Partition Maxtor OneTouch 4 external hard drive

[Chilla]

Hi all,
I purchased a Maxtor OneTouch4 250G external HDD which is formatted in NTFS and all my internal 80 Gig HD files are FAT 32 (Win XP PRO).

I asked Seagate if I could reformat and partition my OneTouch4 and the reply said the Maxtor software requires ONE partition.

Does anyone know if the OneTouch External drive would be wrecked if I make 2 or 3 partitions and re-format with FAT 32?

Chilla

 

[nukemaster]

it will not be ruined(An external drive can be set up any way you want it), but they just told you there(one touch) backup software will not work if its multi partitioned...

I do see your dilemma for NTFS, are you going to use it on non windows machines? If not just set it to give EVERYONE(the group) read,write,execute privileges....

If not, then i guess FAT32 is all you can do....the file system itself can be used as one big partition....its just a matter of running the right software to partition it....

 

[g-paw]

Partition Magic could do this. Curious why you can back up your files on a NTFS drive? I'm running a really old pre NTFS program on an NTFS drive and no problem with the program or data.

 

[Chilla]

Nukemaster & g-paw,
Thanks for reply, I understood that if I backed-up my 80gig FAT 32 drive to the NTFS drive then I would not be able to access those files via my FAT 32 boot drive.

Also, I was going to partition the Maxtor and try Linx on it as I have never attempted to use the Linuk system.

Regards,

Chilla

 

[g-paw]

Nukemaster & g-paw,
Thanks for reply, I understood that if I backed-up my 80gig FAT 32 drive to the NTFS drive then I would not be able to access those files via my FAT 32 boot drive.

Also, I was going to partition the Maxtor and try Linx on it as I have never attempted to use the Linuk system.

Regards,

Chilla

Forgot you would have to access them from the FAT 32 drive. Have you tried running the program(s) on the FAT 32 on an NTFS drive? The problem I have with that old program is printing on newer printers. I have to write a couple lines into an .ini, don't remember which off the top of my head.

 

[nukemaster]

If you want to try linux, you can try the VMware Server from VMware. its free and lets you run one OS inside another....its a good place to start, but its not as fast. At least you have windows open so you can lookup any thing you need while installing and whatnot...

http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

 

[Chilla]

Thanks again g-paw and no I have not tried as yet to run FAT 32 on NTFS.
Only just bought this Maxtor because:
1) need back-up as we live in Bush-fire prone area of NSW Australia
2) just bought an ASUS P5GC m/b + DualCore E 2140 to move up from a Pentium 3 and want to save everything on HD before kicking off with new system.

nukemaster,
Looked at vmware however my connection is 40,000 bps -flatout and 90% of time the best I get is 3 to 4kb/sec. Lucky Australia!!!

regards,
Chilla