Format Dilemna

[Brian]

If there is a site that explains this and has a fix, that would be great.
Newly built machine up and running.
I have a WD 160 GB drive installed. When I installed XP Pro I partitioned
the drive into three:
C:\ = 20GB FAT32 Local fixed disk----used for OS
E:\ = 80GB unformatted Local fixed disk----to be used for programs
F:\ = remaining GB unformatted Local fixed disk----to be used for yada yada
yada basic crap

Now herein the questions lie:
When I formatted C: I chose NTFS, it formated it as FAT32 because it was
more than a 2048 allocation size. Can I change this and how?
It never gave me a choice to format E: and F: unless I missed something, I
am on 6hrs of shuteye since Fri. What to do?

If I format E: and F: as the default NTFS in Windows, will there be any
problems between the drives? I know how to force FAT32 format but would
really like to have all drives NTFS.

If I must reformat, repartition and reinstall, not a problem as I have not
loaded any programs yet. The only other thing I will have to do is reload
the integrated device drivers.

BTW, the drive did not come with a disk but I do have one from another exact
drive. I really hate those drive overlay disks, so if there is a way to
complete my task, I'm all ears.

Brian

 

[Guest]

Overlays arent recommended by microsoft with xp.If you go to run,type:diskmgmt.msc
In the new window,R.click on the unallocated space (unformatted partition),select,format,
select,default format in ntfs,do this for the two,or you can delete a partition at this point if
you want to.If C: is in FAT,you might first go to run,type:cmd At the curser type:
CONVERT C: /FS:ntfs Agree to restart to run the conversion,then type:EXIT
Reboot computer,then run diskmgmt after.

----- Brian wrote: -----

If there is a site that explains this and has a fix, that would be great.
Newly built machine up and running.
I have a WD 160 GB drive installed. When I installed XP Pro I partitioned
the drive into three:
C:\ = 20GB FAT32 Local fixed disk----used for OS
E:\ = 80GB unformatted Local fixed disk----to be used for programs
F:\ = remaining GB unformatted Local fixed disk----to be used for yada yada
yada basic crap

Now herein the questions lie:
When I formatted C: I chose NTFS, it formated it as FAT32 because it was
more than a 2048 allocation size. Can I change this and how?
It never gave me a choice to format E: and F: unless I missed something, I
am on 6hrs of shuteye since Fri. What to do?

If I format E: and F: as the default NTFS in Windows, will there be any
problems between the drives? I know how to force FAT32 format but would
really like to have all drives NTFS.

If I must reformat, repartition and reinstall, not a problem as I have not
loaded any programs yet. The only other thing I will have to do is reload
the integrated device drivers.

BTW, the drive did not come with a disk but I do have one from another exact
drive. I really hate those drive overlay disks, so if there is a way to
complete my task, I'm all ears.

Brian

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Answered below....

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Brian]

Thanks Rick,
You had me going until I realized my clock wasn't set correctly, it was off
by 3 years. Found the first post, used Bootit NG, went all FAT32, figured I
could always convert to NTFS later on.

Brian

 

[Brian]

Thanks Andrew,
I used Bootit NG and went all FAT32 for now.

Brian