XP on NTFS drive cannot read secondary FAT32 drive

[Phillips]

Hi,
I have XP Pro/NTFS on a Primary IDE Master Drive - no slave there - , and a
Secondary IDE w/ Master CDROM and slave FAT 32 HDD.
I know that OS on NTFS cannot read FAT32 drives, but I wonder if there's a
way to access my FAT32 drive - no OS there, just files - w/o installing an
OS on the FAT32 drive, dual boot, etc.
Windows Explorer 'sees' the FAT32 drive, but does not read it; is there any
utility or WinExplorer replacement to solve the issue?

 

[Test Man]

Windows 2000 and XP can read and write to FAT32 drives perfectly fine. If
you are having issues, it may be due to how you have connected the drives to
your machine. Check all cables/jumpers/settings and try again.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hi,
I have XP Pro/NTFS on a Primary IDE Master Drive - no slave there - , and a
Secondary IDE w/ Master CDROM and slave FAT 32 HDD.
I know that OS on NTFS cannot read FAT32 drives,

NOT TRUE!!! XP can read from and write to FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS
partitions, these can be used in any combination in your system. The
OS can reside on a partition running any of these file systems, it
makes no difference.

but I wonder if there's a
way to access my FAT32 drive - no OS there, just files - w/o installing an
OS on the FAT32 drive, dual boot, etc.
Windows Explorer 'sees' the FAT32 drive, but does not read it; is there any
utility or WinExplorer replacement to solve the issue?

You're gong to have to explain that. What, exactly, "sees" it? What do
you see in Windows Explorer when you try to access this partition?

 

[Yves Leclerc]

The problem is not whether Xp can read FATxx drives (it does read/write) but
how the drives are set up. Usually we normally "pair" all hard drives
together and leave the CD/DVD Rom drives on their own IDE channel.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have XP Pro/NTFS on a Primary IDE Master Drive - no slave there - , and a
Secondary IDE w/ Master CDROM and slave FAT 32 HDD.
I know that OS on NTFS cannot read FAT32 drives, but I wonder if there's a
way to access my FAT32 drive - no OS there, just files - w/o installing an
OS on the FAT32 drive, dual boot, etc.

You know wrong. XP can work with any mix of FAT (including FAT 16 as
well as 32) and NTFS partitions, whichever type it is installed on.
This is likely to be a matter of needing to 'take Ownership' on the
drive - see Help and support on that topic

 

[Frank]

Fat partitions do not have security permissions.

-----Original Message-----


You know wrong. XP can work with any mix of FAT (including FAT 16 as
well as 32) and NTFS partitions, whichever type it is installed on.
This is likely to be a matter of needing to 'take Ownership' on the
drive - see Help and support on that topic