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Questions with how to work with 2 computers with 2 different OS'

M

Medea

Golden Member
My desktop is a dual-boot with Win98 and Win2k formatted in FAT32 (and a 3rd logical partition for certain apps, mp3's, etc.) My laptop has WinXP and is formatted in NTFS. Right now, I need the desktop to continue with FAT32 because I switch files back and forth from my computer at work which is formatted in FAT32.

The easiest thing to do would be to make a dual boot on the laptop with WinXP and Win2k with the first partition in NTFS and the second partition in FAT32. I bought Partition Magic 8.0, but every time I try to make a logical partition, I keep getting errors.

So, my laptop and my desktop obviously have a conflict with trying to transfer files back and forth. Rather than make separate posts, I've got a couple of questions which I'm going to ask in this post:

1) Anyone have or know of problems with PM8 and WinXP?
2) By using PM8 or anything else, will there be any problems with a WinXP/NTFS partition and a Win3k/FAT32 partition?
3) Right now, I don't have any backup method setup for the laptop. I've been thinking of using an external USB hard drive. I'd like to use it to backup the desktop. Any pros or cons?

[I know I'm going to have to the info from hp to email me where I can get the drivers for the laptop.]
 
how are you trying to transfer these files between computers? your filetable method shouldn't matter unless your going between two partitions on the same machine directly through your file browser. if they are networked, or you are using cd's or other external media, it don't matter. heck I've got one machine with ntfs, one with fat32, and one with fat16, and used to have a linux file server using whatever it's wierded out file system is while running samba, on my network.
 
I know I can transfer files, but I use mostly WordPerfect re: work along with another prog related to the business.
FAT32 --->NTFS is no problem - - but NTFS --->FAT32 is because of readibility problems. When I previously transferred a couple of files from NTFS to FAT32, the files were renamed to NTFS File or something like that. Transferring one or two files is not a big problem because I rename them, but transferring several or quite a few files wouldn't be practicable.
 
i don't guess I understand what it is you really want, as long as the program(s) you are using can read said file type, the partition doesn't matter, just save the file to disk and sneakernet it, or get you a crossover cable and network your desktop to your laptop and transfer away, the files shouldn't be renamed in the transfer, as the ios doesn't really care what partion your OS's are using. it just transfers the data from one location to another. the file system manages the partions and how the files are placed in 0's and 1's on the disk and automatically changes the size of the chunks of the file when going from one filing system to the next. it sorta sounds like you may be confused on the purposes/differences of file systems and file types.
 
Yep, I understand what you're saying - guess I'm still not explaining myself well.

Anywho, I found a site that addresses what I've been asking - - to quote one section:
"Windows 95/98, and Windows ME cannot handle NTFS (without third party assistance). So, if you have such a mixed environment, any communal files must be held on a partition of a type that both operating systems can understand ? meaning, usually, a FAT32 partition."

Thanks for the replies. Whenever I get a new computer at work, this problem will evaporate.

 
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