Re: Newbie question about FAT32 / NTFS disk space allocation....

From: Ken Blake, MVP (kblake_at_this.is.an.invalid.domain)
Date: 06/18/04 

Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 11:06:25 -0700

In news:8f71557d.0406180819.6ea0f511@posting.google.com,
stljeffbb <stljeffbb@hotmail.com> typed:

> I've been messing around with a 20 Gig hard drive for my Dell
Insriron
> 8000 (laptop)....The CD-Rom is kind of touchy and only works
about 1
> in 20 times, so when I have been able, I use an external
CD-RW.....
>
> I started with MS-Dos 6.22

A mistake, unfortunately. See below.

> and installed Win98SE from there......for
> these, my primary hard disk uses only 2 GB out of the 20
available in
> the FAT32 system.

That's because you have FAT16, not FAT32. DOS 6.22 does not
support FAT32.

> Now that I've instaled XP, I would like to use all
> 20 GB for the C drive.
>
> How can I go about doing this? I've poked around the help
files and
> tried creating a new partition with the unused space, but it
assigns a
> different letter for that space and I do not prefer that (2 GB
is kind
> of small for my applications on C). I'm hoping it won't mess
with my
> use of an external CD drive, and I don't think it will, but
offered it
> up for background info.

There's no way to do what you want in Windows. It requires a
third-party program such Partition Magic or BootIt Next
Generation.

Alternatively, and perhaps the best choice in your case, is to
start all over again. Back up any data you need, then do a clean
installation by booting from the XP CD (if you have to try it 20
times, then do so). You'll be able to choose either NTFS (which I
recommend) or FAT32. Do *not* first install DOS 6.22 or Windows
98.

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html 

-- 
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How do I move files to my new PC?
    ... 'everything' from his old computer running Windows 98. ... Unfortunately he does not have all of his installation CD-ROMs. ... whether they are formatted FAT32 or NTFS. ... is going to cause problems (20 gbyte HDD is 70% full). ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Converting system partition to NTFS
    ... For some reason the Acer laptop I bought around 18 months ago came with FAT32 and not NTFS as expected, and I have been thinking of converting it to NTFS for some time. ... "...so that you can repair or troubleshoot via command line because your GUI won't boot up" is not a very compelling reason to install Windows XP on FAT32, this is a notion perpetuated by well meaning Windows 9x users who think that FAT32 is better because it allows you to boot to DOS and access your disk if you run into problems. ... But my system partition is running out of space. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Trojan bifrose removal?
    ... size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation ... FAT32 and give it any cluster size you want (cluster-size scaling is ... Point 3: Windows XP supports three file systems for fixed disks: FAT16, ... FAT32, and NTFS. ...
    (alt.comp.anti-virus)
  • Re: trying to connect a USB and Firewire external drive
    ... XP can read FAT32, NTFS is a file format not an OS. ... |> For some reason WIndows XP appears to detect it but I ... |> USB Storage ... click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter." ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • RE: Erroneous Message: Cannot Copy _ There is not enough free disk spa
    ... This WD device is preformatted as a single FAT32 partition for compatibility ... Windows 2000 and XP users can overcome file size limitations by reformatting ... See Knowledge Base Answer ID 207 for formatting instructions. ... After formatting, go to Downloads, find your product, download the My Passport ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)