I have a computer with two hard drives. I have windows 98 installed as the OS. The second hard drive is partitioned and the one partition is FAT32 while the other is NTFS. I don't have any critical data on that hard drive yet, so what I am wondering is this: is there an easy way to convert the second hard drive to all FAT 32 so it will work with windows 98? I would like to avoid having to reinstall the OS, drivers etc. which is the only way I know of to do this.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Hi, Jacare! Long time!
Well...I guess you could format it to fat32 using windows?
If it does not work, try using a boot disc and then /format (partition)
Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
Hey Eduardo- yeah, I've been lurking around for a while, but I don't post much these days.
I may have to just reinstall the OS, I guess.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
Hey, Jacare!
So, just to clarify...one partition (with win98 installed you are using now) is FAT32, and the other partition is NTFS. You wish to convert the NTFS to FAT32? Is there data on that partition you are trying to preserve?
Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
Hi Tick- just to be clear here is the setup: HDD0: Fat32 Windows 98 HDD1: 5 GB Fat 32 HDD1: 20GB NTFS
There is no data that I need to retain on HDD1. Basically all I need to do is format the whole drive, but of course windows 98 can't "see" the NTFS partition and so I don't know ho wto format it.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Are you running the HDD1 as a slave? Can you temporarily disconnect the HDD0, make the HDD1 master, and reformat it as normal?
Farmgirl
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
Ah, cool. There's a utility called Diskpart.exe that you can run in dos mode, which can zap partitions that normal Win98 won't touch, like NTFS or Linux types.
Also, disk utilities such as PartitionMagic can do this.
[ August 10, 2004, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: TheTick ]
Posted by thrak (Member # 5499) on :
I have used Partition Magic to do this in the past. It is not a cheap tool and there may be free/shareware tools that are just as good.
Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
Hey Farm girl-
Yes, temporary disconnection of HDD0 is easy. If I recall correctly the first step in the OS install is to format the hard drive, so what you are saying is that with no OS on HDD1 I can start the standard windows 98 installation and quit after the drive is formatted, right?
Good idea! I think I'll try that.
Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
Tick- thanks. That tool sounds like it will do it for me without having to discannect anything.
Cool.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Why are you still running Win98?
Posted by Jacare Sorridente (Member # 1906) on :
Well, I actually had windows 2000 on my machine. Then I upgraded my motherboard and I got an error about "no valid boot device". I went through all sorts of troubleshooting to no avail. Then I decided to reinstall the OS, but I couldn't find my win2000 disk. I rather like win98 and there is nothing 2000 has which I really need, so I just installed 98. However, I wanted to preserve a few gigs of files on the second hard drive which I disconnected for OS installation. I have since gotten those files off, and now I am in the state I described.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
There's a utility called Diskpart.exe that you can run in dos mode, which can zap partitions that normal Win98 won't touch, like NTFS or Linux types.