NTFS and Fat32

[Jim Anslinger]

I have a desktop with Home ed XP using Fat32, also an
older laptop using Win98SE and Fat32. Can't run XP on
laptop due to memory etc. Need to copy files back and
forth. I want to convert desktop XP Fat32 to XP NTFS,
but am worried that laptop with Win98 won't be able to
read, open, handle, etc the files from desktop run under
NTFS, through home network.
Will my laptop Win98 Fat32 be able to see, open, copy,
paste, etc files from desktop XP and NTFS, and back to it?

 

[High Sierra]

I have a desktop with Home ed XP using Fat32, also an
older laptop using Win98SE and Fat32. Can't run XP on
laptop due to memory etc. Need to copy files back and
forth. I want to convert desktop XP Fat32 to XP NTFS,
but am worried that laptop with Win98 won't be able to
read, open, handle, etc the files from desktop run under
NTFS, through home network.
Will my laptop Win98 Fat32 be able to see, open, copy,
paste, etc files from desktop XP and NTFS, and back to it?

Why do you want to convert your desktop to NTFS?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

The file systems on the various computers communicating over a
network are completely irrelevant, as none of the individual
computers' operating systems ever directly access the other computers'
hard drives. Instead, a computer sends a "request," if you will, for
the desired data, and the operating system of the host ("receiving")
computer accesses its own hard drive (whose file system it obviously
can read) and then sends that data back to the requesting computer as
neutral packets of information that are completely independent of the
file systems on the respective computers. After all, don't you use a
Windows-based PC (whether it's FAT32 or NTFS) to access data stored on
the Internet's mostly Unix servers, which use a completely different
file system?


Bruce Chambers

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[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I want to convert desktop XP Fat32 to XP NTFS,
but am worried that laptop with Win98 won't be able to
read, open, handle, etc the files from desktop run under
NTFS, through home network.

Will my laptop Win98 Fat32 be able to see, open, copy,
paste, etc files from desktop XP and NTFS, and back to it?

Yes. No problem. It's data that's sent over the network, not its
underlying file system.

 

[just another answer]

It seems that Everyone else has already given an answer,
but i will throw in my two cents as well.... You should
have no problem.... FAT 32 and NTFS is the underlying
file structer - kind of like frame work or the studs in
your house - the files on the computer is the couches,
beds etc... You can take files from one computer to the
other just like you would a bed or couch to a different
home.