How do I read an NTFS partition from DOS?
You cannot read an NTFS partition with standard DOS. However, the NTFSDOS
utility, available at http://www.sysinternals.com, lets you read NTFS partitions.
How do I manipulate filename creation on FAT and NTFS partitions?
Long filenames replaced 8.3 filenames as the standard filenaming format.
However, Windows NT creates an 8.3 alias for long filenames, for compatibility
on VFAT and NTFS partitions.
On VFAT, NT uses linked directory entries to store long filenames. A long
filename uses one directory entry for its alias (i.e., the 8.3 filename NT
generates), and a hidden directory entry for every 13 characters in its name.
Thus, a long filename with 200 characters uses 17 entries.
To generate an alias on VFAT, NT uses the first six characters of the long
filename, a circumflex character (i.e., ~), and a number for the first four
files that have the same first six characters. For example, the aliases for the
files john savills file.txt and john savills other file.txt are
johnsa~1.txt and johnsa~2.txt. If you have more than four files with the same
first six characters, NT uses only the first two characters of the filename, and
generates the last four characters (e.g., jo0E38~1.txt). NTFS simply stores the
8.3 filename as a second entry in the directory structure.
You might not want NT to create long filenames, because some third-party
disk utilities directly manipulate FAT and destroy long filenames. DOS 6.x and
later utilities such as scandisk.exe and defrag.exe do not harm long
filenames. On a FAT partition, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem key, and change the value of
Win31FileSystem from 0 to 1. NT then creates only 8.3 filenames. You need to
reboot after making these Registry changes.
Conversely, you might not want NT to create 8.3 filenames. To prevent NT
from creating an 8.3 alias, you need to modify the Registry, as Screen 3 shows.
On an NTFS partition, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem key, and change the value of
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation from 0 to 1. On a VFAT partition, go to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem key, and
change the value of Win95TruncatedExtensions to 0.
How many files can I create on the root of a FAT partition?
The root of a FAT drive holds only 512 entries. Remember that long filenames
use multiple entries. Thus, creating numerous long filenames on the root of a
partition uses space quickly.
How many characters can a filename have?
The maximum number of characters you can use for a filename depends on
whether the file is on an NTFS partition or a FAT partition. You can have a
256-character filename on an NTFS partition but only an 11-character filename on
an FAT partition (i.e., an 8-character filename with a 3-character extension).
The version of FAT that comes with Windows NT 4.0 supports 255-character
filenames, unless you turn on Win 3.1. VFAT uses 256-character filenames.
NTFS filenames are case sensitive (except during searches), whereas FAT
filenames do not retain case. NTFS filenames can contain any characters,
including spaces and uppercase, except " * : / \ ? < > |. VFAT
filenames must start with a letter or number and can contain any characters
except / \ : | ? " ^.
How do I stop chkdsk from checking a particular volume at boot time?
When Windows NT boots, it checks all volumes for the dirty bit. The
operating system (OS) sets the dirty bit, which is a bit setting in the
partition. If the dirty bit is set, NT runs the chkdsk utility. You might want
to exclude drives (e.g., a removable Iomega drive) to stop NT from checking the
dirty bit.
To exclude a drive, start regedt32.exe, and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager key. Double-click the
BootExecute value in the right-hand pane, and change autocheck autochk * to
autocheck autochk /k:drive letter *. For example, to stop the check on
drive F, type
autocheck autochk /k:f *
To stop the check on multiple volumes, enter multiple drive names. For
example, to stop the check on drives E and G, type
autocheck autochk /k:eg *
If you are using NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later, you can use the
chkntfs.exe command to exclude drives from the check. Go to the command line and
type
chkntfs /x <drive letter>:
To set NT to check all drives again, type
chkntfs /d
You might want to cancel a chkdsk command. Suppose you configured a full
chkdsk on a drive for the next reboot, using the command chkdsk drive letter:
/f /r. This command finds bad sectors, recovers information from the sectors,
and fixes errors on the disk. To cancel the command, go to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager key,
select BootExecute, and change the value from autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\drive
letter: to autocheck autochk *.
Prev. page
1
[2]
3
next page 
