DOS doesn't work anymore!

Hi folks. This is my first visit here, so my problem may have a well-
known fix, I hope.
My OmniBook started making burnt-plastic smells so I got a new laptop. I
have a large database programmed in QuickBasic 4.5. When I run QBasic
(off the Windows 98SE disk) under Command Prompt, it can't access any
files and quits on Bad File Mode error. I think this is because
everything in XP is NTFS.
So ...
1) Get Microsoft to fix their half-assed DOS emulator. Not likely.
2) Wipe the disk, format it as FAT32, and reinstall XP. What utilities
do this? -- not Disk Management or DiskPart as far as I can tell. Will
DOS apps read FAT32 files?
3) Make a FAT32 partition (how?), install another copy of XP in it. No
advantage over #2, I would think.
3a) Make a FAT32 partition and install Windows 98SE. Probably would
cause horrendous conflicts.
4) Make a FAT partition and keep the data files in it. Will XP
translate an NTFS file into FAT (or FAT32) when I move it into the new
partition?
5) Wipe the disk, trash XP, and install Linux. Their DOS emulator
works.
6) Find a still-working OmniBook and buy it cheap.

Any other (polite) suggestion?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Disk failure
    ... I want to format the new 250Gb disk in FAT32 because I need access to ... Is there any way of having a FAT32 partition greater than 30Gb? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: FAT32 HDDrive Hidden
    ... Microsoft claims that XP ... with FAT32, but the drive doesn't show up in Explorer. ... the drive specified'] This is basically confirmed by Disk Management, ... No bent or deformed pins on the drive's signal/data connector? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: NTFS -> FAT32
    ... So I take that to be a "Yes", I can increase the size of a FAT32 boot ... When I clone this disk I can set the size of the ... target partition, which I will set for the full disk. ... I cloned the boot disk to a slave disk and limited the partition ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.file_system)
  • Re: XP Pro install stuck: repeats after first system restart
    ... if I boot from the CD the installation just starts over. ... I'm using FAT32 because I'm dual booting with Ubuntu Linux, ... extra partition that both XP and Linux can read and write from; ... partition on the disk for the XP installation and after you install SP2 ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: Adding NTFS external disk to FAT32 internal
    ... UDF and any other PC disk format I've ever heard of. ... happy with FAT32 as long as you are. ... can have Google search for "big drives" to find over 5,000 articles. ... and then WinXP can use the whole thing. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)