Access a hard drive formated for Win 98?

K

Ken

Hi. Can XP access a hard drive formated for Win 98?

I'm about to upgrade from a PC running Win 98 SE to a new computer
running XP. My 98 computer has a backup internal hard drive. I'd
like to take this drive and install it as a backup in my XP PC. The
idea is that I'd do this as a way of transferring files on my 98 PC to
the new XP PC.

After I had the 98 hard drive installed in my XP machine, I'd transfer
the files to the XP's main hard drive, and then reformat the 98 drive
to be an XP drive.

However, I'm thinking that XP might not be able to read a disk that
was formatted for 98. But then, maybe it can?

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Ken
 
P

Pegasus

Ken said:
Hi. Can XP access a hard drive formated for Win 98?

I'm about to upgrade from a PC running Win 98 SE to a new computer
running XP. My 98 computer has a backup internal hard drive. I'd
like to take this drive and install it as a backup in my XP PC. The
idea is that I'd do this as a way of transferring files on my 98 PC to
the new XP PC.

After I had the 98 hard drive installed in my XP machine, I'd transfer
the files to the XP's main hard drive, and then reformat the 98 drive
to be an XP drive.

However, I'm thinking that XP might not be able to read a disk that
was formatted for 98. But then, maybe it can?

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Ken

WinXP can read FAT, FAT32 and NTFS partitions. Since Win98
uses a subset of these (FAT and FAT32), it follows that WinXP
will cheerfully read anything created by Win98.
 
K

Ken

WinXP can read FAT, FAT32 and NTFS partitions. Since Win98
uses a subset of these (FAT and FAT32), it follows that WinXP
will cheerfully read anything created by Win98.

Thanks for the info. Would I be able to copy the files from the Win98
drive to my WinXP drive?
 
N

Nathan McNulty

If using Windows 98 to copy to the XP Drive (and XP is formatted as
NTFS), no. If using XP to copy from the Windows 98 drive, yes.
 
T

Trent©

Thanks for the info. Would I be able to copy the files from the Win98
drive to my WinXP drive?

Yes...as long as the XP drive is FAT32.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
N

Nathan McNulty

That is only if you are trying to copy over from being Windows 98 since
Win98 does not natively support NTFS which would prevent it from
accessing, reading, or writing to a NTFS volume. If you are in XP, you
can copy over from FAT (any version) to NTFS (any version).
 
A

Art

Trent© said:
Yes...as long as the XP drive is FAT32.
Trent


Trent's info is incorrect. As "Pegasus" correctly pointed out, XP (NTFS
formatted) can read FAT32 (as in Win98) and NTFS partitions. It makes no
difference if XP is formatted (two "t's", Ken, two "t's") NTFS.

Art
 
T

Trent©

That is only if you are trying to copy over from being Windows 98 since
Win98 does not natively support NTFS which would prevent it from
accessing, reading, or writing to a NTFS volume. If you are in XP, you
can copy over from FAT (any version) to NTFS (any version).

His question...as I interpreted it incorporating my answer...

Would I be able to copy files from the Win98 FAT32 drive to my WinXP
FAT32 drive.

My answer...yes.

Is this not correct?


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
N

Nathan McNulty

Yes Trent, that is correct. Sorry for the confusion, it's time for bed
here :)
 
K

Ken

Hi. Can XP access a hard drive formated for Win 98?

I'm about to upgrade from a PC running Win 98 SE to a new computer
running XP. My 98 computer has a backup internal hard drive. I'd
like to take this drive and install it as a backup in my XP PC. The
idea is that I'd do this as a way of transferring files on my 98 PC to
the new XP PC.

After I had the 98 hard drive installed in my XP machine, I'd transfer
the files to the XP's main hard drive, and then reformat the 98 drive
to be an XP drive.

However, I'm thinking that XP might not be able to read a disk that
was formatted for 98. But then, maybe it can?

Anyone know?

Thanks,

Ken

I have one follow-up question.

Should I be able to just take my harddrive out of my Win 98 PC and put
it in my XP PC? Note that it is not my boot drive in the Win 98 PC
and would not be the boot drive in the XP PC. How do I get the XP PC
to recognize it after I install?

Thanks again!

Ken
 
N

null

Ken said:
I have one follow-up question.

Should I be able to just take my harddrive out of my Win 98 PC and put
it in my XP PC? Note that it is not my boot drive in the Win 98 PC
and would not be the boot drive in the XP PC. How do I get the XP PC
to recognize it after I install?

Thanks again!

Ken
WinXP will be able to read the drive just fine, as long as the PC's BIOS
sees it. When you put the 98 HD in the new PC, make sure that it isn't
on the same IDE cable as the new PC's HD (it can be on the same cable,
just make sure the 'old' hard drive is configured to be the 'slave' and
the new PC's HD is configured to be the 'master').

After physically inserting the 98 HD in the new PC, try booting the PC
and see if WinXP sees the additional HD; if it does, you're all set. If
it doesn't see it, you'll neede to reboot into the PC's setup and set it
to Autodetect the drive.
 

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