How do I go back to FAT32 from NTFS without format?

[theplanb]

I convereted all my partitions on my HDD to NTFS after installation of Windows XP.
There are too many critical incompatibilities that I can take of this OS, so I must go back to Windows Me.
Is there a safe way to converet the partitions back to FAT32 without losing data?

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[Mem]

I believe Partition magic V7 does it.

 

[theplanb]

So windows xp doesn't have a utility to do it?

 

[Mem]

Nope , with XP you can go from FAT32 to NTFS but not back to FAT32 unless you reformat your HD which means losing data again.

 

[theplanb]

Thanks..

 

[Ionizer86]

If you're going back to WinME, I suggest going to Win98SE. 98SE is SO MUCH faster than Windows More Excruciation, runs better, is more compatible (winME had a few driver issues for some reason), and is overall a much better OS. I think that it may even be more stable. Faster is for sure (not sure of exact speed, but around 15% faster).

 

[theplanb]

I am very reluctatn to use partition magic because of my past horroble, horrible experience with it. Anyways.. I went fot it.
I could easily convert the logical partitions, but... I couldn't convert the primary partition where Windows XP is installed.
When the computer rebooting to exeute the batch comman, I get the following error.

Error 1681 whlie executing Batch
Error 1681: Data is compresed or sparse, File 135 (128).

Hmm.. I don't remember compresing the partition. what's giong on..

Ah... I don't have Windows 98 SE.

 

[awsheat]

I have a legit copy of windows 98se if you'd like me to ship it to you for a reasonable fee .. all serials and book included.

I agree with Ionizer, 98se is overall a better OS than ME. Now ME may be ok after you reformat and get all the latest windows updates, but I doubt it. I do tech support and I can say from my experience, a well maintained 98se system will way outlast an ME system before the need for format. And yes, 98se uses less resources and is a bit faster than ME.

But if you want total stability, go with windows2000 or a clean install of windowsXP. You might find a clean install of XP will fix your problems unless they are specific unsupported hardware issues with XP.