WinXP can't see partition.

[Guest]

Current system: XP Home SP2 in FAT32 partition, works fine.

In Disk Manager XP cannot see any NTFS partition. They display as
Healthy(unknown partition). If a new partiton is created (inside XP) it is
seen OK by XP until after a reboot when it appears again as Healthy(unknown
partition).

A reinstall of XP into a NTFS partiton (on a different disk) works just
fine. But, this installation of XP can't see any of the FAT32 partitions -
they are all now Healthy(unknown partition).

An external utilitiy like Partition Commander can create NTFS partitions
that also cannot be seen by the NTFS XP.

I thought that XP was supposed to be able to see and use FAT32 partitions
even if it was installed in a NTFS partition - and vice versa. Am I missing
something?

It is interesting that if using the FAT32 XP to create an extended partition
and then creating a NTFS partition inside that does work - i.e. XP (FAT32)
can see and use this NTFS partition and it works after a reboot.

 

[Guest]

The vise-versa is wrong,ntfs can read FAT32 FAT32 can not read ntfs.Also,you
can go to run,type:cmd In cmd typeiskPart In DiskPart type:list disk
Type:
list volume etc,type:HELP For all cmds Also,you should eliminate FAT32
from xp,by default its geared to ntfs Going to run,type:diskmgmt.msc Gets
you volume(s) control utility.

 

[Guest]

FAT32 can not read ntfs.

Well, I find that to be extremely bad behavior, if true. There's no good
reason for XP to not be able to read NTFS partitions - blame it on the
developers, I guess.

I do know what diskmgmt.msc is -> Disk Manager.

And now I know what the cryptic instruction is in MaxBlast4 (disk
installation software for Maxtor drives). It says you can only copy to the
same type of partition - can't copy from FAT32 to NTFS. It detects my boot
disk as a dynamic disk, it is SATA but it is NOT dynamic.

XP in a NTFS partiton DOES NOT see FAT32 partitions (at least on my
machine). Even if you use diskpart then format /fs:FAT32, XP in NTFS will
not see or be able to use that partition (at least on my machine).

Why do I bother with XP in FAT32? It was originally installed into a Win98
partition as an upgrade and much of my (old) software was not NTFS friendly,
still isn't.

Solution: Install fresh XP in NTFS then reinstall everything. Easy to say,
very hard to do. I estimate about 2 weeks to reinstall all my software (I'm a
software developer) even if I can find all the CD's and updates. Next,
convert the FAT32 partitions to NTFS (which shouldn't be necessary) then
maybe copy the contents to newly made NTFS partitions to make sure the MFT
and clusters are nicely arranged. Of course, this would completely disable
any interoperability with my (old) Win98/DOS software. And, if I maintain a
dual-boot capability (with a dedicated Win98 harddisk) it's still a fragile
solution with NTFS seeing those partitions as Healthy(unknown partition).

As a shortcut: What happens if I create a fresh empty NTFS (bootable)
partition and copy the contents of my FAT32 XP into it? Don't quite know how
to do the copy yet (maybe via DVD archives), but would XP run properly? This
would help to eliminate all the reinstalls. Does the files and settings
transfer wizard work as advertised? I could try that too.

 

[Michael Stevens]

The vise-versa is wrong,ntfs can read FAT32 FAT32 can not read
ntfs.Also,you can go to run,type:cmd In cmd typeiskPart In
DiskPart type:list disk Type:
list volume etc,type:HELP For all cmds Also,you should eliminate
FAT32 from xp,by default its geared to ntfs Going to
run,type:diskmgmt.msc Gets you volume(s) control utility.

NTFS can't read anything; it is a file system, it is the OS that reads the
file system.
XP can use Fat and NTFS,

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
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