NTFS Converting

Hey d00ds,

dont know why, but...

i've got 4 drives, they've all been FAT32 until now...

I won't go into it, but i couldnt boot from a normal DOS boot disk with all my disks pluged in, so i had to unplug 3 to rebuild my O/S last nite

problem is...

Imagine i've got 2x 60GB and 2x 80GB (on a RAID controller)

1x 60GB was partitioned... and for some reason (well..not some reason, it was the way the disks were all added at diff times) it (the partitions) were given the drive letters thru FDISK as C: and J:

my 2nd 60GB was D: then the 80's E: and F: (G: and H: are my DVD-Rom and CD-RW)

A Mess ? yeah i know....

The booting issue isn't a problem at all...

i've got XP on, i've got 4 disks (all full partitions in disk management etc)

but!

my 1st disk (Pri-Master on the RAID Cont.) is F: (NTFS)
my 2nd disk (Pri-Slave on the RAID Cont.) is G: (NTFS)
my 3rd disk (Sec-Master on the RAID Cont.) is H: (NTFS)
my 4th disk (Sec-Slave on the RAID Cont.) is I: (NTFS)

all i'm asking is...

whats the best way of resuming normality...

I had to change the G,H and I to get them to go after F:... I loaded my OS with only 1 disk present, then plugged the rest in later to overcome the boot issue, which has served its purpose.

but when first added G,H, and were C, D and E or something... but I want them to go in the order they are in the RAID controller.

I could remove the partition on F: and reload again, now they are synchronous in windows atm...

but i'm wondering whether, with them being FAT32, when I open FDSIK, they all jump forward a letter or so..

so :-

Pri Mast = Partitionless
Pri Slave = C:
Sec Mast = D:
Sec Slave = E:

(AGAIN)

which is what i'm trying to avoid.

would converting them to NTFS, so none would be present in FDISK, only the windows setup stop them doing that? I mean, basically would they retain the letter i've given them currently in windows, coz i can change them to D,E and F later.

I just want this 60 (Pri-Master) to become C: I know I cant change it while its my system drive in windows, I only reloaded my pc again last nite, so im driverless atm, so i dont care about re-loading (again)


using the convert X: /FS:NTFS command, wont effect data on a none system drive will it?

Sorry about that...

Regards,

Greeno

It looks rather messy but here goes:

Every HD you have has an active partition on it.
You should have ONLY 1 active partition and that should be the first partition on your first HD, i.e. your PriMast will be C:.

The other partition of your PriMast can stay, but will receive D: as soon as all the other active partitions have been removed.

To remove the active partitions from the other 3 drives, use Partition Magic (this does not work with FDISK!).
Rightclick the selected drive, click Convert, then to Logical.
You will not lose any of your data.

PriSlave will become E:
SecMast will become F:
SecSlave will become G:
Your DVD/CD will become H: and I:

Backup what you need, to be sure to be sure!

Have fun.


PS: converting alone to NTFS will have no influence on your drive-letter sequence. If you want to convert the lot, then again do so with Partition Magic, much faster than Window's own util.

However, prepare for a long session if you want to watch this.

ahhh

shite..

F:,G:,H: and I: as I've said... F: is my system partition G: is active... what you think?

i'll screen cap it later