XP Fat32 and 500G Hard Drive.

[bustr]

Due to the limitation in XP and Fat32 I could only use 32G of my 500G harddrive for my install. So can I extend the rest of the drive using an app like partition magic or are there performance issues I will run into with Fat32?

[Skuzzy]

Why not use NTFS?  It is much better for large drives.  Any other approach will just be a kludge you could end up regretting.

[drdeathx]

Here is a nice you tube video to partition your hard drive.. Good Luck.

[BaldEagl]

Format in NTFS.

[bustr]

DuH...........

For some reason I thought the game would only run on Fat32.............

[CptA]

I guess I don't understand the "limitation" of XP in this regard...more likely one with your Motherboard's Bios.

I format all my drives with Fat32 partitions...including the one on this machine (WD5000KS 500GB with single 500GB partition).

This way I have a dual-boot system, with Dos as a backup in case anything goes wrong down the road.

It's saved me more than once when I got a virus, a case of malware,  or had hardware problems.

First you'll need a Win98 Dos boot disk or CD.

Boot from the Dos disk and setup the partition with fdisk, then format the new partition with Dos and copy the Dos system files to make the new partition bootable (format c: /s).

After testing the new partition to make sure it boots properly, install WinXP into the Fat32 partition with no changes to the partition.

Works fine, even with newer SATA drives.

CptA

[BaldEagl]

Sorry, no time to answer further earlier.  Very busy at work today.

You are facing your limitation because you didn't partition and format the entire drive prior to installing the OS.  I highly recommend you format in NTSF (NT File System... NT was the platform XP was developed on).  Fat32 has many limitations that NTSF does not.

Sadly, you may have to start over to get this done.

If you don't have to start over, then you can also re-format your existing Fat32 partition to NTSF without having to re-install Windows or anything else.

[drdeathx]

you can partition in xp I didn't attach link sry here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwKoqW8m_T4

[Ghosth]

Big drives I always like to partition before doing anything else. Its just been one of those things that helps keep things stable for me.

Once you split that bad boy, by all means format it in NTFS.

You have options on the other side depending on what you want to do with it.
Fat32 for storage, install a second OS, sky is pretty much the limit.

[BoilerDown]

There's very little reason to format a hard drive without using NTFS now-a-days.  You should probably start over.

[Roscoroo]

I go with ntfs partitions , create the primary between 40- 80 gig ...go 100+ gig if you "install" a zillion games and things.
 the key here is go double of what you normally use in your primary partition (C: drive) any larger is ussually a waste of space .  dont use/fill up the last 50% of that primary partition , you get better performance and have less hassles if you have to reformat/defrag/ in the future IMO.

create 1 or more partitions above that at what ever size you want/need. I split mine up into 1 partition for Doc's and constantly coming /going /deleting type stuff . 1 partition for music. 1 Partition for full programs for installing and a Backup place . and another for movies ect. (these partitions can use 95-98% of there capacity without bogging  down your operating system/PC ) you can even create a Fat32 partition if you still have w98 pc in your network that need access /space on that drive , just remember 98 can only see 36-40gb partitions unless you tweek it AE:with Sp 1.5 or better.

this keeps my C: drive alot cleaner with less fragmentation happening and helps with keeping your pc running its best.

Well thats how I do all my pc's and I go years without defraging .. i ussually have a primary hd fail from use and have to fresh install every 4-5 yrs .but I run 2 or more HD's in all my pc's .

[Kev367th]

Don't have to start again.

To convert FAT to NTFS -
Goto the command line.

Type in the follwing command.....
convert c: /fs:ntfs 

[Fulmar]

IIRC you cannot go back from NTFS to FA32 via that command line.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

IIRC you cannot go back from NTFS to FA32 via that command line.

There's no need to do that. Windows CD is bootable and you can boot it up to the rescue console which does every bit as much as being able to boot into DOS. Not to mention often the easyest fix is to reinstall windows over the old one, replacing system files but leaving programs intact.