Operating Systems

General

• Windows OS (Warning: My notes only)
  • Win XP - Pro & Home
  • Win 2003 Server
  • Win 2000 - Pro & Server
  • Win ME
  • Win 98
  • Win 95
  • DOS

Win XP

• Formatting a Drive
  • Launch Disk Management
    Option #1: Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management
    Option #2: Right-click on My Computer, left-click on Manage, and then left-click on Disk Management.
  • Locate the Drive.  Note: Blue bar means there is a partition and black bar means NO partition.
    From here you can choose a file system (NTFS, FAT32, etc...) , allocation unit size, and volume label.
• How to create a bootable CD-ROM
  • http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms932879.aspx - seems to be an involved process.
• Converting a partition from FAT32 to NTFS
  • USB Drives
    • As of 04/07 all the USB drives I have purchased have come formated with FAT32 and not NTFS.  This means that there is a 4gig max per 1 file.  Therefore, you will want to convert your FAT32 to NTFS.
    • WD - www.westerndigital.com - support.wdc.com - 800-ASK.4WDC
  • Convert FAT32 to NFS
    • Verify the file system used by using Windows Explorer, right click on the drive and choose properties.  Look for the "File system:".
    • Go to a DOS prompt (Start, Run, cmd.exe)
    • vol <drive letter>:
      (Note: You will need to know the volume label.  The example below has a volume label of "WD PASSPORT")
      Ex:
      C:>vol e:
      Volume in drive E is WD PASSPORT
      Volume Serial Number is 8DA6-5611
    • c:\> convert <drive letter>: /FS:NTFS
      (Warning: You can't convert a NTFS back to FAT32 with this command!)
  • Facts (Just my NOTES !!! - not the Gospel by any means and could be wrong.)
    • NTFS
      • Max Volume - 16TB (Terabytes)
      • Max size for 1 file - Not limited by a 4gig max per 1 file like FAT32
      • File Compression - YES
      • More stable, reliable, and more security options than FAT32
      • OSs
        • Works with Win XP & 2000
        • Some OSs will not run with NTFS - (ie: Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX)
        • Multiple booting partitions - NO
    • FAT32
      • Max size for 1 file - 4 gig.
      • Max partition size for a Drive:  32 Gig.
      • File Compression - NO
      • Multiple booting partitions - YES
    • FAT16 - Max Volume size is 2 Gig.  Used for floppy disks.
  • Terminology
    • FAT - File Allocation Tables
    • NTFS - NT File System
• List startup programs
  • Start, Run, "msconfig", OK
  • Select the "Startup" tab