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

[minibubba]

Formatting and partitioning are the same thing....

partitioning and formating are not remotely the same. ever heard of an unformatted partition? Partitions basically divide up hdd space, where as formating dictates what file system will be used on those partitions. One partition can be formated many times with different file-systems.

One can use the OS CD to partition and format your hdd's or you can also use something like fdisk, which is free but only for more advanced users. But there also also programs like powerquest's (recently acquired by symmantic) partition magic that gives partitioning a easy to use gui by cost a fair amount of money.

When you reinstall XP you will have to re-activate it, however registration is entirely voluntary. If it's been more than 128 since the last time you installed XP it should not give you any problems with re-activating.

[Yawgm0th]

partitioning and formating are not remotely the same

For the purpose of this conversation they are. And for the most part, when you do one, you do the other. But fair enough, I should have phrased that differently.

[Beefy]

For the purpose of this conversation they are. And for the most part, when you do one, you do the other. But fair enough, I should have phrased that differently.

As mini said, they aren't really.

OK, here's a brief rundown on what you're dealing with:

You've got two physical HDDs in that beast (2 x 160GB). When they are in the RAID 0 config, it basically means that instead of having two seperate drives, they both work together, split the data between, and fool the computer into thinking there's only one drive there (1 logical drive). There's pros and cons to this, but the pros outweigh the cons.

A 'partition' is grabbing part of the logical drive and sectioning it off. Most people do this to keep drives managable, to install different operating systems, or just so they have different drives for different purposes. When you 'format' a drive, you're basically setting it up with a certain file system so it can be used. Once a partition has been set up, then it becomes hard to change without the possibility of losing data. Partition Magic can be used to resize partitions (so if you had one big 320GB partition and wanted to shrink it to 100GB or something to allow others), however it's not always a flawless operation, although it works most of the time.

As the others have said, you've going to run into problems if you install 98. Your computer is just too good for it (strange, but true). So that leaves XP 32-bit and XP 64-bit.

First thing I'd do would be to find that registration key for XP32. If you can't find that, then the rest of this is pointless. If you can afford to wipe everything and start afresh, I highly recommend it.

Think about what you want to store on your drive, and make a couple different partitions for different things. I've personally got 4 partitions on a 240GB RAID 0 array (2 x 120GB SATA drives) set out as follows:

- 30GB C: for Operating System and basic software
- 90GB D: for Music, Downloads and CD images
- 60GB E: for temporary video files (editing)
- 60GB F: for Games.

The good thing about that layout is that if I my operating system needs formatting / reinstalling, then I can simply format C: again and start from scratch, without losing all my other files. All the partitioning / formatting can be done from the XP install, so once you put the CD in you'll be set.

Probably a lot to take in there, so feel free to ask questions.

[Marlowe1899]

That sounds good, thanks.
Paticularly the formatting of just one partition, I was not aware you could do that.

I appreciate the help everyone has given me, but is there anywhere a step by step guide that I can print out and have for reference while doing it? I mean I used to format my 98 system all the time but that was with a very basic hardware no raid setup. From other posts I've read (not just here) I get the impression that setting up an XP system with raid can be tricky if you don't know what your doing, so I just want to be 100% certain of what I'm doing before I wipe everything and start afresh.

Many Many Thanks for everyones help.

(To understand what I'm talking about, my system cost me a fair penny and I obviously don't want to mess it up)

[Beefy]

It's not that much different to how you used to do it all. Just think of the RAID as one big drive that sometimes needs a driver to get it to work. :) When you install an OS on the RAID from a CD boot, it will ask you to press something to install third party drivers (in XP / 2000 the key is F6). Do that, pop in a disk or something with the drivers on it, and you'll never have to worry about it again. That's about the only time things are different (aside from the performance)

[Marlowe1899]

Excellent thanks, just one last thing, will the drivers work from a cd? I have all the drivers I need to start up with already on cd rom (not the newest but factory set ones) so I should be ok, and things like graphics I can update later. Is that ok or should I get all the latest drivers and save them to floppy first? The only problem with that is apart from the obvious ones, Graphics, sound I could not find many of the newer drivers around, like the ethernet controller and the raid one.

Thanks.

btw I found my windows reg code, so I'm all set to go.

[Beefy]

The only driver you need on disk is the RAID one, as you have to load this up before you can start installing (the installation program will tell you, as I mentioned before). All the other drivers can be installed once the system is up and running, so they are fine to leave on CD.

[Marlowe1899]

Searching through my disks I've come accross the driver:
WinXP Promise FastTrak 376/378 Controller. This is also the one that is installed as a SCSI and Raid controller in device manager, so I take it this is the correct one? Only problem (maybe) is that it's not digitally signed. Like I said this was one of the drivers I had trouble finding, so is this the one I should use or should I try to find a signed one?

Also sorry you may have mentioned this, but when do I install this, after I have formatted or after I've partitioned or at some other time?

Many Thanks for all the patient replies

[Beefy]

That's the one you need.

OK, what will happen is when you boot from your XP CD, it'll pop on screen with 'Press F6 to install third party RAID + SCSI drivers' or something like that. It'll be one of the first things that pops up. Press F6, then follow the onscreen instructions, putting the disk in when it needs it. You can't really go wrong, and it won't let you start installing if you don't have it.

[Marlowe1899]

Thanks alot everyone that helped.

Very much appreciated

[Marlowe1899]

Ok I'm about to do it, I have one further question however. Will the different drivers conflict with each other?

What I mean is XP 32 will be on one partition with it's drivers.

XP 64 will be on another partition but will need different drivers to run.

So will they conflict or will the partitons seperate them?

Many Thanks

Actually is there a maximum amount of partitions you can have and do they have to be seperated into the 2 160 gig's?
Like can I have for instance a 200 gig partition and then 2 60 gig ones?

[Yawgm0th]

They won't conflict. You should be able to have 4 partitions per drive, normally. Your setup is a little different, but I don't think it matters.

[minibubba]

you can have 4 primary partitions, but if you use an extended partiton you can have 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition, but the extended partition can have many logical partitions. So technically speaking, you could have as many partitions as you have available drive letters to assign to them.

drivers stick with the OS they are installed with so you wont have any conflicts. Otherwise it would be very difficlut to multiboot with any OS's

:cheers:

[Marlowe1899]

ok so I can have:

C: 50 gig Win XP 32 - NTFS
D: 50 gig Win XP 64 - NTFS
E: 30 gig Fat 32 - Empty
F: 30 gig NTFS - Empty


G: 80 gig NTFS - Empty
H: 80 gig NTFS - Empty

I'm not sure why I need the Fat32 partition, I'm just going on what has been mentioned in this thread, but will this work ok.

Empty just means places I will use later e.g Games e.t.c

[minibubba]

yep, you can do that, but you don't need the fat32 partition if you're not going to use win98 :)

i'd recomend that you partition the drives before installing windows so you don't have to change the drive letters of your optical drives later.

:cheers: