Evan,

So, let's say that all I want is W98, applications and data. I understand to create three separate partitions for these, but how would I get a partition of only the portion of the drive that contains the current OS if that's what I wanted also? Or are you saying that I will need to Format the entire drive first and reinstall both operating systems? Does doing any of this help preserve the functionality of the hardware or will I need to let windows reinstall it all again?

Thanks! Renoir

>Hi Renoir,
>
>If your Win2K installation uses any NTFS partitions, they're not readable or even recognizable under Win98.
>
>If you have to use Win98, or plan to run two OS's and double boot, then I'd recommend using Partition Magic to partition your drive into at least two partitions: one containing the OS and (at least) a second containing everything else. Make the second one a FAT32 partition, so it can be read by either OS. Move your data to the second partition. Then you can wipe off and reformat the OS partition and put anything you want on there. You'll have to reinstall your apps, of course.
>
>Personally, I split all my drives into three partitions. C is the OS and only the OS, D is for all installed apps and E is all my data. On a 60GB drive, I usually make about a 4GB partition for the OS, about a 12GB partition for the data, and leave the rest for the apps. YMMV :) ...
>
>HTH
>
>>I may have the need to wipe out a PC with W2K loaded and install W98 instead. How can I minimize the damage and preserve things like CD drive functionality, modems, sound cards, etc? Will I need to do a Format C: from DOS and then let W98 recognize all the hardware? Does it make a difference if it currently has a NFTS file system? Thanks!
>>
>>Regards, Renoir