A
Almali del Benian
A Computer Angel Donor (cad?) is giving me a new machine.
Here's what it will come with:
Mini Tower case
Intel P4 - 2.0GHZ CPU
256MB PC3200 Ram
3.5" floppy drive
Win XP Home OEM
Maxtor 80 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Radeon 7000 64MB AGP 4 X Video Card
3 years Depot Warranty.
My dealer will transfer the following equipment from my old machine to the
new:
My current Artec CD-writer, 32x12x48x, version 1.0 firmware
My current Western Digital 40 MB drive (7200 rpm); it's formatted as Fat32,
with int 13 extended support (whatever that is), less than a year old.
And to that, I will add, at home:
my keyboard
my modem
my optical wheel mouse
my speakers
My Computer Angel Donor, when able (4-6 months), will add the following as
upgrades:
additional 256 MB ram
a UPS
maybe a new keyboard (optional)
My dealer's supplier puts the machine together, formats Drive C, and
installs XP Home, then ships to my dealer, who will update XP Home to its
latest patches or hotfixes, and make sure all drivers are the latest.
Then my dealer will remove my old Drive D (Western Digital 7200 rpm,
formatted with Fat32, with extended int 13 support from the old machine and
put it in the new machine as the second physical drive.
He will also copy the files from my current Drive C to a subfolder on the
new Drive C.
He will remove my Artec CD-Writer (32x12x48, firmware version 1.0) from the
old machine, and install it in the new one, as my only CD-ROM on the new
machine.
Right now, I'm running Windows 98 SE on an old P3, also given to me. I want
to change to XP Home, for its stability. I do NOT want any dual-boot setup.
Just XP Home.
My current Drive C is 5 years old, 20 GB, about 18.xx formatted (Fat32).
It has about 15 GB used, 4 GB free.
My current Drive D, about 27.7 GB formatted, has 28 GB used, 9 GB free.
I didn't know you could have 37.7 GB formatted with Fat32? How much space on
a single drive can be formatted with Fat32 - as a single logical drive? I
didn't know about "int 13 extended support" - merely just saw it in my
Norton Utilities System Information.
Finally, here comes the essence of my question.
I believe my dealer said that the machine would normally come wth the NTFS
file system.
But, reading here, I am now concerned about that. I've been reading mostly
in the XPgeneral newsgroup, but here, too, where I found a couple of posts
from:
"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" <[email protected]>
suggesting that for a user (like me) who might have power failures more than
very rarely, and might occasionally be subject to malware, would be better
off with a Fat32 file system, because it's easier to recover and repair
files that way, than with NTFS.
(Thank you so much, cquirke!)
And although I am careful, sometimes to the point where I feel paranoid, I
certainly could pick up malware on my system, as I did when Swen_A first
came out. The virus scanners hadn't been updated yet, so it got through my
ISP, and into my system, where it got trashed by my Eudora <smug, but not
too smug, grin>. By that evening, AVG had an update, which, of course, I
downloaded.
I'm also using AdAware and SpyBot, CWShredder, and haven't needed
HijackThis. I keep these updated as best I can (though I have a heck of a
time updating Spybot.)
I'm also using ZoneAlarm, and plan to continue using that, and AdSubtract,
as well as the free AVG (Grisoft). I keep AVG updated, checking several
times daily.
So:
Would it be a real burden to my dealer's supplier, and to my dealer, if I
were to request that the new hard drive be formatted with the Fat32 file
system?
Would there be disadvantages to me if the new 80 GB drive were formatted
that way?
Would "int 13 extended support" set me up for potential problems? I believe
I could happily accommodate the (32 GB?) limit on logical drive size, if
either or both of my physical drives were to be partitioned - except that
I'd have to restructure the files (at the user folder level) on my current
Drive D, and perhaps it should be divided into two 18/19 GB logical drives,
or one 32 GB and one 7 GB?
Would logical drives be required on the 80 GB drive? If so, approximately
how many?
Would my current (old) Drive D, formatted now with Fat32 with int 13
extended support (you understand, I'm just parrotting that), just slip into
the new system ever so easily, if its Drive C is already formatted with the
Fat32 file system?
But if it's too much to ask of my dealer's supplier and my dealer to format
with Fat32, so that I'd get NTFS instead, how could my current Drive D be
added to the system? There appears to be enough space on the 80 GB drive so
files could be copied from my current Drive D to the new Drive C, perhaps in
a subfolder, still leaving room for XP Home (OEM), for the subfolder with my
old drive C files in it, and even, still, for the files from my current
(old) Drive D, all to fit on the new Drive C. Then presumably my dealer
would re-format my current Drive D with NTFS, so the file system would be
NTFS throughout the new system (because I do NOT want dual boot; I'm tossing
Win98).
On the other hand, what if my dealer and his supplier could rather easily
format to Fat32 instead of NTFS? Would my old drive D then just slip ever so
easily into the new system, and be itself just as it is now? I have only one
program on D - this one! (Free Agent). (If I remember right.) All the rest
is data.
And would my new Drive C then require logical drives, in an extended
partition? If so, about what size would those be? I'd probably go for the
largest size that functions easily and well under XP Home.
I'm not sure my questions make sense. I'm trying. If there were any way I
could get the UPS on the first purchase, I would, but I cannot! So the best
I can do is remain paranoid about nasties, and try to anticipate when we
might have power failures, as in bad weather - but we occasionally lose
power even in good weather, when some human plows a vehicle into a pole, for
instance.
I pray I'm making any sense here! Thanks in advance for any suggestions you
can make, and any information you can pass to me!
Almali del Benian
*** I receive plain text only unless you notify me first. ***
Here's what it will come with:
Mini Tower case
Intel P4 - 2.0GHZ CPU
256MB PC3200 Ram
3.5" floppy drive
Win XP Home OEM
Maxtor 80 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Radeon 7000 64MB AGP 4 X Video Card
3 years Depot Warranty.
My dealer will transfer the following equipment from my old machine to the
new:
My current Artec CD-writer, 32x12x48x, version 1.0 firmware
My current Western Digital 40 MB drive (7200 rpm); it's formatted as Fat32,
with int 13 extended support (whatever that is), less than a year old.
And to that, I will add, at home:
my keyboard
my modem
my optical wheel mouse
my speakers
My Computer Angel Donor, when able (4-6 months), will add the following as
upgrades:
additional 256 MB ram
a UPS
maybe a new keyboard (optional)
My dealer's supplier puts the machine together, formats Drive C, and
installs XP Home, then ships to my dealer, who will update XP Home to its
latest patches or hotfixes, and make sure all drivers are the latest.
Then my dealer will remove my old Drive D (Western Digital 7200 rpm,
formatted with Fat32, with extended int 13 support from the old machine and
put it in the new machine as the second physical drive.
He will also copy the files from my current Drive C to a subfolder on the
new Drive C.
He will remove my Artec CD-Writer (32x12x48, firmware version 1.0) from the
old machine, and install it in the new one, as my only CD-ROM on the new
machine.
Right now, I'm running Windows 98 SE on an old P3, also given to me. I want
to change to XP Home, for its stability. I do NOT want any dual-boot setup.
Just XP Home.
My current Drive C is 5 years old, 20 GB, about 18.xx formatted (Fat32).
It has about 15 GB used, 4 GB free.
My current Drive D, about 27.7 GB formatted, has 28 GB used, 9 GB free.
I didn't know you could have 37.7 GB formatted with Fat32? How much space on
a single drive can be formatted with Fat32 - as a single logical drive? I
didn't know about "int 13 extended support" - merely just saw it in my
Norton Utilities System Information.
Finally, here comes the essence of my question.
I believe my dealer said that the machine would normally come wth the NTFS
file system.
But, reading here, I am now concerned about that. I've been reading mostly
in the XPgeneral newsgroup, but here, too, where I found a couple of posts
from:
"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" <[email protected]>
suggesting that for a user (like me) who might have power failures more than
very rarely, and might occasionally be subject to malware, would be better
off with a Fat32 file system, because it's easier to recover and repair
files that way, than with NTFS.
(Thank you so much, cquirke!)
And although I am careful, sometimes to the point where I feel paranoid, I
certainly could pick up malware on my system, as I did when Swen_A first
came out. The virus scanners hadn't been updated yet, so it got through my
ISP, and into my system, where it got trashed by my Eudora <smug, but not
too smug, grin>. By that evening, AVG had an update, which, of course, I
downloaded.
I'm also using AdAware and SpyBot, CWShredder, and haven't needed
HijackThis. I keep these updated as best I can (though I have a heck of a
time updating Spybot.)
I'm also using ZoneAlarm, and plan to continue using that, and AdSubtract,
as well as the free AVG (Grisoft). I keep AVG updated, checking several
times daily.
So:
Would it be a real burden to my dealer's supplier, and to my dealer, if I
were to request that the new hard drive be formatted with the Fat32 file
system?
Would there be disadvantages to me if the new 80 GB drive were formatted
that way?
Would "int 13 extended support" set me up for potential problems? I believe
I could happily accommodate the (32 GB?) limit on logical drive size, if
either or both of my physical drives were to be partitioned - except that
I'd have to restructure the files (at the user folder level) on my current
Drive D, and perhaps it should be divided into two 18/19 GB logical drives,
or one 32 GB and one 7 GB?
Would logical drives be required on the 80 GB drive? If so, approximately
how many?
Would my current (old) Drive D, formatted now with Fat32 with int 13
extended support (you understand, I'm just parrotting that), just slip into
the new system ever so easily, if its Drive C is already formatted with the
Fat32 file system?
But if it's too much to ask of my dealer's supplier and my dealer to format
with Fat32, so that I'd get NTFS instead, how could my current Drive D be
added to the system? There appears to be enough space on the 80 GB drive so
files could be copied from my current Drive D to the new Drive C, perhaps in
a subfolder, still leaving room for XP Home (OEM), for the subfolder with my
old drive C files in it, and even, still, for the files from my current
(old) Drive D, all to fit on the new Drive C. Then presumably my dealer
would re-format my current Drive D with NTFS, so the file system would be
NTFS throughout the new system (because I do NOT want dual boot; I'm tossing
Win98).
On the other hand, what if my dealer and his supplier could rather easily
format to Fat32 instead of NTFS? Would my old drive D then just slip ever so
easily into the new system, and be itself just as it is now? I have only one
program on D - this one! (Free Agent). (If I remember right.) All the rest
is data.
And would my new Drive C then require logical drives, in an extended
partition? If so, about what size would those be? I'd probably go for the
largest size that functions easily and well under XP Home.
I'm not sure my questions make sense. I'm trying. If there were any way I
could get the UPS on the first purchase, I would, but I cannot! So the best
I can do is remain paranoid about nasties, and try to anticipate when we
might have power failures, as in bad weather - but we occasionally lose
power even in good weather, when some human plows a vehicle into a pole, for
instance.
I pray I'm making any sense here! Thanks in advance for any suggestions you
can make, and any information you can pass to me!
Almali del Benian
*** I receive plain text only unless you notify me first. ***