Be safe and backup up anything important. I done it a few time with no problems. Do not remember it taking very long.
The command is Convert which you would run from command prompt.
CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or volume name. /FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume to be converted to NTFS. /V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
It's a slow process but it can be done. But I suggest you back everything up from the drive first.
However, I don't think that is the problem. It may be an issue with an older drive not recognizing the newer system's "wake up" call, but I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I do not use standby on my desktops becuse of these types of problems, nor do I allow my hard drives to spin down.
Anyway, sorry about your 4100. Mine is still kicking!! Good luck with the 4600.
Thanks to Osprey4 and Tom XPS for the replies. I too have disabled standby modes on the desktop. On the 4100, it was a good PC and I expected to use it for a few more years but three months after the warranty expired it stopped detecting removable drives except A:. I couldn't get either BIOS or Windows to detect them, noticed the secondary IDE channel was missing from Device Manager--just poof! & gone. Spoke to a local PC repair person who guessed from the symptoms that I had a Dell XPS and said he had a dozen XPS's stacked up in his shop with failed secondary IDE channels (true? who knows?). Decided to replace rather than repair, not sorry, because I enjoy the speed and minor but worthwhile extra benefits & conveniences of the new 4600 with XP. Keep an eye on your secondary IDE channel, Osprey4! :o)
TomXPS--appreciate the HD conversion tips. I'm using F: just as backup/archive, not sure it's worth my time to convert to the better file system. I'll probably do it just to see how it goes.
Hey Apfeffer1, I am about to do the same with my new machine that is on the way. I am going to back up all my files onto my secondary drive and then install it in the second bay like you did and copy my files into my new comp. Can you tell me what you needed to do to install the hd? Simply plug in and go or did you have to change settings? Thanks.
It went very easily for me except for the problems I mentioned. You should print out the Dell instructions from thge link in this thread and you can also get phone help as you remove and install the old drive. The older HD was a Dell Maxtor drive from a PC only 3 yrs old, so it was detected immediately on bootup by the 4600. I didn't have to change any 4600 settings, but I did make sure to change the jumper on the old drive from Master to Slave (best would be Cable Select but not available on older drives). Without being an expert or techie I've worked inside PC cases adding cards and drives, etc., for many years, so I knew how to deal with the cables, connectors, brackets.
One software factor I worried about--would software installations on the 4600 be fouled up by the presence of old ME system files, swap file, and configuration files on the F: drive? So far, no obvious difficulties, though when a new program finds its old version on F: it may want to install to F:. I've deleted most of the potentially troublesome files by now. You generally can't copy programs, as opposed to data files, from F: to C: Usually you have to reinstall to C: and better from the distribution CD-ROM than tyring to do it the lazy way from F: I did transfer some downloaded installation files from F: to C: and these installed fine.
TomXPS
1.3K Posts
0
February 11th, 2004 22:00
To Convert to NTFS:
Be safe and backup up anything important. I done it a few time with no problems. Do not remember it taking very long.
The command is Convert which you would run from command prompt.
CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS
volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
February 11th, 2004 22:00
It's a slow process but it can be done. But I suggest you back everything up from the drive first.
However, I don't think that is the problem. It may be an issue with an older drive not recognizing the newer system's "wake up" call, but I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I do not use standby on my desktops becuse of these types of problems, nor do I allow my hard drives to spin down.
Anyway, sorry about your 4100. Mine is still kicking!! Good luck with the 4600.
apfeffer1
9 Posts
0
February 12th, 2004 15:00
Thanks to Osprey4 and Tom XPS for the replies. I too have disabled standby modes on the desktop. On the 4100, it was a good PC and I expected to use it for a few more years but three months after the warranty expired it stopped detecting removable drives except A:. I couldn't get either BIOS or Windows to detect them, noticed the secondary IDE channel was missing from Device Manager--just poof! & gone. Spoke to a local PC repair person who guessed from the symptoms that I had a Dell XPS and said he had a dozen XPS's stacked up in his shop with failed secondary IDE channels (true? who knows?). Decided to replace rather than repair, not sorry, because I enjoy the speed and minor but worthwhile extra benefits & conveniences of the new 4600 with XP. Keep an eye on your secondary IDE channel, Osprey4! :o)
TomXPS--appreciate the HD conversion tips. I'm using F: just as backup/archive, not sure it's worth my time to convert to the better file system. I'll probably do it just to see how it goes.
Art
Taken
35 Posts
0
February 13th, 2004 01:00
apfeffer1
9 Posts
0
February 13th, 2004 19:00
It went very easily for me except for the problems I mentioned. You should print out the Dell instructions from thge link in this thread and you can also get phone help as you remove and install the old drive. The older HD was a Dell Maxtor drive from a PC only 3 yrs old, so it was detected immediately on bootup by the 4600. I didn't have to change any 4600 settings, but I did make sure to change the jumper on the old drive from Master to Slave (best would be Cable Select but not available on older drives). Without being an expert or techie I've worked inside PC cases adding cards and drives, etc., for many years, so I knew how to deal with the cables, connectors, brackets.
One software factor I worried about--would software installations on the 4600 be fouled up by the presence of old ME system files, swap file, and configuration files on the F: drive? So far, no obvious difficulties, though when a new program finds its old version on F: it may want to install to F:. I've deleted most of the potentially troublesome files by now. You generally can't copy programs, as opposed to data files, from F: to C: Usually you have to reinstall to C: and better from the distribution CD-ROM than tyring to do it the lazy way from F: I did transfer some downloaded installation files from F: to C: and these installed fine.
Good luck with your HD swap. --
Art
apfeffer1
9 Posts
0
February 13th, 2004 19:00