Dropping my loose change

Gait_Keeper · February 7th, 2004, 05:49 AM

I just ordered XP Pro OEM from the Egg

I have 2 HD's WD 40gig (C,D,E) maxtor 80gig (F,G,H,I,J) 98se

Gona format C, install XP pro NTFS, are there any for seeable problems with FAT32 and NTFS on the same machine?

I've been reading the threads on XP as not to ask to many of the same questions you guy/gals may be tired of, but get ready for me I know I'll have a few.

My order should arrrive monday, may today because it shipped from NJ and I'm in NY

any pre-install tips welcome (Please, Please)

Thanx

AMD 1800+
K7S5A v1,0
1 Gig of pc 2100 DDR (2x512) ( coming with XP from the Egg)
WD 40gig 2Mb cache
maxtor 80 Gig 8Mb cache
DVD-ROM
CD-Burner
Turtle Beach-Santa Cruz
FX 5200 128mb
Linksys 10/100 NIC
floppy

Atomic Rooster · February 9th, 2004, 01:27 AM

Should work ok. After XP is installed, you can always convert the FAT32 partitions with the XP NTFS conversion proggy.

**RobRich** · February 9th, 2004, 01:31 AM

I have multiple partitions running a mixture of NTFS, FAT, FAT32, and EXT3 all on a single machine. You should be fine.

Unless there is a need for NTFS security or compression features, you can stick with all FAT32 drives if you feel more comfortable with leaving the current drives unaltered.

Robert Richmond

HeadBand · February 9th, 2004, 01:36 AM

it should work fine but just a couple suggestions...put the os on the drive with the 8mb cache...and with all those pattitions you should try to have around 20gb for xp

rpertusio · February 9th, 2004, 01:48 AM

mixing NTFS and FAT is possible.
However, if you ever plan on dual booting (installing 98se on a FAT drive) you won't be able to access the NTFS partitions (because Win98 cant understand it.)

Otherwise, you should be okay. I would suggest converting your existing drives to NTFS if you have no reason to keep them in FAT/32.

If you want more info, read Microsoft's Article 307881 - HOW TO: Convert a FAT16 or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows XP

- rp

Gait_Keeper · February 9th, 2004, 02:41 AM

Thanx everyone, sorry for the late response, but one has to work to pay the bills

I have no need for encryption right now nor in the immediate future, but who knows in 6 months to a year

putting Xp on the drive with 8Mb cache? Hmm......

I can always covert everything to NTFS later if i want, good to know!

FAT32 and NTFS coexist Nice, I'll leave it like that, until I have a need for changing it, thanx

what would putting XP on the 8mb cache drive involve??
besides my drive letters getting all confused?

I have to chage the master and slave settings first right?
(oops that wasn't polictly correct, primary and secondary, that's another thread

)

Beemer · February 9th, 2004, 03:39 AM

The way I have my multi-boot setup is Win98se, WinY2K, WinXP pro and in that order. All Fat32.

WD 160 gig, 8 MB cache FAT32
Maxtor 30 gig, 2 MB cache FAT32

Each O/S is on a separate 4 gig partition. [C:] [D:] & [E:]
1 gig swap file partition [F:]
I install my programs on a separate partition. [G:]
I created folders on the programs partition.
Program Files98
Program FilesY2K
Program FilesXP
I custom install all programs of each O/S into their respective Program Files folder.

TIP:
With this kid of a setup, and you are going to install any Creative software into the next O/S, rename the C:\Program Files folder temporarily. What ever O/S is on [C:].
If you don't, you'll have a folder popup on you when you boot into your alternate O/S's on the other partitions that you installed the Creative software. It seems that Creative software doesn't really like you to have a multiple boot machine. There's some registry entry referencing the C:\Program Files upon Windows startup processes.
The first time I used the separate partition for my individual O/S's Program Files, I created the folders with a space before the O/S designation.
e.g.
Program Files 98
Program Files Y2K
Program Files XP
Creative found a way to disregard the designation. It only saw the Program Files part and didn't see the rest of the folder name. Thus I had to rename the folders by removing the space before the designation. This was with the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 and Value card software install.

I created a Misc files partition for my data storage. In here has everything that moves or changes or stays put in the way of personal files.
The Temp and Temporary Internet Files folder for each O/S is located on this partition. Each O/S shares the same temp folders. This method gets rid of the index.dat file the you usually find in Temporary Internet Files folder. I don't have a Content I.E.5 folder either because of this move.
My WAB file and Outlook Express Store folder is on this partition as well so if I have some kind of catastrophic O/S failure, I don't lose my addressbook or E-mail. Each O/S's Outlook Express share the same WAB and store folder so if I make a change to either my addressbook or receive E-mail in one O/S it is reflected when running any of the other O/S's and Outlook Express.
I moved my Favorites to this drive too. I wouldn’t want to lose them if something happens.
When I save a file, my O/S's default to my Misc partition. Nothing gets put in the O/S partitions except compatibility files during an install.

All this redirection of files and having the swap file on a separate partition keeps the O/S partitions from fragmenting.

Fat32 partitions for Music files and Backup on the 30 gig Maxtor.

I could have left WinY2K and XP on a NTFS file system as I have multiple partitions for file storage on FAT32 partitions. System security isn't priority as I am the only user. A firewall and router protect the system.

An anal file system, I know. A few registry hacks, a little reverse engineering & some imagination is all it took.

Just some ideas for ya.

Cheers!

Beemer · February 9th, 2004, 03:45 AM

Oh ya. The rule of thumb is to have the oldest O/S installed first on [C:].

Cheers!

Gait_Keeper · February 11th, 2004, 01:12 AM

thanx Beemer

I'm not going to dual boot only XP Pro will be on this machine, but still great info if i ever change my mind.

ok the ram and XP arrived today,tomorrow after work i install it, because I'm off thursday and can stay up all night if any problems pop up

my plan; 1) Format only C: (4gigs on C

comments?
2) shut down machine install ram (2x512)
3) boot machine, go to bios and set it to boot from CD
4) restart with xp in CD drive, follow prompts

wow Beemer you're the oldest person i know!!

golfcart · February 11th, 2004, 01:22 AM

4 gigs is very small for xp pro. I would suggest bumping that partition up to 8 or 10 gigs just to avoid future problems