Hi, I have upgraded my laptop to WIN2K, while upgrading I chose NTFS as the file system. Now I would like to go back to WIN-98, but it is asking me to start from DOS. When I boot from DOS using the floppy disks, it is not recognizing the c: drive ( hard disk ) as it is NTFS partitioned. I tried to format the hard disk from within WIN2K after backing up my data, but now it says I can't format it as it has boot files on it. I can't format from DOS as it is not recognizing the hard disk. Am I missing something ? How can I convert back to FAT32. If formatting the only way, how can I format the hard disk as it is not allowing me.

Yes, im sad (? well ..not really:) to say that converting back to Fat from NTFS does not work, so you shouldnt bother trying to neither. The easiest way to format your drive is to use PowerQuest`s PQ Magic (version 7 is the latest, do a search on the W3 and i promise you youll find it.. Or mayb KaAza.. U dig?) PQ-Magic will allow you to format the drive (any) back to Fat/Fat32 etc.. Using FDISK you wont be able to do this, as you know... A boot disk, say Win98 boot disks only support the Fat file system, as NTFS didnt arrive untill Windows NT 4.0(youre using Windows 2000 aka Win2k right? Calling this OS Windows 2000 is just another way of saying Windows 5.0..so..? Get my drift? Or you could..If you had installed your OS on a D:\ drive and left the C:\ drive open for your system files (i advice you to make a C:\ drive "500Mb" for this purpose the next time)right click on your "My Computer" icon, chosen "Manage" told the program to either delete your C:\ drive og format it for you here.. But.. :) You dont have a C:\ drive with only system files (boot.ini etc..) on it do you? Ok, a bit clearer huh? Best, Morgan Hansen mailto:morgancnap@hotmail.com

That guy was a clown. If you have internet access, go to google and type in delpart. You'll see a delpart partitioning tool. go inside and you'll be able to down load free. Fits on a floppy. Good luck

NT/W2K will not allow you to (re)format (or delete) a partition that includes boot/system files.; which is why the errro message... Either PM-7x or later, or latest System Commander 'should' allow a conversion back from ntfs4/5 to fat32. If that isn't possible (according to their repsective web-sites it should be...?) then a reformat of the drive is the only way to get '98 back in. To remove W2K and reformat drive as fat32: Either boot with the W2K CD (if allowed) or the 4 floppies; run W2K setup and choose to delete or (re)format (as fat32) the partition. If you delete it then reconfigure drive for '98 with ideally two partitions; Primary for OS, and Extended for data etc. You can use either W2K to do this reconfig. or a '98 boot-disk with Fdisk/fornmat utils. You can also use the '98 boot-disk with Fdisk/format to delete the non-DOS partition (ntfs shows up as non-DOS); then reconfigure drive and format. If you have an Extended space with ntfs then Fdisk of any version from M$ will not delete it; Fdisk will only delete it from a Primary location. W2K setup\create/delete partitions option will allow removal of ntfs from any partition...; which is why it's a popular route to use in removing W2K/NT (ntfs5/ntfs4) partitions. Delpart.exe is the util from M$ NT3.1 that will also remove just about 'any' partition - permanently. Freebie 27K download from: http://hercules.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/index.htm Run from a DOS prompt after booting with a DOS/'9x boot-disk. But you have both W2K CD and '98 boot-disk so you have all you need. If you go converting or deleting partitions - first back-up data etc.??? General how to uninstall/delete W2K site (covers several situations): http://www.budja.com/w2k/uninstall_w2k.html

I've done this dozens of times. Just get a startup dikette from W98/ME, and execute FDISK, select the corresponding disk and choose to delete a non-DOS partition, after that create all the new partitions you need, exit fdisk and format. Sometimes the disk configuration in the BIOS gets messed up, in this case you have to go to bios and reconfigure the HD. Sometimes the bios will not recognize the HD by itself, in this case you have to do manually. Eg.: set size, nr of heads, sectors etc. If you dont have this data, it's usually printed on the HD. Good luck.

Thanks all, It worked.