Installing W2K on the DinkyDell and getting HD probs

[MichaelD]

The Dell has a 20GB HD which I low-leveled last week. From within the W2K setup proggy, I tried to make a 5GB partition for the OS and then 15GB for files. It told me that since the 5GB part was more than 2000MB, it would use the FAT32 file system. I hit esc, but it wrote some files anyway. I could't get setup to continue, so right now I'm low-leveling again (Maxblast utility) and will try again later. What am I doing wrong?

 

[MichaelD]

Need love here, guys. I'd really like to have the os on it's own partition.

 

[ledzepp98]

nothing stopped you from puting the OS on its own partition...all it said is that it would use the fat32 file system. are you saying that you want to use ntfs?

 

[MichaelD]

Hey LedZep,

Isn't NTFS the deFacto file system for W2K? It's telling me "you will not be able to access files on this partition from within W2K. I'm lost.

 

[ledzepp98]

while ntfs is unique to windows nt (which win2k is based on), it is not limited to ntfs. basically, win2k can use ntfs or fat32...win9x can only use fat32 (i'm not considering fat16, since nobody uses it anymore). i think it is safe to say that the majority of people that use win2k on a home or small office computer use fat32. ntfs offers higher security, more efficient cluster size, and recovery...the likes of which are necessary on servers and secure business computers, not necessary for the average home user.

 

[ledzepp98]

an after thought...the main reason i use fat32 on my win2k install is that in the unlikely event that i NEED to put the win2k drive in a win9x machine to get data, it can be read by win9x. if it was ntfs, win9x can't read it

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks very much for your help. I have W2K on my main rig and the HD is NTFS. **Shrugs shoulders** it seems to work well w/RAID 0, which is how I run my main box. I still need to know what to do, though. Make the 5GB part. in FAT32,or fugghedaboutit and just do one partition. Thanks again.