Ntfs Partition

[majoreb]

HOW CAN I PARTION HDD FROM THE BEGINNING? I'D LIKE TO CLEAN INSTALL WIN 2K.:(

[Oni]

Ok, a few things:

1) Welcome to the forums
2) Please check your Caps Lock key at the door. Its considered yelling
3) You might wanna post this in Software and Operating systems, and I'm sure a Mod will move it there eventually.

But I'll answer now, cuz i'm a really nice guy, and I'm bored out of my skull.

If you want a clean install of Win2k, pop in your setup disks (or your CD, if its bootable) and go through the motions of starting up the install process.

Eventually, it'll get to the "format your harddrive" part. Just select delete the current partition (if there is a current partition) and format it for NTFS when prompted. Thats that.

[majoreb]

:) THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PROMT RESPONSE.I 'LL DEFINATELY TRY IT.

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by majoreb
:) THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PROMT RESPONSE.I 'LL DEFINATELY TRY IT.

let me know how it turns out, im wondering if i should go to ntfs also.

[oc jason]

well with a clean HD, if ou format with a boot flppy from a DOS prompt, then it will be FAT, and you can chooose to reformat and convert to NTFS if you install any OS 2k or later, it is called "Format Partiton using NTFS File system' choise #1 in the windows 2000 setup process. Id definately go NTFS, it is more stabel. I love it , the file table is set up better then older FAT systems

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by [OC] Jason
well with a clean HD, if ou format with a boot flppy from a DOS prompt, then it will be FAT, and you can chooose to reformat and convert to NTFS if you install any OS 2k or later, it is called "Format Partiton using NTFS File system' choise #1 in the windows 2000 setup process. Id definately go NTFS, it is more stabel. I love it , the file table is set up better then older FAT systems

yea but i have 2 hdd's.. how would i convert both?

[Thelemac]

*Moved to "Software and Operating Systems"*

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by Thelemac
*Moved to "Software and Operating Systems"*

good job :)

[oc jason]

sorry to say it but so far i have not found a way to convert a HDD wirth out formatting, that is just the way it is, so if you have a FAT partitoin for a 2nd HD and a NTFS partiton with the HD containing the OS then they will not read each other and youll have probs, either backup data and format both drivers or wait till they crash and you have an excuse to do so

[RedDeathDrinker]

The latest Partition Magic can do this without losing data

The other option )space permitting) would be to copy everything onto one FAT32 HDD, Format the other to NTFS and install Win2000 or XP on the drive, transfer everythig over, and then partition the second drive.......

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by reddeathdrinker
The latest Partition Magic can do this without losing data

The other option )space permitting) would be to copy everything onto one FAT32 HDD, Format the other to NTFS and install Win2000 or XP on the drive, transfer everythig over, and then partition the second drive.......

yea thats probly what ill have to do..

does xp use/have ntfs?

[Yodums]

Use the win2k bootdisks..
They can be found at http://www.bootdisk.com/

The instructions are simple .. Installing a partition with the Win NT based boot disks are simple unlike the Win9x(Not that their complicated just that alot more work hehe) ones :)

[Maddman]

Originally posted by [OC] Jason
sorry to say it but so far i have not found a way to convert a HDD wirth out formatting, that is just the way it is, so if you have a FAT partitoin for a 2nd HD and a NTFS partiton with the HD containing the OS then they will not read each other and youll have probs, either backup data and format both drivers or wait till they crash and you have an excuse to do so

You can run both fat32 and ntfs drives together under win2k I do it and keep my dos utilities on the fat32 drive. To convert fat based drives to NTFS drives in win2k goto a command prompt. and use convert x: /fs:ntfs where x is your drive letter as long as you have enough free space it will convert it to ntfs otherwise it will promt you to get more freespace.

[majoreb]

REGARDING WIN2K BOOT DISKS,IS IT OK NOT TO USE FDISK PROR TO THAT?

[CrystalMethod]

Originally posted by Dissolved


yea thats probly what ill have to do..

does xp use/have ntfs?
XP uses/has both, NTFS, and FAT32. It'll usually want to install itself with NTFS. Not too sure why this is, sometimes I get the option to format the drive in NTFS or FAT32. But sometimes it only gives the option of formatting with NTFS. Still trying to track down the source of the problem, butno luck so far.

[Dissolved]

yea, id like to go to ntfs.. but im still a lil lost.. and i dont wanna lost my data again...

[Kendan]

Originally posted by Maddman


You can run both fat32 and ntfs drives together under win2k I do it and keep my dos utilities on the fat32 drive. To convert fat based drives to NTFS drives in win2k goto a command prompt. and use convert x: /fs:ntfs where x is your drive letter as long as you have enough free space it will convert it to ntfs otherwise it will promt you to get more freespace.


can you do this without losing DATA? I think I read in my win2k book that you can.

[Softwebdev]

when you install w2k in a NTFS partitsion.........you can convert FAT32 to NTFS by using the CONVERT COMMAND in the command prompt as follow DIRECTLY from W2K

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.

hope this help

[Maddman]

Originally posted by kendan



can you do this without losing DATA? I think I read in my win2k book that you can.

Yes. You just have to have enough free space on the drive. If you dont it will tell you to free up more space.