NTFS v Fat32 question

I've just discovered that my 1 year-old Acer notebook (Extensa 5220) has a 40GB partition (C) formatted in NTFS while the other 40GB partition (D) is in Fat32.

This only came to light when I found that WinRar wouldn't unpack component files on the D drive that would expand to a file of 4GB or larger.

Extracting the files from D to the NTFS C partition did the job.

Which got me wondering: Why would Acer have configured the machine in this way? There doesn't appear to be any recovery files on the Fat32 partition; Acer has this PC set up so that the user needs to construct their own recovery discs.

If there are any hidden files, I have a hunch that they may be in a third, invisible partition, Linux perhaps, an OS that I know nothing about.

Comments appreciated

 

Hi Masonite

Not suprising it wasn't long ago that Acer shipped everything with FAT32! Go figure!

Likely the Hidden restore partition will show up in disk management as an ESIA hidden partition. Else it has no restore partition.

The advantage of having a fat32 partition is that you would have easy access to the files even if XP would not boot.

Two ways to handle the drive.

1. save/backup what you have and format to NTFS
2. or let XP convert it even with the files on it, make sure there are no disk errors so

at cmd prompt
type
chkdsk d: /r

when chkdsk completes

convert d: /fs:ntfs

Mike

 

Thanks Mike. Your post reminds me that I meant to ask another question, namely: Can I convert Fat32 to NTFS on the fly? I understand it's a one-way conversion?

Other thing: Just tried to repair (R) an XPSP3 install but there's no Repair option. But I had a vague idea that this can be started within Windows then it completes the job during a reboot. Does that ring any bells?

Otherwise, I guess I can try what you've suggested - running chkdsk /r totally within Windows. The reason for this is that the hard drive I used is a little suspect and there have been several messages about scary events (like Sam missing and System\Config\system being ******* up) but which have gone away after 'Last Known Good.... or just a boot to Safe mode.

This last set of problems is on a six year old desktop system and I think it might be the drive.

 

That is what this line does! Assumes the drive you are converting is d: if not use the correct drive letter!

convert d: /fs:ntfs

Mike

 

Thanks again Mike.

OK, as to my other query about running chkdsk /r within Windows, on an older desktop pc, I've answered the question myself.

Yes, it did work on a machine that wouldn't offer the 'R' option when booted with the XP disc.

I started Windows, ran chkdsk /r from Start<Run and it informed that the process would complete itself during the next reboot.

Which it did, without asking for a CD, so I guess it used C:\Windows\Repair or something similar for the source files.