Topic: Thinking of switching to Win2k prof.
started by: BlackFlag
Posted by BlackFlag on May 25 2002,20:42
I'm thinking of switching to win2k professional, since that's what we're using in class.... but isn't it based on the NT file system (NTFS) wich is incompatable with FAT32? would i be able to view/use fat32 files i already have under win2k? if so, how?
Posted by Beldurin on May 25 2002,22:07
2K can be installed on FAT32, but I would recommend NTFS. They're not incompatible. It can still read files off of FAT32 partitions even if it is installed on an NTFS partition. What you probably heard is because win 9x on a FAT partition can't read NTFS files, but NT/2K can read FAT files.
Helpful?
Posted by Necromancer on May 26 2002,01:48
If you need to have the files on a network i.e home network just make a secondary fat32 partition when installing it with your system (c:\
partition as ntfs. you can quite easily transfer files on and off the ntfs partition using floppies or zip disks if need be. the only reason you'd need a fat32 partition is like i said if someone wanted to read from a win98/me system directly off your computer.2k will happily read fat from ntfs it just doesnt work the other way.
Posted by BlackFlag on May 26 2002,11:04
very helpfull=)now i just need to find out if all the shit i use on a daily basis has a win2k version.....
also wondering if there's a util that can upgrade a drive from FAT32 to NTFS. I would guess one of them would be included with win2k, but i'm going the warez route, and who knows what they might strip to reduce file size.
edit:
clarificatin:
if c: is NTFS and d: is FAT32..... there would be no problems moving files back and forth between the drives? no compatability issues?
Posted by Necromancer on May 26 2002,18:04
thers no problem but just remember you only really need to have a fat32 partition for networking to win98 machines. the standards for cd and zip etc are universal.most stuff will run on 2k regardless.
partition magic should do it.
Posted by Beldurin on May 26 2002,21:08
N is right, partition magic will do it, but Win 2K does come with an NTFS conversion utility. The problem with partition magic is that it sometimes adheres to the old NTFS 4GB partition limitation so you have to slice it up into 4 GB NTFS partitions, then run through the whole process again and then combine the NTFS partitions back into one. The newest version may not have this quirk, but I ran into it a couple of times at the last place I worked.For the built-in 2K version, at the C:\prompt type:
format c: /fs ntfs
I think that's the correct syntax...it's been a while since I've done it.
Edit: clarification