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#1
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FORMAT NTFS Partition back to FAT32
Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition
and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? Wish to remove Win2000 in favor of Win98se. Machine only has a 3.5 dsk drive, no CD. CD is available via network share. |
#2
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I *think* there are utilities to do this (I'm not sure.) However, you'd
probably have an easier and more successful time of it if you simply repartition the drive and create a new FAT32 partition. Format it and install Win98SE clean. Even if you can reformat the drive and save data, there will be a ton of crap that you no longer want or need. If you need to save data from the existing partition, you'll want to either back it up to another computer or some external storage (external HD, CDR, etc.) or if your HD is large enough, use a partitioning tool like BootIt NG to shrink the existing partition and create a new one to store your backup. Then move the data you want to save, then replace the OS partition. Or, if you have lots of HD room, shrink the existing partition, slide it to the end of the drive, then create your new Win98 partition at the beginning of the drive. If you do it this way, and use a boot manager (BootIt NG also does this), you can retain the ability to keep your Win2K system functional. You'll have to boot to Win2K to move data to the Win98 system, since Win98 can't read the NTFS partition, but this is pretty much the way I do this kind of job. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? Wish to remove Win2000 in favor of Win98se. Machine only has a 3.5 dsk drive, no CD. CD is available via network share. |
#3
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wrote in message
... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
#4
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Don Phillipson wrote:
wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) The copy of FORMAT I tried is from W98se. It says unrecognized file format. I have since read that FDISK can Delete the NTFS partition. I have the later WinME version of Fdisk to use but am unsure of what condition the disk will be left in after a Delete. It is as simple as running Format after that? Any data is already saved elsewhere. |
#5
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Use FDISK to Delete existing partition(s). You may need to restart and go
back to FDISK, then create new partition(s). Restart and then FORMAT the partition. Win98 Startup disk should have mo problem with this, though I use a different tool (BootIt NG). You don't say how large the disk is, but the ideal setup for a Win9x system is to create a FAT32 no larger than 8192MB (8GB) for the OS. Then create an Extended partition with the remaining space, then create one or more Volumes inside that Extended partition (Volume is another name for partition--sort of.) I like to create a 2-4 GB TEMP partition (D:\) to hold TEMP and Temporary Internet Files. After that, user data partition(s). I usually use E:\ for My Documents, Outlook Express storage, etc., and one or more for large file storage--multi-media, music, videos, downloaded program installers, etc. Again, I don't know how large your drive is, but the 8GB suggestion for the OS partition is to keep the cluster size to 4KB. Win98, 98SE and ME are built to use the presence of 4KB clusters to greatly improve performance. If you go over 8GB, the cluster size is automatically enlarged to 8, 16, or 32 KB, depending on the size of the partition. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Don Phillipson wrote: wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) The copy of FORMAT I tried is from W98se. It says unrecognized file format. I have since read that FDISK can Delete the NTFS partition. I have the later WinME version of Fdisk to use but am unsure of what condition the disk will be left in after a Delete. It is as simple as running Format after that? Any data is already saved elsewhere. |
#6
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Thanks, I can do this. Power is flaky right now. Surges bounced off the UPS
twice. Maybe tomorrow. "Gary S. Terhune" wrote: Use FDISK to Delete existing partition(s). You may need to restart and go back to FDISK, then create new partition(s). Restart and then FORMAT the partition. Win98 Startup disk should have mo problem with this, though I use a different tool (BootIt NG). You don't say how large the disk is, but the ideal setup for a Win9x system is to create a FAT32 no larger than 8192MB (8GB) for the OS. Then create an Extended partition with the remaining space, then create one or more Volumes inside that Extended partition (Volume is another name for partition--sort of.) I like to create a 2-4 GB TEMP partition (D:\) to hold TEMP and Temporary Internet Files. After that, user data partition(s). I usually use E:\ for My Documents, Outlook Express storage, etc., and one or more for large file storage--multi-media, music, videos, downloaded program installers, etc. Again, I don't know how large your drive is, but the 8GB suggestion for the OS partition is to keep the cluster size to 4KB. Win98, 98SE and ME are built to use the presence of 4KB clusters to greatly improve performance. If you go over 8GB, the cluster size is automatically enlarged to 8, 16, or 32 KB, depending on the size of the partition. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Don Phillipson wrote: wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) The copy of FORMAT I tried is from W98se. It says unrecognized file format. I have since read that FDISK can Delete the NTFS partition. I have the later WinME version of Fdisk to use but am unsure of what condition the disk will be left in after a Delete. It is as simple as running Format after that? Any data is already saved elsewhere. |
#7
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Good luck!
-- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Thanks, I can do this. Power is flaky right now. Surges bounced off the UPS twice. Maybe tomorrow. "Gary S. Terhune" wrote: Use FDISK to Delete existing partition(s). You may need to restart and go back to FDISK, then create new partition(s). Restart and then FORMAT the partition. Win98 Startup disk should have mo problem with this, though I use a different tool (BootIt NG). You don't say how large the disk is, but the ideal setup for a Win9x system is to create a FAT32 no larger than 8192MB (8GB) for the OS. Then create an Extended partition with the remaining space, then create one or more Volumes inside that Extended partition (Volume is another name for partition--sort of.) I like to create a 2-4 GB TEMP partition (D:\) to hold TEMP and Temporary Internet Files. After that, user data partition(s). I usually use E:\ for My Documents, Outlook Express storage, etc., and one or more for large file storage--multi-media, music, videos, downloaded program installers, etc. Again, I don't know how large your drive is, but the 8GB suggestion for the OS partition is to keep the cluster size to 4KB. Win98, 98SE and ME are built to use the presence of 4KB clusters to greatly improve performance. If you go over 8GB, the cluster size is automatically enlarged to 8, 16, or 32 KB, depending on the size of the partition. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Don Phillipson wrote: wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) The copy of FORMAT I tried is from W98se. It says unrecognized file format. I have since read that FDISK can Delete the NTFS partition. I have the later WinME version of Fdisk to use but am unsure of what condition the disk will be left in after a Delete. It is as simple as running Format after that? Any data is already saved elsewhere. |
#8
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"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
Good luck! -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Thanks, I can do this. Power is flaky right now. Surges bounced off the UPS twice. Maybe tomorrow. "Gary S. Terhune" wrote: Use FDISK to Delete existing partition(s). You may need to restart and go back to FDISK, then create new partition(s). Restart and then FORMAT the partition. Win98 Startup disk should have mo problem with this, though I use a different tool (BootIt NG). You don't say how large the disk is, but the ideal setup for a Win9x system is to create a FAT32 no larger than 8192MB (8GB) for the OS. Then create an Extended partition with the remaining space, then create one or more Volumes inside that Extended partition (Volume is another name for partition--sort of.) I like to create a 2-4 GB TEMP partition (D:\) to hold TEMP and Temporary Internet Files. After that, user data partition(s). I usually use E:\ for My Documents, Outlook Express storage, etc., and one or more for large file storage--multi-media, music, videos, downloaded program installers, etc. Again, I don't know how large your drive is, but the 8GB suggestion for the OS partition is to keep the cluster size to 4KB. Win98, 98SE and ME are built to use the presence of 4KB clusters to greatly improve performance. If you go over 8GB, the cluster size is automatically enlarged to 8, 16, or 32 KB, depending on the size of the partition. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... Don Phillipson wrote: wrote in message ... Is there a version of Format that will recognize a NTFS partition and allow it to be re-formatted as FAT32? What happens when you run Win98 FDISK ? If it recognizes the partition you should be able to remove it, then make a new partition and use FAT FORMAT.EXE. -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) The copy of FORMAT I tried is from W98se. It says unrecognized file format. I have since read that FDISK can Delete the NTFS partition. I have the later WinME version of Fdisk to use but am unsure of what condition the disk will be left in after a Delete. It is as simple as running Format after that? Any data is already saved elsewhere. The good news is........it's fixed! I'll keep the Win2000. Seems Win2000 won't handle a Hosts file. The same Hosts file will run quickly on a Win9x box. Remove the file and W2000 runs like normal. Such is life. |
#9
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Odd. Have you tried an empty file named HOSTS? That would give you some
indication of whether it's the mechanisms involved or due to the content of the HOSTS file you're using. Where do you get your HOSTS files? -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User wrote in message ... The good news is........it's fixed! I'll keep the Win2000. Seems Win2000 won't handle a Hosts file. The same Hosts file will run quickly on a Win9x box. Remove the file and W2000 runs like normal. Such is life. |
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