Re: Convert NTFS to FAT32??

Willard wrote:
Is it possible to convert WinXP (NTFS) to WinXP (FAT32) so that MSDOS7.1 programs can access the fat32 files??

Not natively in Windows. Some 3rd party programs such as Partition Magic can supposedly do this (I've never used it, so can't attest to the reliability), another highly regarded 3rd party product, BootIT NG can resize NTFS partitions, create and fromat partitions using FAT32 or NTFS. I've used some of the functions of this product and it seems quite good, plus the 30-day free trial is fully functional. Learn more here:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

If it were me, I'd purchase an inexpensive disk, install it as a slave drive in the PC and format it FAT32 instead of messing with your system partition. There is always a chance of something going wrong when you fiddle with system partitions and you'd be better off leaving XP running on the NTFS file system in my opinion, although XP will perform fine on FAT32, you lose all the NTFS security functions as well as what many consider to be more reliable and robust file system management and performance.

Steve N.

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Relevant Pages

  • 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. ...
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    (microsoft.public.win2000.hardware)
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    ... the System partition from FAT32 to NTFS. ... can do it without formating the partition. ...
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  • Re: NTFS and Dos
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