Fat32 setup on a new computer running XP Home instead of NTFS. Why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JM
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JM

A business I'm currently doing some work for (non IT Related) Just bought a
new Acer Aspire computer (australian assembled). Knowing that I'm into PC's
I was asked for a little help in setting things up for them. After they
installed all their usual programs and got the machine to the way they
wanted it I suggested that they Image the HDD to CDR.

Since they lost everything on their previous machine due to one of the well
known faulty Fujitsu drive models failing, they were keen on the idea of
imaging the drive in the new machine. So I installed Drive Image and
proceeded to Image the HDD to CDR. It was then that I noticed that the HDD
was formatted in FAT32X instead of NTFS.

It seemed odd to me that a big company such as Acer would set up the machine
in such a way when it's running XP Home which by default would use NTFS. The
machine also came standard with a DVD burner which makes it all the more
puzzling since FAT32 has file size limitations of 4GB and using a DVD burner
for some tasks involving huge files, especially video is going to require
file splitting etc.

Anyone have any thoughts as to why FAT32 would be considered preferable to
using NTFS by Acer??
 
Anyone have any thoughts as to why FAT32 would be considered preferable to
using NTFS by Acer??
Click to expand...

1) There could be custom first-time startup softare that won't work with
NTFS.

2) Whatever software is used to create their initial images may be
outdated and doesn't support NTFS.

3) They are a cheap-ass company with no clue on how to do anything
properly.
 
@news.comcast.giganews.com>,
andysnewsreply@no_junk.comcast.net says...
1) There could be custom first-time startup softare that won't work with
NTFS.

2) Whatever software is used to create their initial images may be
outdated and doesn't support NTFS.

3) They are a cheap-ass company with no clue on how to do anything
properly.
Click to expand...

On my Toshiba laptop, they use Norton Ghost to restore
the system (when you do a first-time install off the CD
or when rebuilding). So the system comes up in FAT32
initially.

A few steps later, they do the NTFS conversion during
one of the reboots.

So it doesn't surprise me that a mass-produced image
would be in FAT32. Answer #3 is likely as to why they
leave it as FAT32 (Answer #4 would be that people are
unfamiliar with NTFS as compared to their known-quantity
FAT32).
 
A business I'm currently doing some work for (non IT Related) Just bought a
new Acer Aspire computer (australian assembled). ....

Anyone have any thoughts as to why FAT32 would be considered preferable to
using NTFS by Acer??
Click to expand...

Some notebook computers (like my ThinkPads) need FAT32 for the
hibernate feature to work. Some diagnostic tools and utilities may
require FAT32 as well.

- -
Gary L.
Reply to the newsgroup only
 
Gary L. said:
Some notebook computers (like my ThinkPads) need FAT32 for the
hibernate feature to work. Some diagnostic tools and utilities may
require FAT32 as well.
Click to expand...
It's a desktop computer.
 
Gary said:
Some notebook computers (like my ThinkPads) need FAT32 for the
hibernate feature to work. Some diagnostic tools and utilities may
require FAT32 as well.
Click to expand...
Interesting. The one's I've seen (not ThinkPads) use a FAT part. for
diagnostic/utility stuff, but still allow the main part. (Windows, etc.)
to be NTFS. Do the ThinkPads prohibit NTFS for the main part?
 
Interesting. The one's I've seen (not ThinkPads) use a FAT part. for
diagnostic/utility stuff, but still allow the main part. (Windows, etc.)
to be NTFS. Do the ThinkPads prohibit NTFS for the main part?
Click to expand...

No, not at all - NTFS is fully supported as the primary filesystem on
ThinkPads. The latest IBM ThinkPads have a "pre-boot area" on the HDD
which contains the recovery images, tools etc. This is actually not even
a regular partition - disk tools like Partition Magic don't see it - and
you have to use one of the tools within it if you want to free up the
space for normal use. Your guess is as good as mine as to what filesystem
it uses.
 
Mark Scott said:
No, not at all - NTFS is fully supported as the primary filesystem on
ThinkPads. The latest IBM ThinkPads have a "pre-boot area" on the HDD
which contains the recovery images, tools etc. This is actually not even
a regular partition - disk tools like Partition Magic don't see it - and
you have to use one of the tools within it if you want to free up the space
for normal use.
Click to expand...

1407DT Address Offset Reserved Area Boot Method
"Abstract: This technical report describes the Address Offset feature
and the method of booting an operating system from a reserved area using
the Address Offset feature."

"In devices that support the Address Offset feature, the SET FEATURES
subcommand 09h Enable Address Offset Mode, offsets address Cylinder 0,
Head 0, Sector 1, LBA 0, to the start of the non-volatile protected area
established using the SET MAX ADDRESS Command."
Your guess is as good as mine as to what filesystem it uses.
Click to expand...

The OS it uses (or lack of) may be an indicator.

Since it is a bios controlled feature it is probably a bootable application
that returns to bios control when it exits so that it can reset the offset.
 
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