Hard Drive Formats

[Bob]

I have a PC that came with WIndows ME which I recently
upgraded to XP the XP Home Upgrade no problems). I noticed
that my hard drive (80GB) was left as FAT32. I'm thinking
of installing a second hard drive now and would like to
know if the new drive must also be FAT32 or can my
existing remain FAT32 while the new drive is NTFS?

Thanks

[Jon]

"Bob" > wrote in message =
...
> I have a PC that came with WIndows ME which I recently=20
> upgraded to XP the XP Home Upgrade no problems). I noticed=20
> that my hard drive (80GB) was left as FAT32. I'm thinking=20
> of installing a second hard drive now and would like to=20
> know if the new drive must also be FAT32 or can my=20
> existing remain FAT32 while the new drive is NTFS?
>=20
> Thanks

Yes, you existing drive can remain FAT and the new drive can be NTFS =
(which is better anyway). Since you say you upgraded, you may want to =
consider if you can resize you existing drive with XP home FAT32 down to =
a smaller partition. The reason being; an 80gig drive @ FAT32 has an =
incredible amount of slack because of the cluster sizes that FAT uses on =
a partition that big, and the space wasted can be awful. Good reading =
here about NTFS conversion from FAT32 if you don't want to resize, and =
some references about the pitfalls of FAT32 on large partitions.
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

[Bob]

Thanks Jon,

You mentioned "you can resize your existing drive with XP
home FAT32 down to a smaller partition.". Can I do this
without having to reformat my existing drive (for obvious
reasons)? Also, can partitions on the same hard drive be
of different systems (FAT32 on one, NTFS on another)?

Thanks much for your help.
Bob
>-----Original Message-----
>
>"Bob" > wrote in message
...
>> I have a PC that came with WIndows ME which I recently
>> upgraded to XP the XP Home Upgrade no problems). I
noticed
>> that my hard drive (80GB) was left as FAT32. I'm
thinking
>> of installing a second hard drive now and would like to
>> know if the new drive must also be FAT32 or can my
>> existing remain FAT32 while the new drive is NTFS?
>>
>> Thanks
>
>Yes, you existing drive can remain FAT and the new drive
can be NTFS (which is better anyway). Since you say you
upgraded, you may want to consider if you can resize you
existing drive with XP home FAT32 down to a smaller
partition. The reason being; an 80gig drive @ FAT32 has an
incredible amount of slack because of the cluster sizes
that FAT uses on a partition that big, and the space
wasted can be awful. Good reading here about NTFS
conversion from FAT32 if you don't want to resize, and
some references about the pitfalls of FAT32 on large
partitions.
>http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
>.
>

[Jon]

"Bob" > wrote in message =
...
> Thanks Jon,
>=20
> You mentioned "you can resize your existing drive with XP=20
> home FAT32 down to a smaller partition.". Can I do this=20
> without having to reformat my existing drive (for obvious=20
> reasons)? Also, can partitions on the same hard drive be=20
> of different systems (FAT32 on one, NTFS on another)?
>=20
> Thanks much for your help.
> Bob=20

Yes, but you need a 3rd party partitioning utility like BING =
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

Or Partition Magic from http://www.powerquest.com/

One thing I am not sure of is (I would think it would work) if resizing =
the drive with the existing setup on it would result in smaller cluster =
sizes. Maybe someone more expert in this area would help (Alex?)

[Will Denny]

Jon

PM will allow you to resize clusters. A search on http://www.aumha.org/ for
articles from (Alex) Nichol? would help.

Bob

If you decide to use PM, please read the help file/manual about resizing
clusters as it 'can' lead to problems. It is perhaps best - IMHO - to leave
PM to setup the default cluster size.

Will

"Jon" > wrote in message
...

"Bob" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks Jon,
>
> You mentioned "you can resize your existing drive with XP
> home FAT32 down to a smaller partition.". Can I do this
> without having to reformat my existing drive (for obvious
> reasons)? Also, can partitions on the same hard drive be
> of different systems (FAT32 on one, NTFS on another)?
>
> Thanks much for your help.
> Bob

Yes, but you need a 3rd party partitioning utility like BING
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

Or Partition Magic from http://www.powerquest.com/

One thing I am not sure of is (I would think it would work) if resizing the
drive with the existing setup on it would result in smaller cluster sizes.
Maybe someone more expert in this area would help (Alex?)


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.471 / Virus Database: 269 - Release Date: 10/04/2003