NTFS to FAT32

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rod L
  • Start date Start date
R

Rod L

Sorry to ask but I've searched and searched plus tried some suggested ideas
without success. I have XP Home on a 40gb disk formatted in NTFS. I also
have a smaller 8gb disk formatted in FAT32 which I use for backup. I need to
reinstall Win98 and preferably to the 40gb disk with XP Home. Reason for
reinstall of Win98 is that we have a Fisher Price toy computer that XP has
no drivers for. Fisher Price have no plans for an XP driver. The toy worked
ok with Win98.
I'd like to know if its possible to reformat the 40gb disk to FAT 32 then
partition it off allowing for XP Home, Win98 and some space for back up etc.
Many thanks for any assistance offered.
Rod L.
 
Rod L said:
Sorry to ask but I've searched and searched plus tried some suggested ideas
without success. I have XP Home on a 40gb disk formatted in NTFS. I also
have a smaller 8gb disk formatted in FAT32 which I use for backup. I need to
reinstall Win98 and preferably to the 40gb disk with XP Home. Reason for
reinstall of Win98 is that we have a Fisher Price toy computer that XP has
no drivers for. Fisher Price have no plans for an XP driver. The toy worked
ok with Win98.
I'd like to know if its possible to reformat the 40gb disk to FAT 32 then
partition it off allowing for XP Home, Win98 and some space for back up etc.
Many thanks for any assistance offered.
Rod L.
Click to expand...

Do you want to retain your XP Home installation?
 
Hi,

You will need to start from scratch, and install Win98 first using fdisk to
first delete the non-dos partition, then create a primary dos partition
using FAT32. Reboot, format, and install Win98 normally. Once W98 is
installed, boot it and insert the WinXP CD. Opt for a new installation, and
when it reboots use it to partition and format the rest of the drive in NTFS
and install WinXP there. If you are planning on sharing the partitions
amongst both operating systems, then do not use NTFS for WinXP, use FAT32
instead. You can do that part with fdisk by setting up an extended partition
with the balance of the drive and creating at least one volume within it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Rod L said:
Sorry to ask but I've searched and searched plus tried some suggested
ideas
without success. I have XP Home on a 40gb disk formatted in NTFS. I also
have a smaller 8gb disk formatted in FAT32 which I use for backup. I need
to
reinstall Win98 and preferably to the 40gb disk with XP Home. Reason for
reinstall of Win98 is that we have a Fisher Price toy computer that XP has
no drivers for. Fisher Price have no plans for an XP driver. The toy
worked
ok with Win98.
I'd like to know if its possible to reformat the 40gb disk to FAT 32 then
partition it off allowing for XP Home, Win98 and some space for back up
etc.
Many thanks for any assistance offered.
Rod L.
Click to expand...

Do you want to retain your XP Home installation?

No, I will do a fresh installation of XP as I've backed up everything to CD
and the spare 8gb disk.
Rod
 
Why?

He could resize the XP partition, and then create another partition using a 3rd party disk management app. I would recommend keeping the XP on NTFS, and install 98 after that on its own primary partition, then use the apps boot loader (BootItNG works a treat for this case). I wouldn't rely on 98 to have to have all the boot.inis to be on the 98 partition. Also, no one could get to, and possibly corrupt the XP partition this way.
 
Hi,

Three things led me to the answer I gave instead of recommending a third
party program:

1) He asked if he could just start clean. No mention was made of trying to
save the XP installation. Simplest way to do it actually, and retain the
native tools for booting.

2) Even if he could save the XP installation, a third party boot manager
would be required, as that is the active partition and if is likely in NTFS.
Win98 cannot boot from an NTFS partition.

3) He wants to setup a tertiary shared partition for backups. This will need
to be in FAT32 as well. Again, all easy to do if you are willing to start
from scratch.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Why?

He could resize the XP partition, and then create another partition using a
3rd party disk management app. I would recommend keeping the XP on NTFS, and
install 98 after that on its own primary partition, then use the apps boot
loader (BootItNG works a treat for this case). I wouldn't rely on 98 to have
to have all the boot.inis to be on the 98 partition. Also, no one could get
to, and possibly corrupt the XP partition this way.
 
Rick "Nutcase" Rogers said:
Hi,

Three things led me to the answer I gave instead of recommending a third
party program:

1) He asked if he could just start clean. No mention was made of trying to
save the XP installation. Simplest way to do it actually, and retain the
native tools for booting.
Click to expand...

He didn't ask if he could start clean, he only mentioned formatting the drive, but nothing else whether he wanted to retain the current setup, hence I mentioned the alternative just in case. He replied to me that he wanted to start fresh, I then replied to use your initial advice.
2) Even if he could save the XP installation, a third party boot manager
would be required, as that is the active partition and if is likely in NTFS.
Win98 cannot boot from an NTFS partition.
Click to expand...

Did I not reply to you that I mentioned a boot loader? BootItNG, as I mentioned, could be used for just the scenario I described. I also never recommend using a dual boot, as then XP is dependent on 98 to load, and if something goes wrong with 98, there may be a chance that a fixboot will not be able to get XP back running. Doing separate installs on their own primary partitions can save headaches, and BootIt can resize the partition again, if 98 is decided not to be used again without having to reinstall XP.
3) He wants to setup a tertiary shared partition for backups. This will need
to be in FAT32 as well. Again, all easy to do if you are willing to start
from scratch.
Click to expand...

So? It obviously would be the third partition, and it could formatted FAT, so both XP on NTFS and 98 on FAT, can read and write to that partition, so it is no problem anyway.
 
Rod said:
Sorry to ask but I've searched and searched plus tried some
suggested
ideas without success. I have XP Home on a 40gb disk formatted in
NTFS. I also have a smaller 8gb disk formatted in FAT32 which I use
for backup. I need to reinstall Win98 and preferably to the 40gb
disk
with XP Home. Reason for reinstall of Win98 is that we have a Fisher
Price toy computer that XP has no drivers for. Fisher Price have no
plans for an XP driver. The toy worked ok with Win98.
I'd like to know if its possible to reformat the 40gb disk to FAT 32
then partition it off allowing for XP Home, Win98 and some space for
back up etc. Many thanks for any assistance offered.
Rod L.
Click to expand...


The simplest way I've found to dual boot between Win9x/Me and WinXP
would be to partition your drive(s) roughly as follows:

C: Primary FAT32 Win9x/Me/Legacy Apps
D: Extended NTFS WinXP/Modern Apps

Adjust the partition sizes according to your actual hard drive(s)
size and the amount of space you'd like to allocate to each OS and its
applications.

Create the partitions using Win9x's FDISK so you can enable large
disk support (FAT32). (No need for 3rd party partitioning
utilities/boot managers and their frequent complications.)

Install Win9x/Me first, being sure to select "C:\Windows" (or
D:\Windows, if you prefer) when asked for the default Windows
directory. When you subsequently install WinXP, be sure to specify
"D:\Winnt" (or "D:\Windows," "C:\Winnt" as referred/applicable) when
asked for the default Windows directory, to place it in the other
partition. The WinXP installation routine will automatically set up a
Multi-boot menu for you. The default settings for this menu can be
readily edited from within WinXP. NOTE: If you elect to place
Win9x/Me on the "D:" drive, you'll _have_ to leave the "C:" drive as
FAT32.

This method can be adapted to using 2 physical hard drives by
placing the boot partition (C:, which still must be FAT32) and either
of the operating systems on the Primary Master hard drive, and the
second operating system on the second hard drive.

It is also possible to have a 3rd partition for shared
applications, but it would be necessary for such a partition to be
formatted in the common file format (FAT32). The applications would
also have to be installed into each OS (to ensure proper system file
placement and registry updates), one at a time, but the bulk of the
program files could be located on this common partition. I do not,
however, actually recommend doing this as, if you were to uninstall
such an application from one OS, you may not be able to gracefully
uninstall it from the second OS, having already deleted crucial
installation data during the first uninstall action.

Just about everything you need to know (URLs may wrap):

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q217/2/10.ASP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having
both at once. - RAH
 
Many thanks to all. Much appreciated. I eventually managed to partition up
my 40gb disk into three and install Win98, XP Home and leave a spare
partition for back up data. I used some software that had come free with a
magazine 'Acronis Partition Expert 2003'. First I created a boot disk and
deleted the existing 40gb NTFS partition with XP on. I then created a 40gb
partition in FAT32 before formatting the whole lot. Once done I then
partitioned it all off. I first installed Win98 to 'F' then XP Home to 'C'
and finally left 'E' as back up. Both F and C were Primary partitions and E
was Logical. When booting I was offered either 98 or XP however XP was the
default which suited me just fine. From my original OEM XP disc I created a
back up disc with SP2 integrated. Got details from Google search and here
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
Anyway having finally got what I wanted be it correct or otherwise I could
not get the blasted Fisher Price toy to work. Since I last used Win98 I've
had a new motherboard and second hand monitor. When running the software a
message was flagged saying I needed to increase the number of colours in
display as I was not reaching the minimum required. Anyway I went into
display properties and all I had was either 2 or 16 colours to choose from.
XP gives me different results so I don't know. Thanks again.
Rod
 
You have to install the mobo and graphics card drivers to win98, otherwise
you wont get more colors...


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