Shoutbox

I am installed on FAT32, and there is a valid reason for this. My HDD is partitioned, 10GB to FAT32 (system drive) the rest to NTFS. FAT32 is FASTER, I refuse to install the system partition onto NTFS. I would like to request a feature of Plus! that would remove this limitation.

why dont you convert your other partitions?

start -> run ->cmd
then write

'convert x: /fs:ntfs' for your partition 'x' in ntfs
or
'convert x: /fs:fat32' for your partition 'x' in fat32

i hope its what you were searching for.

quote:

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Originally posted by ins4ne
why dont you convert your other partitions?

start -> run ->cmd
then write

'convert x: /fs:ntfs' for your partition 'x' in ntfs
or
'convert x: /fs:fat32' for your partition 'x' in fat32

i hope its what you were searching for.

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I have two NTFS partitions...

then convert them to fat32. or what was your question? the title of the thread says file sharing but your post confuses me

quote:

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Originally posted by ins4ne
then convert them to fat32. or what was your question? the title of the thread says file sharing but your post confuses me

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Windows Live Messenger does not allow you to use shared files on a FAT32 system patition. I cannot have a "my shared folder" thingy.

dumb idea but who knows. install messenger into another partition. where does it create 'my shared folder'?

quote:

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Windows Live Spaces
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Messenger\<Your Passport Email>\Sharing Folders\

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maybe you can make a shortcut there to a folder on a NTFS drive? or would this only work on *nix systems?

I remember Microsoft posted a solution to this once:

Convert to NTFS (It's bad I know, but they posted it ). Sharing folders is not a very good feature to be honest, it is very rushed, you can spot many flaws within it, I just stick to normal file sharing

My configuration is: C:\WINXP\Users\Daniel\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger

there is no C:\Documents and Settings. And there are no email addresses (files or folders) in that directory, just a bunch of directories with numbers in them.

By the way, I already explained that I will not change C: to NTFS. FAT32 is much better because it is faster, and it's the system partition. I have other NTFS partitions, but Windows Live Messenger will only put a sharing folder on the system partition... Patchu needs to fix this with Plus!

Hi,

quote:

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Originally posted by Meksilon
I am installed on FAT32, and there is a valid reason for this. FAT32 is FASTER, I refuse to install the system partition onto NTFS.

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If "faster" is your only reason, it is not a very valid one.  You might be able to obtain some benchmark results to support that claim on a machine with insufficient memory and a volume that contains relatively small numbers (per directory) of relatively large files, but for general use, this once common myth is simply not true.

FAT32 for the system volume is a horrible idea, both for security and reliability reasons.  The only acceptable excuse would be some ancient software you absolutely must keep, that will not work with NTFS.  In all other situations, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Now that I am through with that rant, let's see what can be done here.

The blog entry linked by Jesus reveals the reason why Sharing Folders feature won't work with FAT32 system volume:  it apparently uses a sparse file of substantial size (8GB).  FAT32 does not support sparse files, nor does it support files that large. 

The good news is this file is created under your Windows user profile.  While that usually is on the system volume, it doesn't have to be.  If you were to move your profile to one of your NTFS volumes, Shared Folders would probably be happy.  The bad news is that moving your user profile is tricky.  If you wish to try it, start by reading these two articles (1, 2).  Note that while the second article uses the example of a profile being renamed, the process is the same.

Good luck.  I would appreciate hearing about your results if you test this.

Edit:

quote:

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Originally posted by Meksilon
My configuration is: C:\WINXP\Users\Daniel\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger

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This is probably because your default profile location was modified using the unattended setup method mentioned in the first article I linked you to.  It doesn't change anything.

The reason the Messenger folder doesn't look right is because you are looking in the wrong place:  you left out "Local Settings" from the path.  Try  "C:\WINXP\Users\Daniel\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Messenger".