If New Computer comes as Fat 16~

[drybones]

New Dell should be here Friday the 21st.

Will it be okey, or even possible, to change the Fat 16
to a smaller file format (forgot the Letters) without losing
the installation of WinXP?

Thanks for reading and hopefully replying,
drybones

 

[Jerry]

You cannot do that. Besides, if XP is preinstalled it is probably on an NTFS
drive - not FAT.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

A new machine will likely be already using NTFS and having to convert will
not be necessary. If it were to arrive using FAT, it would likely be using
FAT32, not FAT16.

If you should need to convert, see:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[drybones]

Thanks for the heads up. 8>)
NTFS were the letters I was looking for. 77 yrs and brain dead I guess.

Regards,
drybones

 

[Harry Ohrn]

It is highly unlikely it will be FAT however to convert to NTFS (New
Technology File System) is easy. On the XP system click the Start button and
select Help and Support. Then do a search for the word 'convert' and you
will be given the instructions on how to convert from FAT to NTFS. This is
done non destructively. You might want to read this insightful info first
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfs.htm It was written by Alex Nichols

 

[Jonny]

Biggest FAT16 goes is 2GB. This leaves no room for anything but XP. So,
its not FAT16.
NTFS is not a "smaller" file format.
Convert option does work with FAT32 to NTFS.
If any other partitions are present, don't mess with them at all.

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Dry

Leave it how it is on delivery.. that way, you will at least get a few days
out of it before having to do a re-install..