Installing WIn98 over an NT 4 workstation installation...

I have Windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on my home PC (got it from my
last place of work). The HD is using FAT not NTFS and has three partitions -
of which Drive C is the system partition where NT is installed.

I am having problems and have decided to just replace NT with Win98 on this
machine (it's an older PC so can't install XP etc.. on it) This will do the
trick for what we use it for at home...

My question is this... All of our personal data is stored on the other
partitions - drive D and E. Can I format and install Win98 on the C
partition without having to backup all the data on my other two drives? ( i
do not have any means of backing it up really - floppies and that is it...)
or, will reformatting the C partition screw up the FAT? Does each partition
not have it's own FAT though??

Thanks,

Brad

You can do what you want to do, as you described doing it. Just make sure
*nothing* you want to keep is on C:\. Yes, disasters can happen, but it would be
very rare for a simple FORMAT C: operation to adversely affect any other
partition.

Hmmm.... You say it's a FAT partition--I'm betting that means it's *not* a FAT32
partition. In that case, I would use FDSIK to delete the partition altogether,
then recreate it as a FAT32 partition and format.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Brad Pears" wrote in message
...
I have Windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on my home PC (got it from my
last place of work). The HD is using FAT not NTFS and has three partitions -
of which Drive C is the system partition where NT is installed.

I am having problems and have decided to just replace NT with Win98 on this
machine (it's an older PC so can't install XP etc.. on it) This will do the
trick for what we use it for at home...

My question is this... All of our personal data is stored on the other
partitions - drive D and E. Can I format and install Win98 on the C
partition without having to backup all the data on my other two drives? ( i
do not have any means of backing it up really - floppies and that is it...)
or, will reformatting the C partition screw up the FAT? Does each partition
not have it's own FAT though??

Thanks,

Brad

What's the benefit gained by formatting as FAT32 over just FAT? Also will
this cause any adverse issues between the other FAT partitions if I leave
them just the way they are?

NT is reporting them as FAT. I wonder if it really is FAT32....

Thanks for your info...

Brad

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
You can do what you want to do, as you described doing it. Just make sure
*nothing* you want to keep is on C:\. Yes, disasters can happen, but it
would be
very rare for a simple FORMAT C: operation to adversely affect any other
partition.

Hmmm.... You say it's a FAT partition--I'm betting that means it's *not* a
FAT32
partition. In that case, I would use FDSIK to delete the partition
altogether,
then recreate it as a FAT32 partition and format.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Brad Pears" wrote in message
...
I have Windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on my home PC (got it from
my
last place of work). The HD is using FAT not NTFS and has three
partitions -
of which Drive C is the system partition where NT is installed.

I am having problems and have decided to just replace NT with Win98 on
this
machine (it's an older PC so can't install XP etc.. on it) This will do
the
trick for what we use it for at home...

My question is this... All of our personal data is stored on the other
partitions - drive D and E. Can I format and install Win98 on the C
partition without having to backup all the data on my other two drives?
( i
do not have any means of backing it up really - floppies and that is
it...)
or, will reformatting the C partition screw up the FAT? Does each
partition
not have it's own FAT though??

Thanks,

Brad

First read this, then we can discuss it, s.

"Description of the FAT32 File System"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154997

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Brad Pears" wrote in message
...
What's the benefit gained by formatting as FAT32 over just FAT? Also will
this cause any adverse issues between the other FAT partitions if I leave
them just the way they are?

NT is reporting them as FAT. I wonder if it really is FAT32....

Thanks for your info...

Brad

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
You can do what you want to do, as you described doing it. Just make sure
*nothing* you want to keep is on C:\. Yes, disasters can happen, but it
would be
very rare for a simple FORMAT C: operation to adversely affect any other
partition.

Hmmm.... You say it's a FAT partition--I'm betting that means it's *not* a
FAT32
partition. In that case, I would use FDSIK to delete the partition
altogether,
then recreate it as a FAT32 partition and format.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Brad Pears" wrote in message
...
I have Windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on my home PC (got it from
my
last place of work). The HD is using FAT not NTFS and has three
partitions -
of which Drive C is the system partition where NT is installed.

I am having problems and have decided to just replace NT with Win98 on
this
machine (it's an older PC so can't install XP etc.. on it) This will do
the
trick for what we use it for at home...

My question is this... All of our personal data is stored on the other
partitions - drive D and E. Can I format and install Win98 on the C
partition without having to backup all the data on my other two drives?
( i
do not have any means of backing it up really - floppies and that is
it...)
or, will reformatting the C partition screw up the FAT? Does each
partition
not have it's own FAT though??

Thanks,

Brad