Hard Drives... FAT32 or NTFS

[Penny S.]

I am having a lot of problems with XP home doing random reboots and freezes
( Excel and Dreamweaver primarily). I've been told by the system builder
that I should convert my harddrives from FAT 32 to NTFS... can anyone
elighten me as to what this may be about and why I should or should not do
it?

thanks

Penny S

[Randall Arnold]

I don't see how the conversion would solve your particular problem: NTFS
does add *some* overall stability but it's mainly designed for enhanced
security and performance.

I wouldn't be surprised if the system builder was just putting you off. If
you don't have a virus (and make sure you don't), I'd suspect ram, device
drivers or video card to be the culprit based on my own experience. Note
that systems nowadays tend to be very fault-intolerant of cheap ram; this
has been my number one source of system instability recently. The
high-speeds of today's CPUs and busses demand high-quality ram, especially
the motherboard manufacturer's recommendations. Verify that the builder
went by the mfr's recs.

Randall Arnold

"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> I am having a lot of problems with XP home doing random reboots and
freezes
> ( Excel and Dreamweaver primarily). I've been told by the system builder
> that I should convert my harddrives from FAT 32 to NTFS... can anyone
> elighten me as to what this may be about and why I should or should not do
> it?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny S
>
>

[Shaleko]

FAT32 and NTFS are different file systems. There's a lot more control with
NTFS but you may not even notice the change if you're not really familiar
with it. I really don't know why switching the file system would clear
things up for you, but that's not your question.

Before you do anything you will, of course, want to back up all the existing
data that you want to keep. Formatting will remove all data on the affected
volume.

If you want to change the format of a disk volume that is not the boot
volume, go to Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management.
Once in the Computer Management console click on Disk Management. You can
then select the volume you want to change, right click and select format.
Then you choose the file system you would like to use (NTFS should be the
default) and get to it.

If you would like to reformat the boot volume the only way that I know of
doing this is in the xp installation process. To do this you would run the
intstall cd and when it asks what you would like to do with existing files,
or whether you'd like a fresh copy of xp or not, there is an option to
Convert to NTFS that you can select.

Again, you're gonna want to be comfortable with this before you do too much
and make sure you have backups of stuff you don't want to lose. Hope this
helps.

"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> I am having a lot of problems with XP home doing random reboots and
freezes
> ( Excel and Dreamweaver primarily). I've been told by the system builder
> that I should convert my harddrives from FAT 32 to NTFS... can anyone
> elighten me as to what this may be about and why I should or should not do
> it?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny S
>
>

[Penny S.]

Randall Arnold wrote:
> I don't see how the conversion would solve your particular problem:
> NTFS does add *some* overall stability but it's mainly designed for
> enhanced security and performance.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if the system builder was just putting you
> off. If you don't have a virus (and make sure you don't), I'd
> suspect ram, device drivers or video card to be the culprit based on
> my own experience. Note that systems nowadays tend to be very
> fault-intolerant of cheap ram; this has been my number one source of
> system instability recently. The high-speeds of today's CPUs and
> busses demand high-quality ram, especially the motherboard
> manufacturer's recommendations. Verify that the builder went by the
> mfr's recs.
>
> Randall Arnold

thanks... just to verifty,

check power supply and ram first.
Then check drivers... any suggestions on best way to do this?


tia

penny s

[Rich Barry]

I agree with Randall. Go here and download and try Memtest.
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html


"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> I am having a lot of problems with XP home doing random reboots and
freezes
> ( Excel and Dreamweaver primarily). I've been told by the system builder
> that I should convert my harddrives from FAT 32 to NTFS... can anyone
> elighten me as to what this may be about and why I should or should not do
> it?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny S
>
>

[Randall Arnold]

Visit the websites of every device manufacturer who provided parts for your
system. Check the device drivers they display against the versions on your
PC (you can find out your current drivers by selecting Performance and
Maintenance on the Control Panel, then System, Hardware tab, Device Manager
button. double-clicking device names brings up a dialog that includes a tab
for driver).

Randall Arnold

"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> Randall Arnold wrote:
> > I don't see how the conversion would solve your particular problem:
> > NTFS does add *some* overall stability but it's mainly designed for
> > enhanced security and performance.
> >
> > I wouldn't be surprised if the system builder was just putting you
> > off. If you don't have a virus (and make sure you don't), I'd
> > suspect ram, device drivers or video card to be the culprit based on
> > my own experience. Note that systems nowadays tend to be very
> > fault-intolerant of cheap ram; this has been my number one source of
> > system instability recently. The high-speeds of today's CPUs and
> > busses demand high-quality ram, especially the motherboard
> > manufacturer's recommendations. Verify that the builder went by the
> > mfr's recs.
> >
> > Randall Arnold
>
> thanks... just to verifty,
>
> check power supply and ram first.
> Then check drivers... any suggestions on best way to do this?
>
>
> tia
>
> penny s
>
>

[Penny S.]

Rich Barry wrote:
> I agree with Randall. Go here and download and try Memtest.
> http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html
>

well the results are not good, 8 errors, in 479 cycles with %183 coverage. I
don't know what that means but it sure doens't sound good! And that's in the
first half hour of running it.

I'd say a likely culprit for errors, wouldn't you?

thanks

Penny

[Randall Arnold]

I let memtest run to nearly 500% coverage on my IBM Mpro: 0 errors.

I think you're on the right track.

Randall Arnold

"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> Rich Barry wrote:
> > I agree with Randall. Go here and download and try Memtest.
> > http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html
> >
>
> well the results are not good, 8 errors, in 479 cycles with %183 coverage.
I
> don't know what that means but it sure doens't sound good! And that's in
the
> first half hour of running it.
>
> I'd say a likely culprit for errors, wouldn't you?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny
>
>

[Rick C]

I think you found your problem. First, try to get your system builder to
replace the memory, if it is under warranty. Most memory makers warrant
their memory boards for life. If you get nowhere with the system builder,
then at least get them to tell you who made the memory boards, and try to
get the manufacturer to replace them.

Memory boards are easy to replace in most PCs. You may need to remove one
just to see who made it. Actually, I have had good success in removing
memory boards, wiping them off with a clean rag dipped in alcohol, and
reinserting them. Desktop and tower memory boards are tilted when installed
and held in place by a clip on the end. Buying 256Meg memory for my system
cost less than $40.

Rick C.

"Penny S." > wrote in message
...
> Rich Barry wrote:
> > I agree with Randall. Go here and download and try Memtest.
> > http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html
> >
>
> well the results are not good, 8 errors, in 479 cycles with %183 coverage.
I
> don't know what that means but it sure doens't sound good! And that's in
the
> first half hour of running it.
>
> I'd say a likely culprit for errors, wouldn't you?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny
>
>

[Lemon Jelly]

Penny S. - enthusiastically X posted:
> well the results are not good, 8 errors, in 479 cycles with %183
> coverage. I don't know what that means but it sure doens't sound
> good! And that's in the first half hour of running it.
>
> I'd say a likely culprit for errors, wouldn't you?
>
> thanks
>
> Penny

The problem with Memtest86 is interpreting anything other than passes
IMO. I would re-run the tests & try to ascertain if the failures are
occurring at the same addresses. If random, could point to other
hardware as well as RAM. A faulty, poor quality or under-powered PSU can
cause memory errors, as can a motherboard or CPU in descending order of
likelihood. If you have more than one stick of RAM, run with one at a
time. Some motherboards prefer to populate slots 1 & 3 with RAM.

Your system builder maybe deflecting you away from cheap components by
suggesting you convert to NTFS. There are pitfalls to using the convert
command anyway, like ending up with an inefficient cluster size. NTFS is
more fault-tolerant than FAT & about the same speed.
--
Paul