# Can I change an NTFS hard drive to a FAT system from Win98? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330 "2003-07-05T02:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/1 "2003-07-05T02:16:37Z")
It’s a long story… Basically, my WinXP system cratered, hard. I have a lot of files on its HD that I would like to salvage, but it is in NTFS. My only other PC is a Win98 machine. Can I somehow get the Win98 machine to see the NTFS hard drive? I have it installed on it as a slave. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/2 "2003-07-05T02:33:02Z")
You can, but not easily. There are software packages out there, and I think there’s a free one available that will let you access the drive as read only. It would be easier if you could find a windows 2000 or an XP box to use temporarily. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/3 "2003-07-05T02:35:33Z")
[Partition Magic 8.0](http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/) will do what you want. In terms of data integrity you might be better off to get a new 120 gig hard drive for $ 90.00 or so and re-install XP on it then slave the NTFS drive to the new XP master drive. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/4 "2003-07-05T02:36:00Z")
[NTFS for Windows 98](http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfswin98.shtml). Freeware. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/5 "2003-07-05T03:01:55Z")
QED, you freakin’ rock. Downloading now. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/6 "2003-07-05T03:04:26Z")
Gah. I have to get the NT config files for it to read an NT drive. Unfortunately, the drive the files are on (XP directory) are on the drive it can’t read until its installed. What a catch 22. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/7 "2003-07-05T03:14:57Z")
Try [NTFSDOS 3.0](http://www.listsoft.com/307/). ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/8 "2003-07-05T06:05:38Z")
[NTFSDOS Professional Edition](http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfsdospro.shtml) (full read/write access from DOS) ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/9 "2003-07-05T06:12:12Z")
If the NTFS partition is corrupted or cannot be accessed, try : [Disk Commander](http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/diskcommander.asp) > [@](#): > > Disk Commander supports FAT, FAT32, and NTFS drives. > > Runs from Win32, a DOS boot diskette, Windows XP/2000/NT setup-style diskettes, > or from a bootable CD-ROM. > > Disk Commander salvages data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes, and even from reformatted disks. Disk Commander performs an exhaustive scan of the volume to locate lost volumes. All available data in the lost volume is then presented in an explorer-like view of files and directories so that you can copy it to a working volume elsewhere. Disk Commander also includes powerful tools for restoring volumes and for replacing the MBR. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/10 "2003-07-05T15:26:53Z")
Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help. However, I am totally helpless in a DOS enviroment. Not a big deal though as I can just email the NT DLL and SYS files that NTFS for 98 needs from my office WinNT machine. Thanks again, I’ll get this licked! ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/11 "2003-07-05T20:02:54Z")
It worked! I got my NTFS files from my office machine. Works like a charm. THanks a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/12 "2003-07-05T20:04:50Z")
Cool. It’s read-only access, but it’s better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-an-ntfs-hard-drive-to-a-fat-system-from-win98/186330/13 "2003-07-05T20:15:07Z")
That’s all I needed anyhow, just to salvage my files. I’ll be doing an XP reformat when I get my new system together.