Ferrari 4000 only ships wish XP FAT32???

[niggles]

the recovery CDs that we got with a new 4000 only has fat32 on the recovery CDs only. I can not believe that a high end laptop would really ship with only FAT32 as an option. Does anyone have one of these that can confirm that this is the only option? Is it possible that the retailer that we are dealing with possilbly didn't give us the NTFS recovery CDs? I'd call them, but ACER doesn't have a tech support line to call. I am amazed at the lack of support on the site, but that's neither here nor there right now. If someone could post back it would be extremely helpful.

 

[OdiN]

Meh...I've seen some new IBM's that came with FAT32 and when you first start them up it just does the conversion to NTFS. It's easy to convert it to NTFS.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: niggles
the recovery CDs that we got with a new 4000 only has fat32 on the recovery CDs only. I can not believe that a high end laptop would really ship with only FAT32 as an option. Does anyone have one of these that can confirm that this is the only option? Is it possible that the retailer that we are dealing with possilbly didn't give us the NTFS recovery CDs? I'd call them, but ACER doesn't have a tech support line to call. I am amazed at the lack of support on the site, but that's neither here nor there right now. If someone could post back it would be extremely helpful.

The best thing you can do is load the OS only (in which case you would get an option as to which file system to use) and then load the software you want by hand. If you use the all in one CD then all of the OEMs bloatware gets loaded along with the OS. Just my 2 cents.

 

[niggles]

Sorry, I guess I didn't communicate this well. I am well versed in how to format a drive and how to set up windows. There is no option for either it simply launches directly into installing FAT32. I checked the documention which is extremely tiny to start with. There is no mention of either FAT32 or NTFS as if there is no difference. Sure I can load my own copy of WinXP pro on there, but then you don't get any of the drivers, or any of the apps. It makes no sense at all to me. Anyone with an ACER Ferrari that can tell me if this is what they recieved as well?

 

[Abhi]

niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: niggles
Sorry, I guess I didn't communicate this well. I am well versed in how to format a drive and how to set up windows. There is no option for either it simply launches directly into installing FAT32. I checked the documention which is extremely tiny to start with. There is no mention of either FAT32 or NTFS as if there is no difference. Sure I can load my own copy of WinXP pro on there, but then you don't get any of the drivers, or any of the apps. It makes no sense at all to me. Anyone with an ACER Ferrari that can tell me if this is what they recieved as well?

A lot of times OEMs don't include a stand alone OS install disk. If this is the case with Acer then the disk probably has an unattended install script that just fires off and starts insalling with all the supplied parameters. If you use that disk then your options are very limited. If you can get a hold of one I would suggest using a retail disk for whatever version of windows that you purchased for the laptop. When it prompts for the key use the one that should be on the bottom of your laptop.

Once windows installs you should be able to use the acer disk to install your drivers and what ever apps you want to keep. To do this you will have to weed through the disk and run each isntall manually though. I would suggest downloading the drivers from acers website and forgetting about the disk altogether unless they bundled some app that you just can't live without.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: Abhi
niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

Yup you could do this as well but then you still have all the original OEM software installed.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Search through our Acer forum, a lot of Ferrari owners have posted there and I know this issue has been discussed:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

 

[niggles]

Originally posted by: mparr1708

Originally posted by: Abhi
niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

Yup you could do this as well but then you still have all the original OEM software installed.

Right, so correct me please if I am wrong, but this wouldn't allow Windows to run would it? I mean you'd have a FAT32 windows install running on an NTFS format wouldn't you?

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Search through our Acer forum, a lot of Ferrari owners have posted there and I know this issue has been discussed:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

there's only 17 ACER threads in there and I can't find anthing on this topic. Thanks for trying though.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: niggles

Originally posted by: mparr1708

Originally posted by: Abhi
niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

Yup you could do this as well but then you still have all the original OEM software installed.

Right, so correct me please if I am wrong, but this wouldn't allow Windows to run would it? I mean you'd have a FAT32 windows install running on an NTFS format wouldn't you?

It'll run fine. There's is no FAT32/NTFS version of Windows, it's the same regardless of whether the disk is FAT32 or NTFS. I setup my Vaio that way too. Suprising number of OEMs ship out their recovery disks like that it seems, though it seems to be changing.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: niggles
there's only 17 ACER threads in there and I can't find anthing on this topic. Thanks for trying though.

Did you try searching? I did an Advanced Search of the Acer forum for "fat32" and this was the first result:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1537

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: kami333

Originally posted by: niggles

Originally posted by: mparr1708

Originally posted by: Abhi
niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

Yup you could do this as well but then you still have all the original OEM software installed.

Right, so correct me please if I am wrong, but this wouldn't allow Windows to run would it? I mean you'd have a FAT32 windows install running on an NTFS format wouldn't you?

It'll run fine. There's is no FAT32/NTFS version of Windows, it's the same regardless of whether the disk is FAT32 or NTFS. I setup my Vaio that way too. Suprising number of OEMs ship out their recovery disks like that it seems, though it seems to be changing.

Correct! When someone says NTFS or FAT32 they are talking about the type of partition and not the version of windows. Windows XP performs better and is much more secure on NTFS so whether you load from scratch or convert the partition you should use an NTFS partition when running XP. Loading form scratching would be my first choice though as it gives you control over what gets loaded on your notebook.

 

[niggles]

Originally posted by: mparr1708

Correct! When someone says NTFS or FAT32 they are talking about the type of partition and not the version of windows. Windows XP performs better and is much more secure on NTFS so whether you load from scratch or convert the partition you should use an NTFS partition when running XP. Loading form scratching would be my first choice though as it gives you control over what gets loaded on your notebook.

OK, first off a big old shout to my best pals on Anand, thanks to everyone for really stepping up and helping us out on this.

Next up I thought when storing and defragging there were issues if XP did not recognize the NTFS partition from the get go. There are files that are placed at the beggining and end of the drive that end up in different places between the two files systems. From what people are saying here that is either not the case, or the affects are negligable. Now onto the additional partition, is that what you are referring to when you say "the scratch" as I typically think of the scratch as the swap drive space. Anyway, the additional drive space is listed as FAT32 as well, will converting this mess anything up, I wouldn't think so but want to make sure.

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Did you try searching? I did an Advanced Search of the Acer forum for "fat32" and this was the first result:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1537

Actually yes I tried searching, I did a search on NTFS and recieved nothing back. Thanks for the link, greatly appreciated.

Originally posted by: kami333
I setup my Vaio that way too. Suprising number of OEMs ship out their recovery disks like that it seems, though it seems to be changing.

I have to say that I am pretty amazed at this practice. I bought a Dell 6000 laptop last summer... you know, you're thinking Dell is going to make their recovery CDs fairly lowest common denomenator, but hey, don't you know that their recovery CDs are NTFS. Why are we sitting almost 5 years since the launch of WinXP and anyone would be even remotly interested in running FAT32? Oh well... that's a rant that I'll have to leave as it's not going to fix anything. I simply hope anyone thinking of purchasing an ACER be aware that ACERs support is spotty at best. They provide wonky recovery CDs and have no customer service number, they only respond via e-mail. How is that going to help anyone in an Enterprise situation? ...and no wise cracks about how Enterprise the show sucked... I'm talking bidness, not sci-fi... 🙂

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: niggles


OK, first off a big old shout to my best pals on Anand, thanks to everyone for really stepping up and helping us out on this.

You are very welcome 🙂

Originally posted by: niggles
Next up I thought when storing and defragging there were issues if XP did not recognize the NTFS partition from the get go. There are files that are placed at the beggining and end of the drive that end up in different places between the two files systems. From what people are saying here that is either not the case, or the affects are negligable. Now onto the additional partition, is that what you are referring to when you say "the scratch" as I typically think of the scratch as the swap drive space. Anyway, the additional drive space is listed as FAT32 as well, will converting this mess anything up, I wouldn't think so but want to make sure.

There is no reason why XP would not recognize an NTFS partition unless it weir corrupt. Also, to help you understand how the file systems work think of it this way:

The space on the drive is one big container. Within that container you have the option of creating sub-containers. These sub-containers are partitions. It is possible to have multiple partitions as well as multiple partition types on one drive. So theoretically you could have an NTFS partition and a FAT32 on the same drive. The two partitions are separate though. They do not overlap and they would show up as separate drive letters in windows. Now you can make this more complicated if you start talking about volumes and the difference between dynamic and basic but in simple terms what I described above is what you should be thinking of when you think partitions. Therefore the situation you described with files ending up in two different places within the different file systems is not possible. Unless I'm not following what you are trying to ask (which is always possible 🙂 ).

When I say "load from scratch" in this case i am referring to putting a normal XP disk in the drive and letting it erase the old partitions and create new ones. Scratch basically means starting over with a blank drive in this case.

Originally posted by: kami333
I setup my Vaio that way too. Suprising number of OEMs ship out their recovery disks like that it seems, though it seems to be changing.

I have to say that I am pretty amazed at this practice. I bought a Dell 6000 laptop last summer... you know, you're thinking Dell is going to make their recovery CDs fairly lowest common denomenator, but hey, don't you know that their recovery CDs are NTFS. Why are we sitting almost 5 years since the launch of WinXP and anyone would be even remotly interested in running FAT32? Oh well... that's a rant that I'll have to leave as it's not going to fix anything. I simply hope anyone thinking of purchasing an ACER be aware that ACERs support is spotty at best. They provide wonky recovery CDs and have no customer service number, they only respond via e-mail. How is that going to help anyone in an Enterprise situation? ...and no wise cracks about how Enterprise the show sucked... I'm talking bidness, not sci-fi... 🙂

In most enterprise situations you use one of two common ways of deploying PCs:

1.) You pay the manufacturer a fee to put image (Compressed build with all of your custom software as well as the OS in one shot) you created for the model you are ordering on the hard drive in place of their default load.

2.) You use RIS, Ghost, or some other imaging method to bring the machine to company standards before you roll it out.

Not many medium to large companies use the default load from any OEM. Two much crap is included that most users don?t need or want, most oems don't enable security features that most companies use, and its easier to get a lot of custom software packages and settings put on in an image or script then it is to do it all by hand.

As far as support goes I am 99% certain that Acer has telephone support. Maybe not for the consumer side but if they sell enterprise machines they have it. I'm not familiar with Acers enterprise offerings but if they have any type of server products most people want 4 hour response on critical boxes so I assure you they offer more then email support for those.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Acer definitely has phone support, but it isn't the best from what I hear. Again if you search around the Acer forum you should see a lot of discussion about Acer support. I don't think any phone numbers are listed, but any of the numerous Ferrari owners on our boards could probably give you the phone number.

 

[Crism]

I work with Acer at work. ALL of their computers come formatted with 2 partitions, which basically split the hard drive in half. Both of which are FAT32. All you need to do is reformat it with the Windows XP CD (whichever version the system came with, most come with XP Pro) and wipe out all of that NTi DVD crap and throw on Nero and an antivirus and you're all set. Speeds up the computer too...it's like wiping out a new HP with all of that blooooaaaattttttttware on it.

 

[niggles]

Originally posted by: Crism
I work with Acer at work. ALL of their computers come formatted with 2 partitions, which basically split the hard drive in half. Both of which are FAT32. All you need to do is reformat it with the Windows XP CD (whichever version the system came with, most come with XP Pro) and wipe out all of that NTi DVD crap and throw on Nero and an antivirus and you're all set. Speeds up the computer too...it's like wiping out a new HP with all of that blooooaaaattttttttware on it.

That's crazy... for the amount of money spent on this thing they should provide a quality product, not simply a shiney red door stop... sorry... got to dial down... where's the Valium?

Thanks again for everyone's help... we're good.

Cheers

 

[RobsTV]

There are a few good reasons to use Fat32.
Also a few good reasons to use NTFS.
Best of both can be had by partitioning, and using both.
Must have both here, but prefer Fat32, and only use NTFS for large video related partitions.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: RobsTV
There are a few good reasons to use Fat32.
Also a few good reasons to use NTFS.
Best of both can be had by partitioning, and using both.
Must have both here, but prefer Fat32, and only use NTFS for large video related partitions.

Whats your reasoning behind using NTFS for only video editing? Also, what reasons do you see for using FAT32 over NTFS at all?

 

[ShellGuy]

The onlyreason that you would need fat32 is if you had to get to a drive with it as NTFS and Fat32 don't get along together. NTFS is much more secure all the way around.


Will G.

 

[RobsTV]

The following sums it up pretty well.

http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm

I would use NTFS where:

Users have professional-grade IT admin, including backup
Users need to hide data more than they need to salvage it
Applications require files over 4G in size
Hard drive exceeds the 137G barrier

But while NTFS has no maintenance OS from which...

Data can easily be recovered
File system structure can be manually checked and repaired
Malware can be scanned for and cleaned

...I would avoid the use of NTFS in consumer PCs

With XP Corp Pro (don't know about others), you still have secure access control with fat32 over a network (can allow or prevent access to only certain files and folders depending on password). NTFS's main strength in security is when sharing the "same PC" among users, and even then is useless unless it is properly setup to use that security. NTFS for most home users simply gives a false sense of security.

When a customer brings in their Home PC for repair for things like crashed defective hard drive, and they tell me all their valuable photo's are in the drive, if the drive was Fat32, more times than not all photos and data can be recovered quickly and at a low cost to customer. With NTFS not cheap or easy, and not as successful.

Run a simple maintainance task (like disc cleanup system restore), on a fat32 partition and a NTFS partition, and you will quickly see that fat32 is much much faster. Overall PC speed? My benchmarks are always at or near the top, so how does fat32 hurt?. Most will disagree with using Fat32, and that's fine. I will not win the debate, and could care less. Most of those same people still use one large NTFS partition.

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: niggles

Originally posted by: mparr1708

Originally posted by: Abhi
niggles...

Install the windows in Fat32.

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.


And your FAT32 partition will be converted to a NTFS one, WITHOUT any data loss.

Yup you could do this as well but then you still have all the original OEM software installed.

Right, so correct me please if I am wrong, but this wouldn't allow Windows to run would it? I mean you'd have a FAT32 windows install running on an NTFS format wouldn't you?

Windows would work fine. It is FAT32 to NTFS convertion of the windows partition WITHOUT formatting/data loss.

The convert command is a windows function.

Go to Start Button -> Help and Support, search on "convert".

 

[ShellGuy]

Well one plus of NTFS is that you can save DVDs to ur hdd. As Fat32 max file size is 4gb.



Will G.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: RobsTV
The following sums it up pretty well.

http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm

I would use NTFS where:

Users have professional-grade IT admin, including backup
Users need to hide data more than they need to salvage it
Applications require files over 4G in size
Hard drive exceeds the 137G barrier

But while NTFS has no maintenance OS from which...

Data can easily be recovered
File system structure can be manually checked and repaired
Malware can be scanned for and cleaned

...I would avoid the use of NTFS in consumer PCs

With XP Corp Pro (don't know about others), you still have secure access control with fat32 over a network (can allow or prevent access to only certain files and folders depending on password). NTFS's main strength in security is when sharing the "same PC" among users, and even then is useless unless it is properly setup to use that security. NTFS for most home users simply gives a false sense of security.

When a customer brings in their Home PC for repair for things like crashed defective hard drive, and they tell me all their valuable photo's are in the drive, if the drive was Fat32, more times than not all photos and data can be recovered quickly and at a low cost to customer. With NTFS not cheap or easy, and not as successful.

Run a simple maintainance task (like disc cleanup system restore), on a fat32 partition and a NTFS partition, and you will quickly see that fat32 is much much faster. Overall PC speed? My benchmarks are always at or near the top, so how does fat32 hurt?. Most will disagree with using Fat32, and that's fine. I will not win the debate, and could care less. Most of those same people still use one large NTFS partition.

That?s honestly the first time I've heard of someone call DOS an mOS. DOS is an actual OS and win9x was just a GUI that ran on top of it. Anything after that is not true dos. W2K and WXP run more of a DOS emulator. Also, if you install the recovery console and make a repair disk when you install you can pretty much do the same as you would be able to do in DOS as far as checking the file system and such. NTFS is more secure, performs better, and supports larger files. I see no reason to use Fat 32 at all. Just my 2 cents.

 

[andrewbabcock]

I tried to tell people about the heat and optical drive problems with ferraris. The touchpad has been known to get extremely hot. Now i am not comparing my 9300 to it, but my i9300 seems to be designed a lot better: ice cold everywhere on top. Mine also has the optical drive on the left...