make sense.

Vista won't install on FAT32 (or so others here have posted) so you
can't upgrade XP to Vista on FAT32. If you have enough free space
you could shrink the FAT32 and create a new NTFS for Vista in the
space you freed up. That should be easy enough to do.

 

[Adam Albright]

Are you saying that your existing XP is running on FAT32? Otherwise
your question (as written) doesn't make sense.

Vista won't install on FAT32 (or so others here have posted) so you
can't upgrade XP to Vista on FAT32. If you have enough free space
you could shrink the FAT32 and create a new NTFS for Vista in the
space you freed up. That should be easy enough to do.

You can also CONVERT your XP file system from FAT32 to NTFS and not
lose your data. I've done this many times and haven't lost anything
yet. In fact if you switch on show details, you see a real time
display of all your files being worked on as XP makes the change file
by file.

Why would anybody want to switch to NTFS (New Type File System)

1. less prone to corruption than FAT32
2. self repairing (to some extend)
3. newer, more robost
4. handles larger file sizes (limited by your BIOS, drives)

I don't have a XP box handy right now. I think it walks you through
the steps in help. How long it takes depends on the size of your hard
drive and how filled it is. Will take minutes, could take hours. Once
it starts do NOT touch, just wait and pray the power don't go out if
you aren't using a UPS.

 

[Guest]

No Don, I am not running my XP on FAT32. You misread my question. I was
only stating that Windows XP can be installed using NTFS OR, or being the key
word, FAT32 file formats. I gave up FAT32 with Windows 98SE. If you would
have read it correctly, my question does make sense. Just stating a fact how
Windows XP can be use in either file format, thats it! Now, disregarding
your FAT32 comments, because they don't apply here with Vista, I am curious
why there hasn't been any thing published as to the file format for Vista.
With that thought, I am curious how the upgrade version will function
installing over Windows XP, which is already formatted on an NTFS HD? Hope I
didn't confuse you.

 

[Don]

...I am curious how the upgrade version will function
installing over Windows XP, which is already formatted on an NTFS HD? Hope I
didn't confuse you.

You did confuse me, and I'm still not sure why you're confused about the
upgrade. Vista uses NTFS, but seems to be very slightly modified from
XP (I don't know the details.) That's why I recommend that people let
the Vista installer reformat it's own filesystem if installing into a
pre-existing NTFS partition.

Now, I'm assuming that the upgrade process (which I've never done) does
some subtle modifications to the existing NTFS -- but the important
thing is that the Vista filesystem is still compatible with XP and W2K
if you want to multi-boot between them, as I do.

I don't think I would be brave enough to use W2K to change the file
permissions on my Vista partition, but it looks like I could if I
wanted to.

Next confusion? )

 

[Guest]

Ok Don, you've answered my question. By what I read on the Internet, it
appears that doing a Clean Install of the full version of Vista would be
better than trying to install an upgrade to your existing OS. I believe
they still have some issues with upgrades. Not worth the headache. Thanks
Don.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

There's no reason not to do an upgrade. Unlike previous upgrades, Vista
literally moves everything into a temporary folder, then lays its image down
block by block. In an upgrade, it then imports in the programs and user
accounts from the original installation. This process gets rid of the
problems caused by files being overwritten with newer versions.

By the by, if you want to convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS, you want to
read this first: http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm Also, though Vista
will only install on NTFS, it will easily read/write to any FAT/FAT32
volumes.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org