[Tom-boy]

Basic newbie question, I believe, but here it comes anyway:
I've 40 Gig hd with Win2k formatted on NTFS and I'd like to/need to install 98SE on it as well. Can it be done at all and without any expensive partition tools? I've been trying to find articles about this but either they're too technical jargon of otherwise sound bit shady, so I don't want to risk anything and simply try it.

[Four and Twenty]

you need to repartition the drive but that doesn't mean that you need expensive tools

you need to make the primary partition fat32 that is what 98 will go on
the other partition can be fat or ntfs (ntfs is better but you woln't see it in 98 without a special driver)

install 98 first then your nt variant
the nt variant will realize you got 98 on there and give you a boot option for it.

[Tom-boy]

Ok, no tools needed, that's good news. But since I've got the Win2k installed on fully NTFS partitioned drive, does this mean that I've do the whole 2k shebang again? I'd rather not ;(

[Vermyn]

Sorry, to make this work, you get to format the entire hard drive and start over (losing all of your data). NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 and you cannot dynamically size it down without a partitioning tool.

So, if you don't want to buy a partitioning tool, you get to start over.

As the earlier guy said, install 98 first, then install Win2k in a separate partition.

[Tom-boy]

Dang. That's what I thought, too. Guess I just have find another way (=2nd hd, perhaps) cause there's absolutely no way I'm gonna let current data go .
Thanks mates, for clearing this out

[duhmez]

Win98 can go on any partition you want (fat32), but c: must be fat32 in either case.

[Four and Twenty]

Quote:

Win98 can go on any partition you want (fat32), but c: must be fat32 in either case.

good point

[Sybex]

I think you are able to solve the problem using Partition Magic 8
It gives you the oppurtunity to create a partition and install another OS.
I am not sure though how you will be able to read the ntfs partition from win98

[pbuckne]

You will need Norton Ghost (and a suitably sized harddrive for backup purposes), which I have picked up for as little as 20.00 online (depends on your definition of expensive), I can't guarantee this will work, but I have succeeded in the past.
If you have another harddrive, you can use Ghost to make a duplicate of your existing harddrive on another, and then wipe the existing drive. This will give you an exact duplicate in case this doesn't work, so you can go back.

Once the original drive has been backed up erase the partition on your 40gb , and create a new one, dividing it according to your needs. Create a FAT32 partition as the primary, and install win98 on the primary partition. Boot up on the win2k CD and format the secondary partition for NTFS. Then grab that ghost diskette you created from the Norton Ghost CD, bootup on it with the backup drive as slave and use the partition-to-partition copy to copy the duplicated Win2k install over to the secondary NTFS partition on your 40 GB. Once your ghost is complete, you will need to immediately boot up and run a repair on the win2k install, thus connecting it to the fact that it is now in a dual boot environment.

I have seen this work, but it may not in your situation. If it does not, however, you do have that clean backup to go right back to where you were. If (you decide to try it and) it works, let me know.

[adamvjackson]

Quote:

I am not sure though how you will be able to read the ntfs partition from win98

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfswin98.shtml

I've never tried it, but it's worth a try, and it's freeware.

[shassouneh]

Well, If you are willing to shell out $35 for a copy of an OEM disc of norton SystemWorks 2003 Professional, you can get around the Whole Windows 2000 "shebang beutifully".

Lets say you buy Norton Systemworks pro 2003. You can run Norton Ghost, backup your windows 2000, then do your repartitioning. Then when u are done, u can use the norton ghost image to brring back windows 2000 to what it was like, with all your programs and settings intact!!!1

I use my Norton Ghost images to restore my system in less thna 30 minutes,, and it works beutifully!