convert thinkpad t43 ntfs to fat32 without losing data

[mktkin]

just bought t43 (2668NQ1). os files were configured automatically. When came to share it with win98, it doesn't. I realized it is NTFS. I want to enable the sharing of data because most of the machines in my n/w are win98.

Pls. help

[stangri]

Partition Magic might help you, but it ain't free.

PS. if that's the other networked Win98 computers which don't see your new laptop hard-drive, it has nothing to do with the NTFS partition imho -- you just need to setup the sharing on your XP correctly. And I hope it's XP Professional you have, not XP Home.

[GomJabbar]

just bought t43 (2668NQ1). os files were configured automatically. When came to share it with win98, it doesn't. I realized it is NTFS. I want to enable the sharing of data because most of the machines in my n/w are win98.

Pls. help

NTFS is not a problem unless you are running Windows 98 on your T43 and you have another drive formatted in NTFS. In a networking situation NTFS won't prevent the sharing of data with another computer running FAT32. If the other computer has FAT16, then the NTFS file names will get truncated, but they can still be read.

BTW, I read that Microsoft tools will only format a FAT32 partition with a maximum of 32Gb.

[cerebral_mamba]

NTFS is not a problem unless you are running Windows 98 on your T43 and you have another drive formatted in NTFS. In a networking situation NTFS won't prevent the sharing of data with another computer running FAT32. If the other computer has FAT16, then the NTFS file names will get truncated, but they can still be read.

BTW, I read that Microsoft tools will only format a FAT32 partition with a maximum of 32Gb.

I'll second that. NTFS is not an issue in a networking enviornment.

[Kyocera]

You don't have to convert the files systems, just enable file sharing and start sharing folders.

File Sharing for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -us;304040

Issues with File Sharing between 98 and XP
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/n1008096447

[davidspalding]

XP Home or XP Pro, it should work out the same. File sharing from NT/2000/XP to Win95/98/ME works fine. If you want to map the drives/shares, ensure that a user/password on the client matches the shared system (e.g. david/myp@ssw0rd on both, not david/myp@ssw0rd on one system and david/fence!butter on the other).

[amensi]

You can do it with PM but you will undoubtably experience performance loss and you might end up with corrupted files. Windows won't format FAT32 more then 32GB.

As far as i am concerned, it should be considered as the last option on earth. The best way would be to backup your files and re-install on a clean formatted FAT32 drive.

REF: http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1820

Good Luck, you will need it !