quick question re: win2k and winME (fat32)

[Ender510]

I am going to format my C: drive which is currently WinME.. I also have a D drive.

C: 6 gig
D: 30 GIG

If i format C drive and install win2k, will I still be able to use D drive (fat32)? I only want to format and get rid of C: and reinstall the OS.. but the D drive is currently FAT32.. can I install win2k so it'll ignore D and I'll still be able to see the files? What I want to do is then transfer everytrhing from D to C, then format D as NTFS.. is this possible? thx..

 

[Brutuskend]

You can use FAT32 one one drive and NTFS on the other but the drives will NOT be able to see the files on differant fat system drives!

I would just install 2000 on a fat32 drive.

I have ME/2000 Pro/XP on differant drives and it's nice to be able to enter the other drives from whatever OS I'm using and copy files ect.... also you can scan your other drives with a virus scanner on a differant drive and OS if you get a virus (which as I know your dealing with now)

 

[Ender510]

Is there a program out there that will allow my win2k to see the D: drive (fat32)? Perhaps I should just install ME just so I can backup the data on my D: drive.. I am too lazy to open up the box, put the HD in my XP box and burn CDs from the HD..

I think I have a ghost image somewhere as well.. unless I can find a proggy that will work on win2k so it'll see the D: drive (fat32)..

 

[pulse8]

If you install Win2k on the C: drive, you can use FAT32 or NTFS and you'll be able to see the D: whether it was formatted with FAT32 or NTFS. Win2k can see both with no problems.

 

[Ender510]

pulse - thx, that's the clarification I was looking for.. while I install win2k, it's not going to force me to format the D drive tho, right?

 

[pulse8]

No. If you install it on the C: drive, it'll only deal with that drive. It won't do ANYTHING else to the other drives.

 

[Brutuskend]

You won't have to reformat.
But ME or 98 or any FAT32 drive will NOT be able to see files on a NTFS disk.
And if I remember correctly, the NTFS drive will not be able to see files on the fat32 drive..............

I would put FAT32 on them both if I were you!

 

[pulse8]

<< I would put FAT32 on them both if I were you! >>



You are misinforming him.

If he installs Win2k and gets rid of 98 or ME, he can read both FAT32 and NTFS drives just fine. If he dual boots, then the 98 or ME installation won't be able to read the NTFS partition.



<< And if I remember correctly, the NTFS drive will not be able to see files on the fat32 drive.............. >>



NTFS has nothing to do with whether or not he will be able to see the drive. It's all in the OS. He can't install Win98 or ME on an NTFS drive anyway. If he installs Win2k and only uses that on a FAT32 or NTFS drive, then he can either leave his D: as FAT32 or NTFS.

I'm sorry, but I don't think you should give advice like that unless you really know what you're talking about.

 

[Ender510]

Well, I found I can't even boot off a CD.. I think it's because I have the CD drive hooked up to the promise ata/100 controller card.. I am too lazy to pull the box out and clear the wires, take off the cover and put the IDE cable to the mobo IDE instead.. because the BIOS doesn't give me an option so I can boot off the CD ROM off the controller card.. so I am in the process of ghosting (restore) winME again.. install EZ CD Creator to burn CDS (10 gigs or so worth) of data from the D drive.. then I'll just do an install of 2k... and do NTFS for both drives.

BUT, I know I am still left w/ having to install w2k.. any ideas on how to approach this or how I can boot off the CD drive w/o having to mess w/ the ide cables?

 

[pulse8]

I'm not sure how you can boot off the drive if it's a hardware setup issue. I'm not sure how the Promise controller plays into that. I think it would have to be on the onboard controller, but I'm not positive. You might want to post that in the General Hardware forum.

You can also make bootdisks from the Win2k CD.

Try here.

 

[Ender510]

Wow - very cool web site.. I bookmarked that one. Thx!

 

[Ender510]

having some probs here.. I downloaded and created 4 floppy disks for windows 2k. After going thru all 4 floppies and it loads all the drivers (?), when I get to the part of the Server Setup,

I get the msg that it did not find ANY hard drives installed in the computer. I believe I have both hard drives hooked up to my promise ata/100 controller card. However, when I use a win98 floppy start up disk and use fdisk to check out the statuses, I can see both drives.. any help from anyone? Also, I quick formatted C drive and it has nothing on it. Currently, it is fat16/fat32 format.. any help? Thx again..

 

[Brutuskend]

Right, someone on the web told me once that if I installed 98 on fat32 and 2000 pro on NTFS they could read eachother just fine. THEY CAN'T. Right now I have ME on one drive on fat32 and 2000 Pro on FAT32 and XP on FAT32. I can read everything on each drive from any of the OS's.
Maybe you missunderstand what I was saying?
When I had 98 installed on a FAT32 drive and 2000 Pro installed on a NTFS drive, 98 couldn't read the files on 2000 and 2000 couldn't read the files on 98.

 

[Ender510]

So you guys are saying different things.. I might see the possibility that win2k (NTFS) can see the D drive (FAT32), but not vice versa.. so what is the real thing then??