how to partition

[dav]

i have an external hd 160gb it is formated in fat32
using disk manager it does not let me use partion wizard,
if igoto refomat it only gives ntfs as obtion.should i
use ntfs and does that mean i convert system drive as
well. my main internal drive is slower 40gb, can i use
new drive instead,any tips to partition drive.

 

[Rock]

i have an external hd 160gb it is formated in fat32
using disk manager it does not let me use partion wizard,
if igoto refomat it only gives ntfs as obtion.should i
use ntfs and does that mean i convert system drive as
well. my main internal drive is slower 40gb, can i use
new drive instead,any tips to partition drive.

XP cannot natively repartition a drive. A third party program such as
Partition Magic or Bootit NG are needed. Converting from fat32 to ntfs
will only affect the partition you do the converstion on, so converting
the external drive will not affect the system drive. You cannot load
windows on the external drive. I believe XP does not support booting
from an extenal drive.

 

[Ron Sommer]

XP cannot natively repartition a drive. A third party program such as
Partition Magic or Bootit NG are needed. Converting from fat32 to ntfs
will only affect the partition you do the converstion on, so converting
the external drive will not affect the system drive. You cannot load
windows on the external drive. I believe XP does not support booting from
an extenal drive.

The BIOS controls which drives are bootable, not XP.
If the external drive is visible during boot, then XP could be installed to
it.
The drive would only boot computers that have the exact same hardware.

 

[Alex Nichol]

i have an external hd 160gb it is formated in fat32
using disk manager it does not let me use partion wizard,
if igoto refomat it only gives ntfs as obtion.should i
use ntfs and does that mean i convert system drive as
well. my main internal drive is slower 40gb,

XP will only make or Format FAT 32 partitions up to 32GB. Above that
you *can* use FAT 32 if formatted via another system, but it is not good
once you get bigger except for very special purposes, and I doubt if you
would be able to do it on a 160GB as a single partition anyway. Use
NTFS for it; there is no need to convert your other drive unless you
want. . For general comment on the two, see my page
www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfs.htm and if you decide to convert (which I
think I would if the 40GB is a single partition)
www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

BTW = You can't put windows on an external removable drive

 

[Rock]

The BIOS controls which drives are bootable, not XP.
If the external drive is visible during boot, then XP could be installed
to it.
The drive would only boot computers that have the exact same hardware.

But I don't believe it will boot XP from the external drive.