New Technology File system

[kambui]

Guys i want to know about NTFS .......i have 5 partitions C,D,E,F,G

C drive consist of Windows 98 and nothing else (except drivers small softwares like winzip winamp)-----FAT32

D drive has Windows Xp proffesional (sp2 edtion) and few small games office and my office stuffs--------FAT32

E drive has only games nothing else---------FAT32

F drive has some software installed like Ms office 2000 oracle Flash and many small apps-------FAT32

G drive has only media files music and movies----FAT32

MY QUESTIONS:-

1)can i convert my all my drives (except c) into NTFS?(without lossing data)

2) can i trasfer data between NTFS drives and Fat drives?

3)IS NTFS better than FAT32?how?

4)Finally Should i do this?

was there any spelling errors if yes ignore them

[InTheWayBoy]

1. Yes...but you Win98 client won't be able to see the others anymore

2. Yes...WinNT/Win2000/WinXP/Win2003 all can copy to and from NTFS AND FAT32.

3. It's better...faster...more secure...we could go on and on but it's basically the new standard filesystem for a Windows based computer.

4. Should you? Yes...but only if you've got a backup. Even though tools like convert.exe and PartitionMagic claim no data loss you should never leave it to chance...make a backup to CD/DVD/Another HD, and then try it.

But know this, your E, F, and G drives probably are shared between both Win98 and WinXP. After you convert those to NTFS they will not be visable in Win98 without extra software. There is a free win98 read-only driver somewhere, which when installed will allow you to access those files.

[nmX.Memnoch]

The utility for reading NTFS in Windows 98 can be found here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/NtfsWindows98.html

But as was mentioned, you'll only get read access to those partitions.

[InTheWayBoy]

Sysinternals...ahh...what would we do with out them

Thanx for backing me up with the link!

[nmX.Memnoch]

Thanx for backing me up with the link!

Sure thing.

[kambui]

THanks guys you were real help.......another solutions by MSFN .Great help keep it alive

[jasinwa]

I've read the comments about NTFS and 98 not being able to see the drive....guess I don't understand.

Just got a notebook for my son, the drive is NTFS. I went thru a share process and I can see the drive fine (except for OS directories, for some reason, still working on that!).

I can place files on it and pull files from it, from my 98SE system.

I have no special NTFS software, read only or otherwise!

???

[JasonGW]

1. Yes...but you Win98 client won't be able to see the others anymore

2. Yes...WinNT/Win2000/WinXP/Win2003 all can copy to and from NTFS AND FAT32.

3. It's better...faster...more secure...we could go on and on but it's basically the new standard filesystem for a Windows based computer.

4. Should you? Yes...but only if you've got a backup. Even though tools like convert.exe and PartitionMagic claim no data loss you should never leave it to chance...make a backup to CD/DVD/Another HD, and then try it.

But know this, your E, F, and G drives probably are shared between both Win98 and WinXP. After you convert those to NTFS they will not be visable in Win98 without extra software. There is a free win98 read-only driver somewhere, which when installed will allow you to access those files.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not that it's relevant, because you'd be insane to use it, but NT 4 *cannot* read or write FAT32 natively. With the Sysinternals utility you also cannot create FAT32 partitions. Also, if you plan to use NT adn Windows 2000 or XP, you MUST use at least SP4 in order for NT4 to see the Windows 2000/XP version of NTFS (NTFS 5.0)

Jason

[Zxian]

Not that it's relevant, because you'd be insane to use it, but NT 4 *cannot* read or write FAT32 natively. With the Sysinternals utility you also cannot create FAT32 partitions. Also, if you plan to use NT adn Windows 2000 or XP, you MUST use at least SP4 in order for NT4 to see the Windows 2000/XP version of NTFS (NTFS 5.0)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NT4 can't natively read FAT32? That's nuts... FAT32 had been around for a while... I wonder why Microsoft didn't include it in NT4...

And you should always be upgrading to the latest service pack with whatever OS you use...

[Siginet]

I've read the comments about NTFS and 98 not being able to see the drive....guess I don't understand.

Just got a notebook for my son, the drive is NTFS. I went thru a share process and I can see the drive fine (except for OS directories, for some reason, still working on that!).

I can place files on it and pull files from it, from my 98SE system.

I have no special NTFS software, read only or otherwise!

???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Because it is a network share. It does not look at the file system like that. The directories you see in a shared folder are only links to the content. Basically the NTFS machine is translating it for the WIN98 machine. (In lamens terms.)