Whacked link of the day
- Thread starter fury
- Start date
danleff
New Member
ahh... but what they fail to mention, is that on pre-configured systems, such as my Thinkpad, the default file system is NTFS. So, after my disaster with WIN XP (the second time I booted with straight XP, the infamous blue screen came up "the system will be shut down to prevent possible damage") I wiped XP and installed ME, then Linux. When I called the IBM helpcenter and asked about recovery disks (they don't come with the system, you have to ask for them within 30 days of purchase), I was told that the default XP is NTFS and it is not possible to install XP with fat32 from the recovery disks... period. I'd love to try both XP and Linux as a dual boot but... 
danleff
New Member
Interesting! So.. you can convert NTFS back to fat 32! I'll have to take a look at the recovery disks. I put them in the "later" file. You don't get the full WIN XP CD ROM, just the recovery disks. The first time I started the system, it automatically converted (with no help from me) to NTFS. Shoot! Had I known. I have my Linux file system on XFS now and got the ME system stable with all the WIN ME IBM drivers from their site. Hmm..I'll have to look up that Knowledge base article! Thanks for someting to consider!
Misunderstanding-upon conversion from NTFS to Fat32 you are reformatting the drive, so you'll need a OS disc, not just the recovery files...what do you mean they didn't give you XP? You paid for the sumbitch---
Removing NTFS Drives
To remove the NTFS file system, reformat the hard disk to use the FAT or FAT32 file system.
You can do this by using the Recovery Console tool on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM if your computer supports a bootable CD-ROM or by using the four Windows 2000 Startup disks. Reformatting or repartitioning a disk deletes all the data on it, so make sure you back up your data.
To use Recovery Console to reformat a drive, follow these steps:
Start the computer by using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or the Startup disks.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen is displayed, press F10.
In Recovery Console, choose the appropriate installation and log on by using your Administrator password.
Type map , and then press ENTER.
Note the drive you want to reformat.
NOTE : The drive letters may be different in Recovery Console than in Windows 2000.
Type format x : /fs:fat32 , where x is the letter of the drive you want to format and FAT32 is the file system you want to use.
Type y to confirm your choice. When the formatting process is finished, type exit to restart the computer.
Removing NTFS Drives
To remove the NTFS file system, reformat the hard disk to use the FAT or FAT32 file system.
You can do this by using the Recovery Console tool on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM if your computer supports a bootable CD-ROM or by using the four Windows 2000 Startup disks. Reformatting or repartitioning a disk deletes all the data on it, so make sure you back up your data.
To use Recovery Console to reformat a drive, follow these steps:
Start the computer by using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or the Startup disks.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen is displayed, press F10.
In Recovery Console, choose the appropriate installation and log on by using your Administrator password.
Type map , and then press ENTER.
Note the drive you want to reformat.
NOTE : The drive letters may be different in Recovery Console than in Windows 2000.
Type format x : /fs:fat32 , where x is the letter of the drive you want to format and FAT32 is the file system you want to use.
Type y to confirm your choice. When the formatting process is finished, type exit to restart the computer.
danleff
New Member
oops, sorry if I wasn't clear. I currently have fat32 with WIN ME and XFS with Libranet on the system. I don't know if the recovery disks have WIN XP on them as part of the recovery process, or just the recovery tools. There are two CD's that make up the recovery pack.
I went to IBM's site and looked up the recovery process. Apparently you boot ftom the 1st recovery disk, which starts the recovery process.
Here's where I'm not sure and will probably call IBM to see what they say the recovery process does. In any case, the online guide states that you are asked if you want to format the "C" drive, or the entire hard disk. I assume if you pick "C", then it will only format the seen "C" drive. From there, I hope that XP installs, allowing me the option of keeping fat32. This way I can boot XP. Then, I can boot from the Linux CD to a terminal window and recover lilo to the mbr.
I know that PartitonMagic 6 will format the "C: drive also, if I need to do this. I have seen that PartitonMagic 6 will not run on WIN XP or properly recognize NTFS, but I can make boot and PartitionMagic floppy disks before I start as a back-up.
Yep, no WIN XP CD ROM, although the have the "Certificate of Authenticity" which I hope is the one that the recovery process will be asking for (the online guide states to have this handy to input, I'm assuming it is speaking of the XP numbers).
I am hoping that what the IBM tech was saying was that once NTFS is installed, whether he was wrong or not, that XP defaults to NTFS during the recovery process, rather than the recovery process not letting me keep the fat32 partition. It looks like the option to convert the drive when I turned on the machine with pre-installed XP, the system was preset at the factory to convert to NTFS.
Well see what IBM says about the recovery process.
I went to IBM's site and looked up the recovery process. Apparently you boot ftom the 1st recovery disk, which starts the recovery process.
Here's where I'm not sure and will probably call IBM to see what they say the recovery process does. In any case, the online guide states that you are asked if you want to format the "C" drive, or the entire hard disk. I assume if you pick "C", then it will only format the seen "C" drive. From there, I hope that XP installs, allowing me the option of keeping fat32. This way I can boot XP. Then, I can boot from the Linux CD to a terminal window and recover lilo to the mbr.
I know that PartitonMagic 6 will format the "C: drive also, if I need to do this. I have seen that PartitonMagic 6 will not run on WIN XP or properly recognize NTFS, but I can make boot and PartitionMagic floppy disks before I start as a back-up.
Yep, no WIN XP CD ROM, although the have the "Certificate of Authenticity" which I hope is the one that the recovery process will be asking for (the online guide states to have this handy to input, I'm assuming it is speaking of the XP numbers).
I am hoping that what the IBM tech was saying was that once NTFS is installed, whether he was wrong or not, that XP defaults to NTFS during the recovery process, rather than the recovery process not letting me keep the fat32 partition. It looks like the option to convert the drive when I turned on the machine with pre-installed XP, the system was preset at the factory to convert to NTFS.
Well see what IBM says about the recovery process.
a13antichrist
Moderator from Hell
There's a debug script I got from glussier about a year ago ahen I was trying to get rid of NT from a drive. Worked great; I'll try and find it if people think they'd be interested..