Downgrade from Windows XP to 2000 Pro

[dubina]

Hello,

i want to downgrade from Windows XP to 2000 Pro. This process can't be
done without formatting system drive and installing 2000 from scratch,
but the question is not in that.

The thing is, XP uses NTFS v5.1 and 2000 uses NTFS v5.0. When I boot
into 2000 and browse my other drives (that are formatted to NTFS 5.1),
some files become unreadable. But when I boot into XP again, everything
works and reads just fine.

So my question is: what are the differences between NTFS 5.1 and 5.0?
How can I "convert" XP-version NTFS to 2000-version NTFS and have all
my data there?

Thanks.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

i want to downgrade from Windows XP to 2000 Pro. This process can't
be done without formatting system drive and installing 2000 from
scratch, but the question is not in that.

The thing is, XP uses NTFS v5.1 and 2000 uses NTFS v5.0. When I boot
into 2000 and browse my other drives (that are formatted to NTFS
5.1), some files become unreadable. But when I boot into XP again,
everything works and reads just fine.

So my question is: what are the differences between NTFS 5.1 and
5.0? How can I "convert" XP-version NTFS to 2000-version NTFS and
have all my data there?

Actually... the NTFS versions are:

NTFS 1.2 <=> WinNT
NTFS 3.0 <=> Win2K
NTFS 3.1 <=> WinXP/2003

Version 1.2 is sometimes known as 4.0. (After NT 4.0)
Versions 3.0 and 3.1 are sometimes referred to as 5.0 and 5.1 (After their
respective Windows versions.)

Essentially - new features have been incorporated into each subsequent
version. I could not find a comprehensive list - if such a public lists
even exists. However - I will tell you that your only SURE way to make sure
you can access your data is to copy it off to a neutral area(in terms of
file system) and copy it back after the format/install.

 

[dubina]

Yes, but for example I cannot use FAT32 partition to copy data, since
there are large (over 4 GB) files. So only way is perhaps copy data to
NTFS 3.0 partition from WinXP directly and then access it from Win2K.

Anton.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

This does not seem to be possible since XP will automatically upgrade the NTFS
file system to its version. You may have to "network" a second PC onto your
system and copy the files over to this second PCs before do the "downgrade".

 

[ms]

Maybe he could format a drive in Win2000 pro, put it in an enclosure, then
copy it from his XP box to the external HDD.