Switching from FAT32 to NTFS using W2000---Tech Q's

chriselkins wrote on 4/4/2002, 10:55 AM
I am helping a friend who wants to be able to render files greater than 4G. I understand that in order to do this, you must format the drive to use NTFS along with switching to an appropriate operating system. I suggested her switching to W2000. (Do VF and Vegas even work on XP?) Will installing W2000 automatically reformat her drive to NTFS? I doubt it. How do I go about this? 1) reformat the drive to NTFS 2)re-install W98 3)install the W2000 upgrade? (Her husband is very cheap, so I doubt he will want to PAY for the full blown W2000, even though that is what I would suggest.) She has a 60G drive dedicated for video storage. Once W2000 is installed on the disk that has the operating system on it, will I still need to reformat the video disk to NTFS? Thanks for the help, all!

Comments

ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/4/2002, 12:22 PM
VF works great on XP!!! Thats what I use... What OS is she using now. XP supports NTFS. You just have to convert the drives.
jimcho wrote on 4/4/2002, 12:43 PM
I think only VF2 and Vegas3 are supported under XP.

The cheapest route for your friend will probably be

1) Upgrade to VF2. You'll still have the 4G barrier, but VF will automatically segment the output for DV AVI files in 4 gig chunks so print-to-tape and capture operations will be seemless.

2) Upgrade to Windows XP Home edition. It's the cheapest upgrade that will give you an NTSF capable OS. You can run a NTFS convert utility after the upgrade to convert FAT32 file systems to NTFS.
jimcho wrote on 4/4/2002, 12:46 PM
Also, odds of success are probably better with VF2. Upgrading an O/S, especially with lots of installed programs, has never been a pleasant experience for me ;)
jimcho wrote on 4/4/2002, 12:57 PM
DOH! You can't do 2 without doing 1 anyway!
chriselkins wrote on 4/4/2002, 2:25 PM
Hmmm....So, you're telling me I can just upgrade her from W98 to XP (home or otherwise)and then I can run a utility to xfer the file system to NTSF afterwards? I don't believe it! Actually, I'd love to believe it, but it sounds to easy and her video files, a year long project are all on those drives, so I would not even want to take the risk without first backing up everything elsewhere. And since I will be going to all that trouble, I might as well just do a thorough erase and reformat. It's kinda like cleaning your cars fuel injectors. You never think you really need it, but things sure run faster once you do! (..duh...It's removing all that yucky windows residue that's hidden all over the place!) Anyway....just knowing VF2 will work with XP is great! I think her hubby has a copy of that. I will get her to upgrade to VF2 then go from there. Thanks for the help!
ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/4/2002, 3:06 PM
You can do it!! and its very easy!! I did it over my copy of ME. I was scared when I had to update the BIOS, but everything worked out.
Chienworks wrote on 4/4/2002, 3:25 PM
Yes, believe it. It works. However, it's still prudent to back up whatever possible first anyway, just in case. If you have a power failure while running the conversion program, whatever file it's working on right then will be lost, and possible any other files that share that area of the drive.
randy-stewart wrote on 4/4/2002, 8:00 PM
All,
What I'm hearing is that I can upgrade to XP on C: drive, and reformat to NTFS on D: drive without having to take any programs or data off of either drive and reinstall them later(sans files I want to backup), correct ? When I heard "reformat", I immediately thought the drive would be cleaned off (not a problem for D: drive but big worries for C:) and I would have to reinstall unfound or incompatible drivers and my application software after the operating system installed. If I don't have to do that, I will feel much better about upgrading to XP and converting both drives to NTFS. Or, maybe a better idea is to just convert D: drive. That's okay right? No conflicts with having C: formated for FAT32 and D: formated for NTFS?
Randy
ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/5/2002, 6:43 AM
Convert both drives to NTFS. It is no big deal..... I don't think you can run both FAT and NTFS.
randy-stewart wrote on 4/5/2002, 9:15 AM
Okay, thanks AndreMike.
Randy
ronaldf wrote on 4/5/2002, 12:13 PM
I was told that XP Home edition does not support NTFS. That is one of the big differences between Home and Pro.
jimcho wrote on 4/5/2002, 1:23 PM
Here is the Microsoft comparison chart of Home vs Pro. Home edition does have NTFS as indicated by this new install guide.
ANDREMIKE wrote on 4/5/2002, 2:06 PM
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt...the home edition does support NTFS!!

ronaldf wrote on 4/5/2002, 3:49 PM
Thanks for the update. That should save me a few dollars on an upgrade.
chriselkins wrote on 4/5/2002, 5:13 PM
Well folks, Thanks! I really appreciate all the input here! I have learned a lot. First of all (this first of all was a problem of entering over 75 events on a single VF1 timeline, which you all have solved for me) ...like I was saying, first of all, I DON'T even have to reformat my (or her) drives to NTFS in order to create an hour long show. All I have to do is upgrade her to VF2. Then, she will be able to edit way more than 75 cuts a timeline, render to up to 4G each (saying Whoe down there, Nelly when you get close to 15 MIN!), then smack them all together again using the "print to tape" doo-hicky!? This really works? I nevre thought about it before, because I was decoding analogue, but now I have a mini dv cam and it is just so cool!


Anyway..it's Friday...and the beers are kickin' in...I better go now!

Thanks again all!