Installing 2k in place of XP; warning messages

[videobruce]

I want to install 2k in place of XP Pro on the 1st partition of a HDD. When doing so, I get warning messages regarding the disk being new, erased or a incompatable O/S already there.

I didn't go further since the 2nd partition has valuable data on it and I didn't want to take a chance. I'm doing this to troubleshoot a serial port issue with XP and have already imaged the 1st partition. The 2nd partition is very large and I don't have a place to put it.
I have run Chk. Disc with no errors on both partitions.

I also have a 2nd HDD, but I disconnected that durning this process. Could that have some effect?

Ideas?

[BipolarBill]

There are so many possibilities...

How old is this PC?

Is it the original hard drive or did someone upgrade it?

Where is the image stored? Can you back up the critical data on the second partition?

There may be a drive overlay installed *or* you may be trying to load the oldest version of Win2K. It's best to create a slipstreamed CD with Service Pack 4 included and try that.

[videobruce]

It's new, so are the drives. The image is on a 2nd partition. To much data (many DVD's) I don't have the room at present. These are only stored there temporary.
I have a slipstreamed 2k w/sp4. That is what I'm using.

Is there s difference between XP's NTFS and 2k's?

[BipolarBill]

No difference.

I have no idea what the problem is. You should image the entire drive to another. A backup image on a second partition is not going to do it.

[Steve R Jones]

NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista.[4]

NTFS supersedes the FAT file system as the preferred file system for Microsoft’s “Windows”-branded operating systems. NTFS has several improvements over FAT and HPFS (High Performance File System) such as improved support for metadata and the use of advanced data structures to improve performance, reliability, and disk space utilization, plus additional extensions such as security access control lists (ACL) and file system journaling. The file system specification is a trade secret,[5][6][7] although it can be licensed commercially from Microsoft through their Intellectual Property licensing program.[8][9]

NTFS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[videobruce]

I'm fully aware of FAT vs NTFS. That isn't the issue or question here.
Elsewhere it was reported that 2k used V3, while XP uses V3.1 of NTFS.

More important, the drive is 320GB and I never thought/forgot about the 137GB limit of 2k.
I am now writting zero's to the drive and will start from scratch.

[DoubleK]

Maybe a better, quicker and easier alternative could present itself if someone asked you why videobruce? I am to curious and had to ask.

[videobruce]

Steve R Jones; I don't need three of the same replies in three different forums.
I ask questions in more than one one forum to get as much input as possible.
Ever hear of a 2nd and third opinion?

DoubleK; Why? Do you mean why I want to install 2k in place of XP? I have a serial port issue that I don't know if it is the port, the M$ driver, the actual chip, the MB chipset or the O/S. I have used serial ports in 2k with no issue. With this newer MB chipset and XP, there are issues with more than one piece of equipment.

[BipolarBill]

A slipstreamed Win2K SP4 does not suffer from the LBA limit.

[videobruce]

Well, I just wiped the drive with the drives utility, loaded the 2k w/sp4 install disc and from a 320GB HDD, Windows only reports 131069MB. This is on a nForce 570 chipset MB.

I then loaded the XP w/sp2 disc and it reports 305342MB. These are SATA drives.

Ok, what's wrong?