NTFS, FAT 32, Partitioning, Raid 0, duel boot, XP, XP 64 and

[Marlowe1899]

OK, I realise what I'm asking is a lot so I understand if no one answers or just gives me a link but I'm really confused.

To start with I have a 320GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA 7200rpm (2x160GB) Raid - 0 HDD.

Now I know nothing about raid and was wondering how it works with the above drive, do I actually have 2 drives of 160 gb or 1 320 gb drive partitioned? I can only see the C: drive so I'm presuming the second but if so where's the partition?

I also have the Athlon 64 FX-51 processor and this morning recieved the Windows XP 64-Bit Beta O/S through the post, so obviously would like to try it but have no idea on how to partition my drive if needed at all. I know about Partition magic but from reading the Windows help files it appears you don't need an outside program to partition your drive and I don't have a copy anyway, so how do I do it. I really wan't to install windows 98 on there as well and have read that 98 will not run on NTFS, so do I have to reformat the whole drive to FAT 32 or can I format partitions?

Basically I want to Install Windows XP (already on), Windows XP 64 bit edition and windows 98.

Like I said Raid means nothing to me and I have no third party partitioning software, so how do I do it, if it is at all possible.

Obviously I'm wasting the potential of raid but it came in a pre built system with no info on how to use it.

Many Thanks.

[minibubba]

simply you just have to load the raid/sata drivers when you first start to install windows. It would be helpful to have the drivers on a floppy before you start the installation.

there are people here with far more expience with raid and sata, so perhaps they can give you the finer points on the matter

Just as a side though, is it really important for you to have win98 installed as well? With the hardware you are using, it seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth.

[Marlowe1899]

No to 98 if I can find a decent way to run older programs, but the only methods I've found so far are so labour intensive it would just be easier (I thought) to install 98.

[minibubba]

you would be surprised what will run well on XP. If it wont run normally you can also try to run them in compatablity mode.

What are these older apps? there may be know workarounds for them

[Marlowe1899]

Mainly games, and yes I have found some methods of running them, but I just figured installing 98 where I know they run straight out the box would be easier than editing the config and downloading third party patches and turning this off and adding that.

But if installing 98 is a problem then I can get by without it.

[Yawgm0th]

I don't have a whole lot of experience with RAID or SATA but I imagine they won't interfere during installation. You probably won't even need to update drivers or anything like that.


But I'm going to have to agree with Minibubba on this one. While Windows 98 does run significantly faster than XP, despite what some may think, it simply cannot support your hardware. I'm sure it won't support the Athlon 64 FX very well, certainly not as well as even 32-bit XP. On top of that, to really get the most out of that proccessor, you will probably want over 512 MB of RAM, which really makes Windows 98 mad. It won't have very good support for your video card; it just can't handle the newer ones. Stabilizing it requires knowledge you might not have and time most would rather not spend. I usually support 98 all the way whe people ask if they should upgrade to XP, in fact I have been in several long arguements over what to use, always going for 98. It will just take up time and space if you put it on, I would highly recommend you don't.

As for everything else, you should be okay. Just plop in the CD for 32-bit XP, and format when it asks you to. Note that you lose everything currently on the drive. When it finishes installing, install 64-bit. Format a 2nd partition when prompted. As I said, I don't really know much about RAID or SATA, but you probably want two huge NTFS partitions and one 30 GB FAT32 partition. Just type diskmgmt.msc in Run in either XP to make more partitions. It should be easy enough from there.

One last note - make sure you have drivers for everything before you install. Not having good drivers can cause problems and it's best to install them ASAP.

[Yawgm0th]

I always take forever to type :grr: . Are you trying to play a DOS game or something? There are work-arounds easier than installing or using 98 for most older games. If you name specific games or programs I bet I could help you out quite a bit. I have 98SE installed for the same reason, but I have found it to be unnecesary, for the most part. It does spend about 20 mins less on Seti@home, but XP (both XPs) will probably run faster for you with the Athlon 64.

[Marlowe1899]

ok, sounds complicated but doable, Thanks.
I have 2 gig of ram and I remember having this problem back in my 95 days when I put in 512mb I think.

Again Thanks.

[Marlowe1899]

Games I'm most interested in keeping are the old multi disk FMV games. e.g Tex Murphy series and Gabriel Knight 2.

The place I use is:

http://home.earthlink.net/~angeldancer27/XpGameList.htm

Which is good, but installing 98 would have been easier. But I can live without it.

[Yawgm0th]

I made it sound complicated . It's quite simple. Start comp, plop in CD, format when asked, shutdown. Start comp, plop in CD, format when asked, restart. Install drivers for both. Finished.
What might be slightly complicated is booting from CD if you don't know how.

[Marlowe1899]

Thanks, the formatting is not a problem, I've done that many times, it's the partitioning part I may find confusing when it comes to it.

[Yawgm0th]

Right-click, properties on the .exe files for the games. Check "Run in compatibility mode for" and select Windows 95. That will solve the problem with about 80% of DOS games. Checking "run in 256 color mode" and "disable advanced text services for this program" makes even more work. To find the .exe for the game, right click, properties on the shortcut and select "find target".
Fairly simple and seems to have problems only with games that are extremely buggy. The only games I ever had to take extra steps for was X-COM Apocalypse, and there was a web site with fairly easy instructions that I found.

[Marlowe1899]

Thanks. Incidentally will I have to re register XP when I reinstall? Or can I use the old reg number I got last time? and if so where can I find it, I've probably lost the paper I wrote it down on.

Thanks

[Yawgm0th]

Formatting and partitioning are practically the same thing.... When you format, you're making a partition. I guess partitoning more than one big partiton is your problem. When you install XP, it will ask you where you want to install it. You can choose to make partitions at this point. The choices are fairly simple and you should be able to figure it out. choose to creat a very large NTFS partiton when you install both XPs. Then, by going control panel, administrative tools, disk management, or by typing diskmgmt.msc in Run, you can create more partitions by simply right-clicking on your hard drive. I suggest you have 2 or 3 very large NTFS partitons and one small, 30 GB or less, FAT32 partition. I might be making this sound complicated, but it's really pretty easy. You aren't giving enough choices whe installing XP and partitioning in it to get something wrong. And if you do, reformatting is fairly simple.

[Yawgm0th]

You will almost undoubtably have to. If you lost the number, I'm not sure if everything will work alright. Either way, you might have to call Microsoft, which should get it straightened out. There are also other methods of activating XP, but the admins would probably get mad if I talked about it here.