Windows XP And FAT32

[JonathanF]

I just upgraded from Windows ME to Windows XP Professional on my Computer.

I did a clean System Install using the Windows XP Professional Upgrade CD-ROM Disk.

I felt that it would be better to install the Windows XP on a new clean IDE Disk Drive after I backed up my Systems, Applications, and Data to another IDE Disk Drive.

During the System Installation it asked me for a Windows Operating System CD-ROM Disk such as Windows 98SE or Windows ME, Etc during the System Installation.

It did not give me a choice when I chose to Format my 80 Gigabyte IDE Western Digital UMDA 100 with FAT32.

The only choices were either NTFS or Quick NTFS.

I use to run Windows ME on my Computer which had one large 80 Gigabyte Disk Drive "C" FAT32 Partition.

How come in Windows XP, it would not allow me to have one single large 80 Gigabyte Disk Drive Partition like I had in Windows ME.

If I had just upgraded over my existing Windows ME in the first place, would it have allowed me to install Windows XP with the existing 80 Gigabyte Disk Drive "C" using FAT32 like it use to have in Windows ME?

I checked the Microsoft Web Site, and it stated that Windows XP is limited to 32 Gigabyte FAT32 Disk Drive Partitions.

How can this be when Windows ME allowed me to have a one single 80 Gigabyte Disk Drive FAT32 Partition "C"?

Jonathan





Jonathan

 

[JonathanF]

How large are you Disk Partitions?

Are any of them larger then 32 Gigabytes?

When I wanted to format my 80 Gigabyte IDE Disk Drive as one large Partition, Windows XP Pro did not give me the Option of using FAT32 and only NTFS.

If I had kept my Windows ME System with its one large 80 Gigabyte FAT32 Disk Drive "C", would the Windows XP just performed the Systems Upgrade and left the FAT32 Partition left intact?

I know that NTFS is more secure and stable, but is it slower then NTFS?

Jonathan


Jonathan

 

[pr497]

ditto...
im using win xp pro. (bah!) on a 60 gig hard drive with a fat32 and 60 gig partition.
i dont see why you cant install xp on a fat32.
i also did a clean install.
you might wanna install win ME 1st with fat32 and then install xp over that (dont install any programs or drivers when you install ME)

I don't claim to know anything about everything, I just tell people what I know.
-PSB

 

[NickM]

<font color=green>”…It did not give me a choice when I chose to Format my 80 Gigabyte IDE Western Digital UMDA 100 with FAT32.
The only choices were either NTFS or Quick NTFS.
...I checked the Microsoft Web Site, and it stated that Windows XP is limited to 32 Gigabyte FAT32 Disk Drive Partitions.”</font color=green>

The NTFS is better, especially on clean install without dual boot with other OS. Because, you right, of <b>The Limitations of FAT32 File System </b> such as:

"...When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error:
<font color=red>Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.</font color=red>"

And other limitations described:
<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/search/viewDoc.aspx?docID=KC.Q184006&dialogID=4687420&iterationID=1&sessionID=anonymous|3159107" target="_new">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/search/viewDoc.aspx?docID=KC.Q184006&dialogID=4687420&iterationID=1&sessionID=anonymous|3159107</A>

 

[NickM]

<font color=green>”…Restart computer with WinMe start up disk in the floppy drive.
At the A prompt type fdisk.
Delete all exsisting partitions…</font color=green>

I’m afraid, but partitionning by using FDISK won’t work if your HDD is already formatted on NTFS.

I would rather follow your only second part in this case:
<font color=green>“Change the first boot device to CD ROM.
Exit and save changes.
Reboot computer with WinXP CD in the CD ROM.
Windows setup will start.”</font color=green>

Then you’ll be able to delete old, and create new partition(s), format and continue the WinXP installation by Zpyrd's scenario.

And there's a big advantage of formatting large partitions (HDD) from WinXP session: NT uses RAMdrive and therefore format runs very fast.

I have never seen any needs for messing with any DOS tools when clean install of NT, unless dual/multiple boot.

 

[NickM]

<font color=green>”… would the Windows XP just performed the Systems Upgrade and left the FAT32 Partition left intact?
… I know that NTFS is more secure and stable, but is it slower then NTFS?”</font color=green>

You can implement benchmarking of your OS “before” and “after”, I think. What Microsoft’s developers think about it (if you don’t mind), also provides some info on performance under NTFS, and explains why clean installation and single partitioning are preferable for WinXP:
<i>” ….<b>Clean Installation Preferred</b>
… Microsoft strongly recommends a clean installation using NTFS. There are several reasons why performance for a clean installation will tend to be superior to that for upgraded systems. An upgraded system will constrain the placement of files and file system data. The old disk format may not use an optimal file system cluster size. In a clean installation, the placement of file system data on the disk and the internal organization of that data can be optimized, resulting in a smaller system footprint and fewer and faster I/Os when using the system.
When performing a clean install, Microsoft recommends that NTFS be used and that the system be installed in a single partition on each disk. Under Windows XP, big partitions are better managed than in previous versions of Windows. Forcing installed software into several partitions on the disk necessitates longer seeks when running the system and software.
If you do choose an upgrade from Windows 2000 or Windows 9x, you may be working with a FAT32 file system. Performance will generally be better if the file system is left as it is, rather than converted to NTFS. A partition converted from FAT32 to NTFS may have to use 512-byte clusters, rather than 4096-byte or 8192-byte clusters, which can result in a higher number of fragmented files….” </i>
[QUOTED from: <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/benchmark.asp" target="_new">http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/benchmark.asp</A> ]

 

[Smilin]

Short Answer:

Win XP has a limitation carried over from 2000.
It can read/write to any FATx Partition just fine but the format utility has a 32gig limitation.

Either format before you start the install or use NTFS (my recomendation)