hard drive limitations

[Guest]

oh please please mighty Microsoft, find a way to remove the limitations that
cause this: Why when inside of Disk Management are you able to fdisk a drive,
partition
it and then when you go to format it your only option is NTFS? Then if you go
to the Command Window and type "format D: /fs:fat32" it will check the disk
for errors which takes a long time on a 100gig HD and returns an error
message that states "Disk is too large for FAT32"? But yet you can boot with
a Win98 boot disk, run FDISK, re-partition, reboot then format the disk with
no problem? Why is there a limitation inside of XP? Both from Disk Manager
inside of Admin Tools and from the DOS window?

 

[Jim Macklin]

Because FAT32 is not stable and NTFS is much more suitable
for large drives, neither large hard drives nor NTFS existed
when FDISK was written.

Unless you are in need of FAT because you are dual booting
an obsolete OS or have some system that does not yet support
NTFS, there is no reason not to use NTFS. Even Linux is
working on NTFS support.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


"septemberschild"
| oh please please mighty Microsoft, find a way to remove
the limitations that
| cause this: Why when inside of Disk Management are you
able to fdisk a drive,
| partition
| it and then when you go to format it your only option is
NTFS? Then if you go
| to the Command Window and type "format D: /fs:fat32" it
will check the disk
| for errors which takes a long time on a 100gig HD and
returns an error
| message that states "Disk is too large for FAT32"? But yet
you can boot with
| a Win98 boot disk, run FDISK, re-partition, reboot then
format the disk with
| no problem? Why is there a limitation inside of XP? Both
from Disk Manager
| inside of Admin Tools and from the DOS window?
|

 

[Guest]

I have had bad experiences with NTFS, When end users do crazy things and the
system crashes how do you or can you access the drive to pull their files off
of it so you can do a re-install? With FAT32 I can boot with a floppy and
save any important data they need before re-doing the drive. They do not back
up files as they should just like having an antivirus program and not running
it.

 

[Thomas Wendell]

XP can only format <32G drives to FAT32. Older fdisks doesn't have that
limitation..


--
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Reply to group
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[LVTravel]

Jim, it would be nice if Microsoft did allow (with a hotfix) an XP machine
to format a larger than 32 GB FAT partition. I use an external USB drive
between many different machines (W98, W98SE, ME, NT, 2K & XP) to carry all
my diagnostic software and program installs as it is normally easier to
carry the drive and one installation CD than many CDs. When I originally
created this drive, I had to scrounge around for a Win 98 machine (I only
had XP at home) to format the disk as I knew that XP could not format the 80
GB HD and simply booting by using a 98 boot disk would not work since it was
a USB drive.

 

[Jim Macklin]

It would be nice if my parents were still alive, that I had
bought Microsoft stock back about 1981, that I win the
lottery on Wednesday.
Get Partition Magic and you can do what ever you want,


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Jim, it would be nice if Microsoft did allow (with a
hotfix) an XP machine
| to format a larger than 32 GB FAT partition. I use an
external USB drive
| between many different machines (W98, W98SE, ME, NT, 2K &
XP) to carry all
| my diagnostic software and program installs as it is
normally easier to
| carry the drive and one installation CD than many CDs.
When I originally
| created this drive, I had to scrounge around for a Win 98
machine (I only
| had XP at home) to format the disk as I knew that XP could
not format the 80
| GB HD and simply booting by using a 98 boot disk would not
work since it was
| a USB drive.
|
|
in message
| | > Because FAT32 is not stable and NTFS is much more
suitable
| > for large drives, neither large hard drives nor NTFS
existed
| > when FDISK was written.
| >
| > Unless you are in need of FAT because you are dual
booting
| > an obsolete OS or have some system that does not yet
support
| > NTFS, there is no reason not to use NTFS. Even Linux is
| > working on NTFS support.
| >
| >
| > --
| > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
| > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
| >
| >
| > "septemberschild"
message
| >
| > | oh please please mighty Microsoft, find a way to
remove
| > the limitations that
| > | cause this: Why when inside of Disk Management are you
| > able to fdisk a drive,
| > | partition
| > | it and then when you go to format it your only option
is
| > NTFS? Then if you go
| > | to the Command Window and type "format D: /fs:fat32"
it
| > will check the disk
| > | for errors which takes a long time on a 100gig HD and
| > returns an error
| > | message that states "Disk is too large for FAT32"? But
yet
| > you can boot with
| > | a Win98 boot disk, run FDISK, re-partition, reboot
then
| > format the disk with
| > | no problem? Why is there a limitation inside of XP?
Both
| > from Disk Manager
| > | inside of Admin Tools and from the DOS window?
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I would really suggest sticking with NTFS. As for accessing files in
case of a system crash, try this program (I always use it):
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfsdos.shtml