I know I can not change the format of the hard drive from NTFS to
FAT32 while I'm booted into XP on my laptop computer. But I have an
idea. What if I connect this hard drive to another computer as a
slave drive. Then use the ability of Partition Magic to reformat and
retain the data. Will this work?
I know I'll have to change the jumpers on the drive to SLAVE, then
when this is completed, change them back to MASTER.
Finally, will I have to re-register the OS with MS after the format is
changed?
One way or another, this NTFS crap is going in the shitter where it
belongs.
One problem I'd have with PM, is size limits. There are two that
come to mind.
In my copy of PM, there is an overall partition size limit. PM doesn't
seem to like to work on large ones, like around 200GB or so. You
may see "no options", if you try to do an operation on a large partition.
When making FAT32 partitions (brand new ones), PM calls the system
formatter. If the system formatter won't FAT32 format things larger
than 40GB, then PM will have the same limitation.
I don't know if the PM equivalent of a "convert" operation has such
a limit or not. I don't know how it does the conversion, to know.
PM also does a crappy job making Linux EXT@ partitions, but that's
a separate issue.
*******
Note - the following assumes you know a few simple commands in the
MSDOS window, for navigating to the folder containing your
executable files, then issuing the commands and so on. If you're
new to MSDOS, then it would take another post to explain that part...
You'll need to do a "vol" before doing anything else, then write down
the 8 digit identifier.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php
The Sysinternals VolumeID utility, can put the volume id back, after
a change has been made to the partition. Instead of using "vol", I
typically use Everest Home Edition (free) to check the value. Since you've
written the number down from the "vol" step, you know what value goes
back there later. Windows activation has the options of checking
the disk drive hardware serial number, as well as the volume id value.
Since volume ids are randomly assigned, after "format" type operations,
you may need its services to put back the original value (before
booting WinXP for the first time, and letting it notice the change).
I expect other hardware items count for more in activation, but if you've
changed a lot of hardware already (increased RAM say, changed CPU chip),
then the VolumeID change may be all it needs to tip over activation.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897436
Next step, is review the disk contents. Any file on C:, which is
bigger than 4GB, is going to stop the conversion cold. If you use
the WinXP search box, to search for files, you might be able to enter
a size in there, like >4GB or whatever.
In the search, set "Specify size (KB)" to "at least" "1048576 KB"
to search for all files larger than 1GB. Your pagefile and hiberfil
may be that large. A movie could be larger than 4GB or 4194304 KB.
Move those files somewhere safe, as 4194304 KB is too large for FAT32.
If you needed to make a large, empty FAT32 partition, I'd do it
in two steps.
1) In diskmgmt.msc, you can create a new partition, but not format it.
This allocates space, and makes an entry in the partition table.
2) You can use the Ridgecrop formatter, to format things the OS won't
touch. You could do a 2TB FAT32 if you wanted. I've never even come
remotely close to that value. I accept the default cluster size
and use the simplest possible syntax for the command. This runs
in the command prompt, just like volumeid or vol does. This formatter
is very fast. I might format an 80GB partition to FAT32, in a second
or two.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/download/fat32format.zip
If you "copy" files from a bootable partition to another, you lose
the "Partition Boot Sectors". I haven't run into a method yet, to
reliably identify the location and back those up. They're in two
places on a partition, and one is supposed to be a backup copy.
Frequently, I find the second copy is garbage and not to be used.
(If the second copy is a backup copy, it's a poor backup!)
If you use a WinXP CD, boot to the recovery console, and do
"fixboot C:", that puts the Partition Boot Sectors back.
The tough part, is figuring out what the drive letter value
should be. On my machine, I actually have to type "fixboot D:",
to fix WinXP C:. I have one file at the root level of the
partition, that tells me I'm on the correct partition (as the
recovery console won't display the partition "label".
OK, so how do I copy files. I use Robocopy XP026.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy (version table, 2/3rds down the page...)
This is an example of copying a partition, to a blank backup partition
I've just made. The second command, is for when I copy it back later
(after the original partition has been formatted). The /mir option
stands for "mirror", which wipes out any extraneous files on the
destination partition. Use great care and get the "drive letters" right.
The log file gets a copy of every file copied. The summary in the log,
tells you how many files were processed. If the copy operation does
not support "permissions", the tool will tell you it's ignoring some
of the command line arguments given. As far as I know, this version of
command, would copy from NTFS to NTFS if necessary. I haven't tested
all four possible test cases, like NTFS to FAT32, FAT32 to NTFS etc.
robocopy C:\ F:\ /mir /copy:datso /dcopy:t /r:3 /w:2 /zb /np /tee /v /log:c_to_f.log
robocopy F:\ C:\ /mir /copy:datso /dcopy:t /r:3 /w:2 /zb /np /tee /v /log:f_to_c.log
*******
I generally log all the commands when I do one of those, and just
edit the parts later that I need to reuse. For example, this would be
for moving WinXP off, reformatting the partition, and moving the files
back.
vol E: (write down the 492A-AC63 it printed out in the MSDOS window)
robocopy E:\ J:\ /mir /copy:datso /dcopy:t /r:3 /w:2 /zb /np /tee /v /log:robocopy_e_to_j.log
fat32format E:
volumeid E: 492A-AC63
(copy pagefile and hiberfil manually, J: to E: - helps to be near the front of the partition.
Robocopy then doesn't have to copy them back, in the next command, and they're "skipped".)
robocopy J:\ E:\ /mir /copy:datso /dcopy:t /r:3 /w:2 /zb /np /tee /v /log:robocopy_j_to_e.log
recovery console, fixboot <--- means boot the WinXP CD, enter recovery console, "fixboot C:"
that puts back the Partition Boot Sectors, wiped by fat32format.
*******
Of course, you have your separate, independent backup of C:, before going on
an adventure, so if some operation fails along the way, you'll have an
escape plan. Be especially careful with the "fixboot", because it's hard to
tell which partition is which, down in the recovery console. Why they can't
conspicuously display the "label" applied to the partition, I'll never know.
I always label my partitions, as a double check when working on them.
And if you foul up the robocopy command, just about any partition could be
damaged by that. It's *very* dangerous. Ask me how I know this...
I would be doing those commands, from my second OS boot drive. In your case,
your second OS boot drive, is the one in that other computer you're about
to slave the drive to.
Do the "vol C:" command, *before* you move the disk drive to the
other computer, then write down the eight digit value. Don't wait
until the drive is slaved to the second computer to do it.
HTH,
Paul
