Reformatting

I have a 4 drive RAID setup which I would like to reformat from NTFS to FAT32. Operating Manual says use Setup but can't find specifics. Any help appreciated. I am used to WIN9x 's FRDISK and FORMAT.

 

Most of the RAID stuff has it's own format utility that seems to work a little better if you want to keep your stripe sets. So unless you are only mirroring, you might do better with the more RAID-aware utility.

 

Where to find?

Okay, thank you for the info. Now where would I find this utility? Just a note. My tech told me that the four HD were
"stripped" into Windows2K. Does that make any difference, and what is the difference between that way and a RAID array?

 

RAID isn't a single feature. It can be done in hardware (if you have the hardware RAID controller) or software. There are 5 possible variations although for 2K, you can only do certain ones in software. So a few questions before wading further into this.

If all you want to do is change from FAT32 to NTFS, the convert command from a Command/DOs window (start~run~cmd) should fix you up without a reformat being needed. To get details, after you open the Command window, convert /?.

Do you want to set all the drives up as one large RAID drive or will you have the OS running on a single drive and set up a RAID array on the remaining ones?

Do you have a hardware RAID controller or is all this to be done in software? If hardware, exactly what?

Are you running Server or Workstation OS? 2K allows more options for software RAID with the Server OS.

 

First, I want to convert from NFTS to FAT 32. The original tech striped the 4 drive in via a Promise Ultra TX2 Controller. When Windows loads it shows the four 80gb drives but they are only seen as F drive after loading. I am only operating a workstation or single user PC.

 

Sorry about the mix up on which way you wanted to convert the file storage. You said NTFS to FAT32 and I read it the other way.

You can get some excellent how-to information from http://www.promise.com/support/download/download_eng.asp and I think it would be worth the time to read up on your options. You will need to know if you have Ultra 100 TX2 or Ultra 133 TX2 though to get the correct information and software/firmware updates.

If you run any sort of stripe set you will have less total space available than you have physical drive space.

If you format FAT32 you will have less total space available than you would with NTFS.