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DIGIT-ARC / Software / Software Q&A

Windows XP & NTFS

7 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/windows-xp-ntfs.12519/

E
enjoy Original post #1
Jul 10, 2005 at 8:07 PM
For some reasons I need to format my Windows XP SP2 Box. But I have a dilema that some of my partitions are on NTFS and some on FAT32.

If I format Windows will then I be able to acess the NTFS partitions.. I guess not.. Then how should I go about it.
alib_i
alib_i #2
Jul 10, 2005 at 8:39 PM
firstly .. your problem isnt clear.
from what i understand .. you are going to format your system drive ( C: or whatever ) and rest all drives wont be affected.
if that's the case ... then read on :::-

if you install XP again .. then no problems.

if you install win98 .. then
1. the root drive ( which has windows folder ) should be in FAT32.
2. you can access your NTFS drives from win98 using NTFS for Windows 98 ( but it will be read-only )

lastly ..
you can convert NTFS to FAT32 using PartitionMagic ( 6.0 or above versions, present version is 8.0 )

-----
alibi
E
enjoy #3
Jul 10, 2005 at 9:30 PM
Thanx.. I was worried about the permissions and all.. since similar case happened with my friend who was unable to access his NTFS partitions after a reinstall. XP just gave the message "Access Denied"..

Then I think I should play safe... first convert the partitions to FAT32 and then reinstall XP.
kalpik
kalpik #4
Jul 10, 2005 at 10:17 PM
I suggest u dont do that! Cause the conversion from NTFS to FAT32 via partition magic is not that reliable and will make the hard disk slower. U can set permissions as u wish even after formatting. And if u havent messed up with permissions, u should not face a problem at all!
iinfi
iinfi #5
Jul 10, 2005 at 10:45 PM
i think b4 formatting if u remove the passwords of all logins of windows XP and make all passwords,including Administrator, BLANK then u wont have that NTFS "access denied" problem after reinstallation ...
E
enjoy #6
Jul 11, 2005 at 5:54 AM
Thanks a lot for the information..
T
theraven #7
Jul 11, 2005 at 10:06 PM
xp didnt access NTFS ?
thats jsut weird
anyways ... use the following code AT THE COMMAND PROMPT to convert all fat32 partitions to NTFS
i suggest u do this and keep all partitions as ntfs

Code: 
convert x: /fs:ntfs

where x: is ur drive letter
just in case it asks u that drive should be dismounted , click no
next it'll ask to be able to run on next start
choose yes and restart
repeat for each fat32 partition