HD issues while running FDISK

[GreatWhiteTiger]

Ok  here's the problem. I have an 80gig HD, when I run FDISK and try to set up the partition it will only allow me to use 15 gig's. It will not recognize the remaing 61 Gig's. Now when I put in the XP Pro disk it will recognize all of the HD, but will not give me an option to format using the fat32 system. All it will give me is the the NTFS system. I used a windows ME start up disk went ahead and and FDISKed what it would let me and formatted the 15 G popped in the the XP disk and It still would not let me set up the remaining 61G as anything but NTFS. I have an 850 Mhz AMD Proc  384 mb Ram any ideas???

[pcdoc4christ]

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[pcdoc4christ]

Tiger:

Don't use a startup floppy disk; boot right from the CD.  At the blue setup screen when asked where to install Windows XP, choose the option to delete the FAT32 partition you created.  Then, choose the option to create a new partition the size you want, then select the file system you want setup to use to format the partition you create.

NTFS is more stable and secure and offers the ability to compress or encrypt individual folders and files.  May i ask why you want FAT32?  

Regards,
Doc

[GreatWhiteTiger]

Doc,
I have done what you suggested at the blue screen. When I create the new partition it doesn't offer any type of format but NTFS.

As to why I want a Fat32, I guess mainly because I've never used the NTFS system and  I am comfortable with the Fat32 system. I guess if what you say is true though I need to learn this system and do as much reading as possible. Any reading suggestions?

[merlin_2]

what does this tell you.......>>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415/

i would use powerquest.......>>>>>>>>partiton magic to sort it...
is this an upgrade disk.......

[GreatWhiteTiger]

No its a full install disk and thanks for the reading material

[Mac]

If the original formatting was done in NTFS you might find that the partitions are difficult to delete.

If so then you should download the wxpboot.exe bootdisk which had DELPART.EXE and delete ALL the existing partitions.

Fdisk should never be used to prepare a drive for XP. You should use the XP CD or the six XP floppy disks.

DELPART BOOTDISK

[merlin_2]

what has happened on the upgrade disk the option is limited to ntfs.....not fat.on large hard drives??........therefore an option is to use powerquest......partition magic......>>>. majorgeeks.com you could load winxp and then partition the hard drive.... and >dual boot system winme>>>winxp pro..

[Mac]

What it might be is that XP won't allow you to format a drive bigger than 32 Gb with FAT32, so you'll need to partition it. If you use a C: drive partition of 8192 Mb the formatting will come out at 4096 bytes per allocation unit in BOTH FAT32 & NTFS.

My 80 Gb drive has four partitions, 10237, 10237, 20481 and the rest, 37197 Mb

All are now formatted to NTFS.

If you want the easy repairability of FAT32 what some do is to format the C: drive to FAT32 and the bigger drives to NTFS.

I make a drive image of Drive C: , the Operating System drive so restoring is just a matter of restoring from CDRs.

The restore operation removes all data from the C: drive so the restore is clean.

I use Image for Windows to make the images and Image for DOS to do the restoring.

If you get BootIT NG from TeraByte Unlimited you get both of these programs, a boot manager, which will allow you to make more than four partitions, and a partition resizer.

Four programs for US$60. $15 a piece.

[GreatWhiteTiger]

Thx Mac I understand what your telling me I need to do. Now my question is what are the major differences between Fat32 and NTFS. What makes the NTFS  system better?

[merlin_2]

http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm

[GreatWhiteTiger]

Merlin_2

That was an excellent read!

I want to Thank You, Doc, and Mac for your time and help. I have seen that I am going to need to do alot more reading to understand some things but thats ok. Any other info(ie reads or suggestions) would be greatly appreciated.

[Mac]

Thx Mac I understand what your telling me I need to do. Now my question is what are the major differences between Fat32 and NTFS. What makes the NTFS  system better?

First off MS prefers you to use NTFS.

But to understand all the ramifications of file systems takes a LOT of reading up on the subject.

Masses of reading http://www.pcguide.com/index.htm

Then there is also ntfs.com

Some features of XP Pro require NTFS to be used at all.

I found that stability was the main concern. When my F: drive was 50 Gb and formatted to FAT32 when using ME I had a great many problems.

Since installing XP Pro and formatting all drives to NTFS these problems have ALL disappeared.

These operating systems are really excellent. What makes a mess of all of them is that computers are being used for a variety of wrong purposes. Warfare and pornography are just two I would care to mention. This is not part of the Puritan ethic, not goodwill and no way to live in peace.

Certainly it is not something anyone would care to celebrate at Thanksgiving.

Nor indeed are all of these virii and trojans.

But then I am just a hick from the sticks, not one of these wheeler dealer city slickers.

[GreatWhiteTiger]

Ok I have 2 other computers in my home;
800 MHz pent III with a 40GB HDD 384 MBRam Fat32 System
750 MHz AMD      with a 30GB HDD 320 MBRam Fat32 System

Would it be a pain to switch these to NTFS without reformatting the HDD's?

[gussery]

If the OS is NT workstation, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, then there is a convert command that will do it for you.  Works like a champ, I have never had one problem with it.

[Computer_Commando]

The primary advantage to NTFS is in the corporate environment.  Administrators can control who has access to network drives, directories, and even files.  If your computer is for home use and you are the only user, there is no noticeable difference between FAT32 and NTFS.  If you have more than one user and you want to control who has access to your data, then use NTFS.  This is what is meant by "Built-In Security".
This table summarizes the differences:  http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

I still use FAT32 because I want the Win98 partition to be able access other partitions.  I also, still use DOS, which is not able to read NTFS without help from 3rd party software.

[Mac]

Ok I have 2 other computers in my home;
800 MHz pent III with a 40GB HDD 384 MBRam Fat32 System
750 MHz AMD      with a 30GB HDD 320 MBRam Fat32 System

Would it be a pain to switch these to NTFS without reformatting the HDD's?

There have been problems converting from FAT32 to NTFS with Windows 2000 and I have had one instance of not getting 4096 bytes per allocation unit (4k) clusters when converting using XP.

If you get 512 bytes per allocation unit clusters it can slow the computer down. Many say that it is better, performance-wise, not to convert, but to format directly to NTFS.

However this is up to you. If you have Partition Magic you can adjust the cluster size if the conversion goes wrong.

I take the precautions of disconnecting from the internet and removing the anti-virus program before doing any work on partitons, as a running AV can make a mess of things.

Always better to back up ALL data before converting.

[Mac]

If your computer is for home use and you are the only user, there is no noticeable difference between FAT32 and NTFS.

I have to disagree with you there CC, this computer, which was running on FAT32, is running MUCH better on NTFS, especially on partitions over 32 Gb.