I received my new computer??

[DPost]

3.0 ghz
512 mb mem
2- 40gb hard drives
cd
dvd-rom
3.5floppy

the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D: drive is
formated NTFS.

WHY did they formate them like that.....

Thanks
D.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

I suppose the manufacturer of your new PC can offer an explanation.
Give them a call and ask!

CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP
(by Alex Nichol, MS-MVP)
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| 3.0 ghz
| 512 mb mem
| 2- 40gb hard drives
| cd
| dvd-rom
| 3.5floppy
|
| the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D: drive is
| formated NTFS.
|
| WHY did they formate them like that.....
|
| Thanks
| D.

 

[Sharon F]

3.0 ghz
512 mb mem
2- 40gb hard drives
cd
dvd-rom
3.5floppy

the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D: drive is
formated NTFS.

WHY did they formate them like that.....

I've seen this mentioned in the newsgroups in the past. As Carey mentions,
the OEM will have their reasons and they are your source for an
explanation. My guess: Either FAT32 is their own preference when setting up
new systems or perhaps the choice is related to how their recovery/restore
program works.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

3.0 ghz
512 mb mem
2- 40gb hard drives
cd
dvd-rom
3.5floppy

the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D:
drive
is formated NTFS.

WHY did they formate them like that.....

Anybody here who tries to answer your question is guessing at
best. If you want the correct answer, you'll have to ask the
people who did it.

 

[Guest]

3.0 ghz
512 mb mem
2- 40gb hard drives
cd
dvd-rom
3.5floppy

the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D: drive
is formated NTFS.

WHY did they formate them like that.....

Because you did not tell them otherwise, and you can convert very easily
from FAT to NTFS (but not visa versa without requiring 3rd party
software). You JUST bought a new computer, so what is stopping you from
calling THEM to find out?

 

[Husky]

3.0 ghz
512 mb mem
2- 40gb hard drives
cd
dvd-rom
3.5floppy

the question is The C: drive is formated in FAT32?? and the D: drive is
formated NTFS.

WHY did they formate them like that.....

Thanks
D.

I'm betting because FAT32 is the default setting the Fdisk happens to be
setting on.

 

[Sharon F]

I'm betting because FAT32 is the default setting the Fdisk happens to be
setting on.

Are you sure about that? Depending on the size of the partition, you may
never see FAT32 even offered.

 

[Husky]

Are you sure about that? Depending on the size of the partition, you may
never see FAT32 even offered.

No I'm just saying the default fire up setting is FAT32. Setting the size of
the partitions is human intervention. Lazy says take the defaults and run with
it.

My drive was FAT when I 1st got it home. I don't believe XP pro has a partition
limit size. My entire 152 gigs was fat32. I think there was 8 megs unformatted.

I converted after I read up on the different formats. NTFS didn't actually have
any options that I felt I'd ever use or need. But it seemed with a new machine,
OS, hardware and software, I should take it as far into the future as it'd go.

Is there an advantage ? I have no idea. None I've actually seen. I also
converted 2 HD's from the previous machine 8 gig and 10 gig. NTFS it seems is
useful for indexing purposes.

But obviously someone thought FAT32 needed upgrading.
Maybe eventually they'll get it to run like the Amiga's and virus makers will
go out of business.
The multi-tasking is almost on par with the amiga now.

 

[Galen]

In Husky <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Is there an advantage ? I have no idea. None I've actually seen. I
also converted 2 HD's from the previous machine 8 gig and 10 gig.
NTFS it seems is useful for indexing purposes.

NTFS allows permission settings and handles disk errors a great deal better
than FATxx does. You can easily take an NTFS based OS, while running
applications, and just reach over and press the shutdown on the computer
case and restart and not have to wait for the disk to be repaired while
you're quite likely to face a chkdsk when you do the same with a FATxx
formatted disk. The drawback to NTFS is that it's not easily edited or seen
even from DOS meaning that there's a limited number of ways to maintain it
from outside of the operating system available to the average end user.

Galen
--

"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Sharon F]

Replies inline.

No I'm just saying the default fire up setting is FAT32. Setting the size of
the partitions is human intervention. Lazy says take the defaults and run with
it.

My drive was FAT when I 1st got it home. I don't believe XP pro has a partition
limit size. My entire 152 gigs was fat32. I think there was 8 megs unformatted.

If a partition is greater than 32 GB and XP tools are used to format, FAT32
will not be an option. XP will happily work with any FAT32 partition
greater than 32 GB *if* it already exists.

My drive was FAT when I 1st got it home. I don't believe XP pro has a partition
limit size. My entire 152 gigs was fat32. I think there was 8 megs unformatted.

I converted after I read up on the different formats. NTFS didn't actually have
any options that I felt I'd ever use or need. But it seemed with a new machine,
OS, hardware and software, I should take it as far into the future as it'd go.

Is there an advantage ? I have no idea. None I've actually seen. I also
converted 2 HD's from the previous machine 8 gig and 10 gig. NTFS it seems is
useful for indexing purposes.

Coming from a Win9x background, NTFS in XP was new to me too. I've been
happy with it so far and think it is a bit more robust than FAT32. If a
forced restart occurs, it is rare for chkdsk to run to fix a dinged file
system. The down side of this iron-sided file system is that when things go
bad, they tend to go all the way south more often than not. So extra
consideration for disaster recovery is, I feel, necessary. I hate
reinstalling everything and appreciate the safety net provided by the
"Imaging for Windows" program.

But obviously someone thought FAT32 needed upgrading.
Maybe eventually they'll get it to run like the Amiga's and virus makers will
go out of business.
The multi-tasking is almost on par with the amiga now.

NTFS is not an upgrade for FAT32. Just a different file system.

Ah, you're an Amiga fan. Never used one of these systems but have seen many
nostalgic statements from former users of that platform. Sounds like it was
light years ahead of its time.

 

[Richard Urban]

Just a hunch. Ask the people who made your computer to find out their
reasoning. How would we know?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Husky]

Replies inline.



If a partition is greater than 32 GB and XP tools are used to format, FAT32
will not be an option. XP will happily work with any FAT32 partition
greater than 32 GB *if* it already exists.

Fdisk is not XP tools. Fdisk is a dos application.

Coming from a Win9x background, NTFS in XP was new to me too. I've been
happy with it so far and think it is a bit more robust than FAT32. If a
forced restart occurs, it is rare for chkdsk to run to fix a dinged file
system. The down side of this iron-sided file system is that when things go
bad, they tend to go all the way south more often than not. So extra
consideration for disaster recovery is, I feel, necessary. I hate
reinstalling everything and appreciate the safety net provided by the
"Imaging for Windows" program.


NTFS is not an upgrade for FAT32. Just a different file system.

Ah, you're an Amiga fan. Never used one of these systems but have seen many
nostalgic statements from former users of that platform. Sounds like it was
light years ahead of its time.

Yeah Windows may catch up to it some day. But not today.

 

[Sharon F]

Fdisk is not XP tools. Fdisk is a dos application.

Yes, but not used or provided with a new XP computer (recently acquired by
the OP). And not at all capable of an NTFS format.

Yeah Windows may catch up to it some day. But not today.

 

[Husky]

Yes, but not used or provided with a new XP computer (recently acquired by
the OP). And not at all capable of an NTFS format.

It's a DOS program. You use it to prepare [partition & format] a NEW disk for
the installation of an OS [XP Pro for example].
It's catch-22. when you 1st fire up an empty machine it DOES NOT have any OS
other than DOS. You can't format the disk with XP until XP has been installed.

You use FDISK to prepare a Drive thru partitioning. It has no idea what OS will
be installed on it.

Fdisk is the default program for this preparation, and it's defaults firing up
are FAT32.

 

[Sharon F]

It's a DOS program.

I realize this. Used it many, many times with Win9x. Since switching over
to XP now use the tools it provides.

 

[D.Currie]

Yes, but not used or provided with a new XP computer (recently acquired by
the OP). And not at all capable of an NTFS format.

It's a DOS program. You use it to prepare [partition & format] a NEW disk
for
the installation of an OS [XP Pro for example].

Not really. The XP CD will do everything you need.

It's catch-22. when you 1st fire up an empty machine it DOES NOT have any
OS
other than DOS.

Um, no. A blank hard drive doesn't have any OS, not even DOS. You might have
a floppy sitting around that has DOS on it, but a new computer with a blank
hard drive would, by definition, not have any OS, including DOS, installed
on it.

You can't format the disk with XP until XP has been installed.

Huh? The XP CD will partition and format a blank hard drivre before it does
the installation. No fdisk or format commands needed.

You use FDISK to prepare a Drive thru partitioning. It has no idea what OS
will
be installed on it.

Fdisk is the default program for this preparation, and it's defaults
firing up
are FAT32.

fdisk isn't needed unless you're running an OS that won't do the
partitioning and installation for you. Beginning with some versions of
Win98, you could do it all from the CD. XP for sure doesn't need you to
fdisk and/or format first.