Formatting HDD partitions for WinXP & Win98?

[Gman]

I would like to have the ability to connect and use an external USB
connected HDD on either a Win98SE machine or a WinXP Pro machine, not
shared and not at the same time. (Use it as a large file transfer
device - hook to one and then to the other.)

To do this, I am thinking I could create a 2GB partition (maximum size
Win98 can handle?) on the HDD, format it to FAT32 and have the
remaining HDD space in a second partition formatted to NTFS.

Would that work? If not, is there another way?

Also, is this the place to ask this type of question? If not, sorry.

 

[Doug Knox - [MS-MVP]]

Yes, this will work. But the FAT32 partition limitation is 32 Gig (using
built-in tools). The XP OS will be able to see both partitions, unless you
hide the FAT32 partition in Disk Management. The 9x OS won't be able to see
or use the NTFS partition without the use of some 3rd party add-ons that
will allow you to read/write to NTFS from a 9x based system.

 

[John John]

Yes that will work fine but Windows 98 can read and write to much larger
drives than 2GB. The built in Windows XP disk utility will allow you to
format FAT32 drives up to 32GB and Windows 98 will be able to use all of
it. Windows 98 can format FAT32 up to 127 or 128GB.

John

 

[Teflon]

Yes that will work fine but Windows 98 can read and write to much larger
drives than 2GB. The built in Windows XP disk utility will allow you to
format FAT32 drives up to 32GB and Windows 98 will be able to use all of
it. Windows 98 can format FAT32 up to 127 or 128GB.

John







- Show quoted text -

Thank you Doug and John for your responses.

Would this dual partition scenario also work with a Win98 FE machine
that has the USB 1 limitation? Or is this a HDD connectivity,
driver / support issue, versus an OS issue?

 

[peter]

Actually if you are aiming to just use it for file transfers I see no
reason to partition into 2
If you set up 2 folders(XP...98) and keep the FAT32 file system either OS
will see all of the files on the drive.
By moving the files to the right folder you'll know which OS they are from .
Why complicate matters??
peter

 

[John John]

Thank you Doug and John for your responses.

Would this dual partition scenario also work with a Win98 FE machine
that has the USB 1 limitation? Or is this a HDD connectivity,
driver / support issue, versus an OS issue?

That would work with USB 1 also. These questions would best be asked in
the Windows 98 groups where the resident experts can offer in depth advice.

John

 

[Gman]

That would work with USB 1 also. These questions would best be asked in
the Windows 98 groups where the resident experts can offer in depth advice.

John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks John, Peter and the rest of the XP disciples. Since my main
concern is keeping my XP machine as fast and healthy as possible,
that's why I ended up asking my qyestions here. Will go ask the 98
guys some additional questions.

Also, was under the impression that the NTFS file format was the best
to use with XP, so that's why I was thinking two partitions and
keeping most of the HDD in that format. Not true? Bad thinking?
Misinformed?

Thanks again.

 

[John John]

Thanks John, Peter and the rest of the XP disciples. Since my main
concern is keeping my XP machine as fast and healthy as possible,
that's why I ended up asking my qyestions here. Will go ask the 98
guys some additional questions.

Also, was under the impression that the NTFS file format was the best
to use with XP, so that's why I was thinking two partitions and
keeping most of the HDD in that format. Not true? Bad thinking?
Misinformed?

You are not misinformed, once again you are right. NTFS is a superior
file system in almost all regards and is the preferred file system for
NT systems (NT/2000/XP).

John

 

[Teflon]

That would work with USB 1 also. These questions would best be asked in
the Windows 98 groups where the resident experts can offer in depth advice.

John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'm back. The consensus of the guys over in the 98 gang opined it
best to keep most of the drive formatted in an NTFS partition, with a
smaller partition formatted in FAT32 for the 98 machine.

Now, how do I do that? Went to My Computer, selected the drive in
discussion, right clicked and selected Properties. Selected Format
and there was nothing there that said anything about setting up a
second partition, FAT32 or anything else that I wanted to do. I
obviously took the wrong path.....again. Directions please?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm back. The consensus of the guys over in the 98 gang opined it
best to keep most of the drive formatted in an NTFS partition, with a
smaller partition formatted in FAT32 for the 98 machine.

Now, how do I do that? Went to My Computer, selected the drive in
discussion, right clicked and selected Properties. Selected Format
and there was nothing there that said anything about setting up a
second partition, FAT32 or anything else that I wanted to do. I
obviously took the wrong path.....again. Directions please?

If I understand you correctly, what you want to do is not add a second FAT32
partition, but change the existing partition structure of the drive,
dividing it up into two partitions. You can't add a second partition because
there is no unallocated space to add it in.

Unfortunately, no version of Windows before Vista provides any way of
changing the existing partition structure of the drive nondestructively. The
only way to do what you want is with third-party software. Partition Magic
is the best-known such program, but there are freeware/shareware
alternatives. One such program is BootIt Next Generation. It's shareware,
but comes with a free 30-day trial, so you should be able to do what you
want within that 30 days. I haven't used it myself (because I've never
needed to use *any* such program), but it comes highly recommended by
several other MVPs here.

Whatever software you use, make sure you have a good backup before
beginning. Although there's no reason to expect a problem, things *can* go
wrong.

 

[John John]

I'm back. The consensus of the guys over in the 98 gang opined it
best to keep most of the drive formatted in an NTFS partition, with a
smaller partition formatted in FAT32 for the 98 machine.

Now, how do I do that? Went to My Computer, selected the drive in
discussion, right clicked and selected Properties. Selected Format
and there was nothing there that said anything about setting up a
second partition, FAT32 or anything else that I wanted to do. I
obviously took the wrong path.....again. Directions please?

You can use the built-in Disk Management tool. To access the tool click
on Start | Run and enter the following command:

diskmgmt.msc

If you have unallocated space in the drive you can create a partition
out of it. If you have no unallocated space you will have to blow away
the partition on the disk and then create 2 new ones as you want them.
It goes without saying that all the information on the drive will be
lost! If you want to make a new partition but keep the information you
have now you can use third party partitioning tools instead of the Disk
Management tool. These third party tools allow you to non destructively
resize partitions. Or copy the information on the disk elsewhere before
you do the partioning work then copy it back to the new partition after
you are done.

John