Format second drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter rob p
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R

rob p

2.4 Ghz Windows XP Pro with an 80 GB drive. (Fat 32). I want to add a 120 GB
drive (WD). I right clicked My Computer, to Manage, to Storage, Disk
Management. I can see the drive as drive (1). What I need to do is format it
with FAT 32 . How can I do that? Seems XP only wants to allow me to do it
Dynamic which I am assuming will give me NTFS. I could only set drive as
basic with no other formating options than dynamic or dynamic. ????

Is there a command line format I could use????

Thanks.
 
rob p said:
2.4 Ghz Windows XP Pro with an 80 GB drive. (Fat 32). I want to add a 120
GB
drive (WD). I right clicked My Computer, to Manage, to Storage, Disk
Management. I can see the drive as drive (1). What I need to do is format
it
with FAT 32 . How can I do that? Seems XP only wants to allow me to do it
Dynamic which I am assuming will give me NTFS. I could only set drive as
basic with no other formating options than dynamic or dynamic. ????

Is there a command line format I could use????

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you want to format it fat32 then you won't be able to do it with XP, 32gb
partitioning limit. Go to bootdisk.com and download a floppy image, create
a bootable floppy and run fdisk in dos. After fdisk, format it.
 
Excellent. thats what I needed.
rob

nb said:
If you want to format it fat32 then you won't be able to do it with XP, 32gb
partitioning limit. Go to bootdisk.com and download a floppy image, create
a bootable floppy and run fdisk in dos. After fdisk, format it.
Click to expand...
 
The 80 GB first drive that came with the computer is Fat 32. I'm assuming
the second drive will format (from dos) with just one partion? Am I wrong?

I have realize NTFS is better, but I was worrying that it wouldn't work with
all the other XP / win98 systems on our network that are all Fat 32. Plus
not be compatable with the main drive on the same system (Fat32).

I'm totally open to suggestions.
Can you mix Fat32 and NTFS drives on a Windows network with no problems? (We
map drives from system to system.
Are there going to be problems with older software and NTFS?
Thanks.
 
I have realize NTFS is better, but I was worrying that it wouldn't work with
all the other XP / win98 systems on our network that are all Fat 32. Plus
not be compatable with the main drive on the same system (Fat32).

I'm totally open to suggestions.
Can you mix Fat32 and NTFS drives on a Windows network with no problems? (We
map drives from system to system.
Are there going to be problems with older software and NTFS?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

File system format has nothing to do with networking. All windows
filesystems will network with each other. An operating system only reads
its own file system and is not even aware of what file system another
conmputer uses. You can network Unix with windows and from a networking
perspective each computer does not care.

As far as file sharing, a word document is a word document regardless of
which file system it was created on. So a word document created with word
on a fat32 file system can be used by word on a ntfs computer.

In summary, file system does not matter from a networking perspective.
From security, recovery, safety, and speed perspectives, use ntfs.
 
Ok. Then I can leave the 80 Gb boot drive as is with Fat 32. Add the 120 Gb
and let XP format it (NTFS). Then get a third party software to copy all of
boot to 2nd drive and if boot ever fails, I would replace it with 120 Gb
NTFS. ??? And somewhere along the line, knowing my backup (120 Gb) is OK
convert the Fat 32 to NTFS. ?? Sound reasonable?
 
I was thinking. Actually I couldn't do that ?? Use something like Ghost to
copy a Fat 32 to a NTFS. Wouldn't the Fat 32 need to be converted first? And
if so, does that work and how long does it take???
thanks.
Click to expand...
You can convert fat32 to ntfs but you can not go back again. I can't
remember how long it takes. Maybe as log as a defrag.
 
I was thinking. Actually I couldn't do that ?? Use something like Ghost to
copy a Fat 32 to a NTFS. Wouldn't the Fat 32 need to be converted first? And
if so, does that work and how long does it take???
thanks.
 
Ok. Then I can leave the 80 Gb boot drive as is with Fat 32. Add the 120 Gb
and let XP format it (NTFS). Then get a third party software to copy all of
boot to 2nd drive and if boot ever fails, I would replace it with 120 Gb
NTFS. ??? And somewhere along the line, knowing my backup (120 Gb) is OK
convert the Fat 32 to NTFS. ?? Sound reasonable?
Click to expand...
??? Have no idea what you are trying to accomplish here. Just convert the
whole mess to NTFS. How did a third party copy software come into play?

I think you are making something that is simple into something difficult.

Why do you want a FAT32 FS at all?
 
Ok. Then I can leave the 80 Gb boot drive as is with Fat 32. Add the 120 Gb
and let XP format it (NTFS). Then get a third party software to copy all of
boot to 2nd drive and if boot ever fails, I would replace it with 120 Gb
NTFS. ??? And somewhere along the line, knowing my backup (120 Gb) is OK
convert the Fat 32 to NTFS. ?? Sound reasonable?
Click to expand...
Bottom line: you can have both FAT32 and NTFS partitions on the same drive,
different drives, different computers on a network, and they will
communicate and share files between them.
 
Thanks. I guess Fat 32 is going.
rob

BobC said:
Bottom line: you can have both FAT32 and NTFS partitions on the same drive,
different drives, different computers on a network, and they will
communicate and share files between them.
Click to expand...
 
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