Reformatting and NTFS
Can I just reformat a FAT32 drive and install Windows XP fresh using NTFS? Someone told me I would have to erase the disk first. Since formatting doesnt erase the format, info and partitions a possible conflict could arrise from a FAT32 disk being reformatted with NTFS over it.
Can I just reformat a FAT32 drive and install Windows XP fresh using NTFS? Someone told me I would have to "erase" the disk first. Since formatting doesnt erase the format, info and partitions a possible conflict could arrise from a FAT32 disk being reformatted with NTFS over it.
I thought I was somewhat computer knowledgable but this is a new one on me. Has anyone else heard of this.
I thought I was somewhat computer knowledgable but this is a new one on me. Has anyone else heard of this.
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1. Insert XP CD.
2. Boot from it.
3. During XP install you can delete your partitions and make new ones.
4. Format the partitions using NTFS during install.
* You can also keep the existing partitions and just format over them but I recommend deleting the old to get rid of the junk.
* Quick formatting does not perform a FULL format. It just wipes the partition info from the MBR. A Full format wipes all information making it even harder to recover information. I recommend a FULL format for cleaning.
2. Boot from it.
3. During XP install you can delete your partitions and make new ones.
4. Format the partitions using NTFS during install.
* You can also keep the existing partitions and just format over them but I recommend deleting the old to get rid of the junk.
* Quick formatting does not perform a FULL format. It just wipes the partition info from the MBR. A Full format wipes all information making it even harder to recover information. I recommend a FULL format for cleaning.
I'm assuming what he's told you is that to go from FAT32 to NTFS you need to reformat the partition and start again. Well, thats not quite true. You can perform a one-way conversion using a command built into Windows XP:
Code:
Simply substitute x: for whatever partition you want to convert. You have to be logged on either as Administrator or with another account that has Administratort priveliges.
Converting back to FAT32 (although, even given your problems, I can't see any logical reason for doing this) requires a reformat and reinstall.
Code:
convert x: /fs:ntfs
Simply substitute x: for whatever partition you want to convert. You have to be logged on either as Administrator or with another account that has Administratort priveliges.
Converting back to FAT32 (although, even given your problems, I can't see any logical reason for doing this) requires a reformat and reinstall.
