NTFS and Fat32 on the same computer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Henry
  • Start date Start date
H

Henry

Hello,

My main hard drive (with XP Pro) uses the Fat32 file
system. However, as we know, Fat32 doesn't support file
sizes larger than 4 Gigabytes. I have recently purchased a
HD which I hope to use in addition to the Fat32 (my main
drive), but I want to format it and use it as NTFS. So in
theory, I want to keep my Fat32 main drive and add the new
drive with NTFS.

So, can Win XP support two hard drives with two different
file systems? If so, should I expect any problems
regarding file transfers from one to the other or any
other issues? And if not, what options do I have?

Thanks in advance,

Henry
 
You shouldn't have any troubles unless you get into permissions. Copying a
file from NTFS to FAT32 will result in a loss of any special permissions you
may have set. Since I have never done this before I am not sure if you will
be warned about the permission loss.

Chris
 
The issue is not in the formating but rather in the operating system.
Seeing XP can "see" both NTFS and FAT32 formated drives it is not really
important how you format the 2nd drive.

If it were me I would have XP on the NTFS partition but of course it isn't
me...

FWIW,
Len
 
-----Original Message-----
You shouldn't have any troubles unless you get into permissions. Copying a
file from NTFS to FAT32 will result in a loss of any special permissions you
may have set. Since I have never done this before I am not sure if you will
be warned about the permission loss.

Chris




.
Click to expand...

i am the only user of my computer, so permissions isn't an
object of worry. besides this, will there be any other
problems? will there be DATA loss? (that's my main concern)

thanks for the replies, btw! :)
 
Hi,

Just go ahead, XP can support 2 harddisks with different
file format.

My master drive is FAT32 and my slave drive is partitioned
into 2 drives, one is also FAT32 and the other is NTFS.
There is no problem for the transfer of files between
FAT32 and NTFS.

Peter
 
i am the only user of my computer, so permissions isn't an
object of worry. besides this, will there be any other
problems? will there be DATA loss? (that's my main concern)
Click to expand...


I have two hard drives, the system drive is formatted FAT32,
and the other drive is formatted NTFS. I haven't made an
exhaustive study, but data on one drive seems to make it back
and forth between the 2 drives OK with no hiccups.

-\Stan/-
 
The only reason to use FAT32 is if you are dual booting an
OS that can't read NTFS. Files on the NTFS drive/partition
won't be seen by W98 for example. XP will read/write either
format.


|
| > i am the only user of my computer, so permissions isn't
an
| > object of worry. besides this, will there be any other
| > problems? will there be DATA loss? (that's my main
concern)
|
|
| I have two hard drives, the system drive is formatted
FAT32,
| and the other drive is formatted NTFS. I haven't made an
| exhaustive study, but data on one drive seems to make it
back
| and forth between the 2 drives OK with no hiccups.
|
| -\Stan/-
 
Jim Macklin said:
The only reason to use FAT32 is if you are dual booting an
OS that can't read NTFS. Files on the NTFS drive/partition
won't be seen by W98 for example. XP will read/write either
format.
Click to expand...

I've heard that some people use a FAT32 partition for their
virtual memory (i.e. swap file) because it's faster than NTFS.
That might make a small difference if one were working with
a huge file that couldn't all fit in RAM at the same time.


-\Stan/-
 
Im having problems with this too. I can partition the
drive in 3 under fat32 but XP wont or cannot format it
under NTFS. formating as ntfs inat command promp works
and says fine but windows still says it is not formatted.
Ie it cannot be used.

to format it format F: /fs:ntfs try it it may work on yours
 
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