NTFS? FAT32? Partitions???? Need Some Help

[Tim Brenner]

OK heres what I did (hope i didnt screw my computer up to
badly) i had NTFS but i wanted FAT32 so i formated my
drive then i made a partion Drive C and D drive C is
where XP is installed and it is about 8.5gig and FAT32
and now i got another 50gig partition that i had to make
NTFS i want to also make FAT32 but when i do the format
option it only comes up with NTFS i tried in command
prompt to do convert it but it only converts FAT to NTFS
what should i do?? Is there some sort of drive convertor
that i can dl to make it FAT32 and also is there a way to
keep it 1 drive and FAT32 because i dont really like the
partitioned way is there a way to delete the NTFS
partition and make it one big FAT32 drive or delete the
FAT32 partition and get 1 big NTFS drive although i would
perfer FAT32. I no that you need an earlier version of
Windows bootdisk (or so ive heard) to format it in FAT32
and i have Windows 98 and Windows 98SE boot disks that i
can use.

I would EXTREMELY appreciate help on this one

Thanks a bunch

Tim

 

[Russ]

You also could just delete it and then it
becomes "Unallocated", but you cannot extend the partion
your OS is install on to use that space, you still would
need a partioning software. You could however,
using "Fdisk" delete all partions and create 1 primary
partion and reinstall XP. All data will be destroyed.
Backup if nessecary.

 

[Russ]

You better tell my computer that, it sees 60 & 80 gig I
got, and its Fat32.

 

[Larc]

| FAT32 is limited to about 32 GB partition size. This could be why you
| only have the NTFS option for the 50 GB size.
|
| There are third party utilities that will convert NTFS to FAT32 but I
| don't know why you would want to, but that is your choice. Partition
| Magic is one of those utilities. I have never used it to convert from
| NTFS to FAT32 so I don't know how well it works.

It works, but it's a royal pain in the *** to do! All compressed and encrypted
files must be undone before the conversion can take place — at least in PM.

Larc



§§§ - Please raise temperature of mail to reply by e-mail - §§§

 

[Ken Blake]

FAT32 is limited to about 32 GB partition size. This could be why you
only have the NTFS option for the 50 GB size.

No, this isn't correct. XP can not *create* a FAT32 partition
larger than 32GB, but it will happily use one. All you have to do
is first create the partition using FDISK from an older Windows
version before running XP setup.

However, especially with 50GB, I recommend using NTFS instead.

 

[Tim Brenner]

Ok Thanks for all the info everyone!! Most of you
suggested to keep the NTFS partition so i'll take ur
advice and just leave it alone

Thanks Again!!!!

 

[Bob Byrne]

You better tell my computer that, it sees 60 & 80 gig I
got, and its Fat32.

But they were not formatted in FAT32 from within XP, it
can't be done. XP will only allow partitions under 32Gb
to be formatted in FAT32. It's MS acting as big brother
as usual and trying to force you to use NTFS.

 

[Alex Nichol]

OK heres what I did (hope i didnt screw my computer up to
badly) i had NTFS but i wanted FAT32 so i formated my
drive then i made a partion Drive C and D drive C is
where XP is installed and it is about 8.5gig and FAT32
and now i got another 50gig partition that i had to make
NTFS i want to also make FAT32 but when i do the format
option it only comes up with NTFS i tried in command
prompt to do convert it but it only converts FAT to NTFS
what should i do?? Is there some sort of drive convertor
that i can dl to make it FAT32

Partition Magic 8 will do a NTFS to FAT32 conversion. You can make a
FAT 32 partition bigger than 32GB by using a boot disk from Win98 or
WinME; but XP will *not* format a partition bigger than this except in
NTFS.

I would not want a machine with everything in a FAT 32 partition of that
size. The system really needs to be on a partition of 4K clusters - a
FAT 32 one under 8GB, or an NTFS one. At 32GB, FAT 32 starts using 32K
clusters that are dreadfully wasteful of space unless it is a specialist
use for a small number of very big files. So I would organise a machine
with such a drive as at least two partitions, ANd make the second, big
one, at least NTFS. IOW the situation you have right now

 

[Me]

AT32 sees bigger than it's limit, but will allow only a partition within
it's limit. That's why DOS 6.22 will recognize a 20 gig hard drive, but only
allow 2+ gig partitions.

 

[Sunny]

You better tell my Computer as well
Using Partition Magic 8 (FAT32) 2 x 80 Hard Drives (WinME)
"C" = 40.2 Gb
"D" = 39.4 Gb
"E" = 34.2 Gb (Part "C")
"F" = 35.0 Gb (Part "D")
Soon "C" will become 2 x "C" @ 20Gb each (WinME/WinXP)

 

[Alex Nichol]

You better tell my Computer as well
Using Partition Magic 8 (FAT32) 2 x 80 Hard Drives (WinME)
"C" = 40.2 Gb
"D" = 39.4 Gb
"E" = 34.2 Gb (Part "C")
"F" = 35.0 Gb (Part "D")
Soon "C" will become 2 x "C" @ 20Gb each (WinME/WinXP)

XP will *use* FAT 32 partitions bigger than 32 GB if they have been
created by other software (eg Win98 FDISK and format, or PArtition
MAgic. It will not itself create one of that size, nor reformat one, in
FAT 32, but will insist on NTFS