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re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 6:39 am Posted by GM (6055 messages posted) before you attempt that , what problems are you having and why do you think they are file structure related....? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 7:05 am Posted by Bob B (1139 messages posted) nTFS shouldn't be causeing any problems, but if you really want to start clean and go with FAT32 (I'm running it on my computer because I don't need the security features right now and data access is a prime concern) start by booting from the XP CD and when it gives you options, tell it you want to do a New install. When it asks for the partition, follow the on-screen instructions to delete all the partitions that show up and then create a new partition to install from. The next screen (shows the directory to install in) has options that let you choose the file system... Good Luck On Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 5:51 am, Art wrote: >The problem is: i have XP installed, but there are lots of problems while it´s running. >So i want to format the disk, to start a clean installation and to use fat32 partition >instead of the ntsf that i have now. So how do i format an ntsf partition and convert >it to fat32, in order to start a clean installation? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 10:43 am Posted by czyxzy (594 messages posted) I almost always do it the old fashioned way. I boot with a W98 Boot Floppy. I then run Fdisk. It can't read NTFS partitions, but it shows them as "Unknown." Just use Fdisk to delete the partition. Then use Fdisk to recreat a new partition and format it. when Fdisk is started, it will present a message about finding a disk larger than "whatever." Answer, "Yes," and it will use FAT32. I don't use the procedures on the XP CD, because the first time I tried it, selecting only my C-Partition for action, it formatted the entire drive, killing the two additional partitions and all data on the drive. Was that an MS "Feature" or something I did? I have no reason to suspect what I did. My rule is that MS almost never lets you do exactly what you want to do... or what you think you're doing. Excessive, maybe. But there you go. On Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 5:51 am, Art wrote: >The problem is: i have XP installed, but there are lots of problems while it´s running. >So i want to format the disk, to start a clean installation and to use fat32 partition >instead of the ntsf that i have now. So how do i format an ntsf partition and convert >it to fat32, in order to start a clean installation? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 6:52 pm Posted by L Heligas (4 messages posted) That happened to me, too. I tried to re-install XP on my primary hard drive and somehow, it quick wiped the slave drive. And that's where I had all my frickin' data. I can see the data, but I can't seem to transfer it back. Do you have any idea of any programs I could use to retrieve the data? On Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 10:43 am, Zeb wrote: >I almost always do it the old fashioned way. I boot with a W98 Boot Floppy. I then >run Fdisk. It can't read NTFS partitions, but it shows them as "Unknown." Just use >Fdisk to delete the partition. Then use Fdisk to recreat a new partition and format >it. when Fdisk is started, it will present a message about finding a disk larger >than "whatever." Answer, "Yes," and it will use FAT32. I don't use the procedures >on the XP CD, because the first time I tried it, selecting only my C-Partition for >action, it formatted the entire drive, killing the two additional partitions and >all data on the drive. >Was that an MS "Feature" or something I did? I have no reason to suspect what I did. >My rule is that MS almost never lets you do exactly what you want to do... or what >you think you're doing. Excessive, maybe. But there you go. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 9:35 pm Posted by czyxzy (594 messages posted) If you can see the data then it wasn't wiped. You may have a different problem, but, since you can see the data, you should be able to retrieve it. XP seems to do some strange crap from time to time. If you can access the drive via the drive letter, you might try RUN/CMD (from the Start Button.) Then do a XCOPY D:\*.* C:\TEMP\ to your primary drive. D: is whatever the drive letter of the fritzed up drive is and C: is your primary drive. This assumes you have a TEMP Directory on the C: Drive. XCOPY copies directories and files. On Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 6:52 pm, L Heligas wrote: >That happened to me, too. I tried to re-install XP on my primary hard drive and >somehow, it quick wiped the slave drive. And that's where I had all my frickin' >data. I can see the data, but I can't seem to transfer it back. Do you have any >idea of any programs I could use to retrieve the data? > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 11:14 pm Posted by L Heligas (4 messages posted) Well, I tried that, and it doesn't work. All I get is XP saying that the drive doesn't have a recognized file system. Right-clicking on the drive tells me the drive is empty (yeah, right) and that it is in RAW format. Somehow, the file system for the drive has been wiped. I know I should start another post for this, but your response has been the most helpful so far. Thanks. On Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 9:35 pm, Zeb wrote: >If you can see the data then it wasn't wiped. You may have a different problem, but, >since you can see the data, you should be able to retrieve it. XP seems to do some >strange crap from time to time. If you can access the drive via the drive letter, >you might try RUN/CMD (from the Start Button.) Then do a XCOPY D:\*.* C:\TEMP\ to >your primary drive. D: is whatever the drive letter of the fritzed up drive is and >C: is your primary drive. This assumes you have a TEMP Directory on the C: Drive. >XCOPY copies directories and files. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Format XP, and turn NTFS to FAT32 Friday, December 27, 2002 at 9:51 am Posted by Bruce (44 messages posted) There are a number of software packages that can recover data such as this. I recently used a package called LOST & FOUND. it did the trick for me. I have also had success with SpinRite: http://grc.com/spinrite.htm On Tuesday, November 12, 2002 at 11:14 pm, L Heligas wrote: >Well, I tried that, and it doesn't work. All I get is XP saying that the drive doesn't >have a recognized file system. Right-clicking on the drive tells me the drive is >empty (yeah, right) and that it is in RAW format. Somehow, the file system for the >drive has been wiped. I know I should start another post for this, but your response >has been the most helpful so far. Thanks. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum