danny said:
Hello all, I've just bought an external hard drive and I'm not sure if I
should be reformatting it. I am a home user [XP] with NTFS but the new drive
is FAT32. Can anyone help me out on this please.
If the drive will only ever be connected to a computer running Windows
2000/XP/Vista then you might want to convert it to NTFS as that is
inherently more stable.
However you should not just use the Windows XP conversion utility to
do this. Rather you should use Disk Management (Start - Run -
DISKMGMT.MSC) and begin by deleting the existing FAT32 partition(s) on
the drive. Then create a new partition or partitions, which will be
NTFS by default unless they 32 gb or smaller, in which case XP will
give you the choice of FAT32 or NTFS. Choose NTFS if that happens.
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair
"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
