Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (
More info?)
On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:47:21 -0700, Denzil Hathway wrote:
> "PeterM" <rpm@NOSPAM.dcn.org> wrote in message
> news:so2dnU68J-QVPczcRVn-qg@omsoft.com...
>>I installed Win XP Pro over a Win XP Home Backup and screwed things up. I
>> like to just format the HD again, but want to make sure that it is in the
>> NTFS format. How do I do that. Can I format it from the WIN XP CD. or can
>> I
>> use a win98 startup disk to format the HD. Will the win98 startup disk
>> format the new HD in the old FAT 32 system? Any help is
>> appreciated.......Peter
>
> ========================
>
> Can I enter this discussion with some questions? I have just installed a
> second HDD as a slave on a very slightly older PC. I took this HDD from a PC
> at another home location and I would like to re- format it.
>
> XP was on the slave HDD as OEM, consequently it runs currently on NTFS (I'm
> not sure I understand what that means). On the older system I had added XP
> over Millennium. That master HDD still runs on FAT32 (I'm not sure what that
> means either).
>
> Reading this current discussion leads me to several questions.
>
> How do I format my slave HDD? Do I partition? What file system, NTFS or
> FAT32?
>
> Do I need to change my current master HDD FAT32 system?. If so, how?
>
> Do file systems have to match on master and slave HDD's?
>
> Sorry to be a bother but I don't know much about this ... but would like to
> learn. Thanks, Denzil
Denzil, your situation is different compared to the original poster in this
thread. They were working with the drive that XP boots from and it also
resides there. The considerations for changing file format under those
circumstances are a little more involved and their choices are more
limited.
XP is capable of reading drives that are formatted FAT32 or NTFS so, unless
you want to change this, you're fine with the formats as they are. NOTE:
Any files/folders on the FAT32 partition will not and cannot be protected
by XP's permissions. If you're wanting to clear that second drive to put
new things on it, you can:
- Delete what's on it now and use it as is
- Format the drive: Simply right click on that drive in My Computer or
Windows Explorer and select Format ~or~ use Administrative Tools> Disk
Management. You can elect to use FAT32 or NTFS during the process using
either method.
There is an additional option of using the command line interface to
format. If interested, check XP's Help file for information on
"command-line" Select "Command-line reference A-Z" from the search results
and scroll down to Format for a quick rundown on the needed syntax and the
available switches.
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows XP Shell/User
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