Hello,I work in a technical support helpdesk and have some familiarity with versions of windows prior to Vista. I have recently installed Winodws 7 Pro as a dual-boot with my Windows XP pro on my computer. They are on separate physical disks and work without any issues. But I have two questions about issues I have not found answers to on the internet. They are rather basic technical structure questions.(1) NTFS version in Windows 7 compared to Windows XP - is there a difference in the NTFS version number? If so, what are the differences? I had pre-formatted my Windows 7 partition using Windows XP (which was already installed on my PC over 1.5 years ago) before installing Windows 7 Pro. Will this formatting done by XP have the same functionality and robustness as if I had formatted it with Windows 7 during installation?(2) I want to run scheduled chkdsk/f/r on several of my partitions. I have only one Windows 7 partition so far. The others are all XP-formatted and managed partitions. One is the system partition for XP (seen as E: drive from within Win7). The other is the "programs" partition (P: drive). I basically want to run chkdsk/f/r from Windows 7 on the Windows 7 (C:), E: and P: partitions. Can this be done without any risk of damage to the two Windows XP partitions? Does chkdsk work differently in Win7 then in WinXP? I don't want to run chkdsk from Win7 until I'm sure it will not damage the file system or structure/security descriptors etc... in the WinXP partitions.Thanks in advance. JohnMontreal, Canada

Anyone?

Ok I'll bite, you said you work helpdesk and had 2 basic questions. If they were basic then why couldn't you find the information you were seeking ;) A good helpdesk person would know how and where to look as those that learn, move on from helpdesk to another level (well besides here having someone telling you of course) ;)NTFS has five released versions: v1.0 with NT 3.1,[citation needed] released mid-1993v1.1 with NT 3.5,[citation needed] released fall 1994v1.2 with NT 3.51 (mid-1995) and NT 4 (mid-1996) (occasionally referred to as "NTFS 4.0", because OS version is 4.0)v3.0 from Windows 2000 ("NTFS V5.0")v3.1 from Windows XP (autumn 2001; "NTFS V5.1"), Windows Server 2003 (spring 2003; occasionally "NTFS V5.2"), Windows Vista (mid-2005) (occasionally "NTFS V6.0"), Windows Server 2008, Windows 7.Before you go running chkdsk on any XP partitions, can you read/write to those partitions from Windows 7? Do you know that Windows 7 automatically schedules defrag's. You don't want to be running another utility during the defrag. I would also schedule automatic backup's prior to running any scheduled utility and why do a hard drive check/repair if one is not indicating any problems? However that's up to you. But you can (or can you) build a batch file and schedule it to run or build several and schedule them differently to run via task scheduler. You're only limited by your thinking process of what you could do. MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Cdobbs,With all those certifications, you still don't know (1) how to read and understand English and (2) to come down from your pedestal and stop going on ego trips. I have rarely encountered such a pompous and such a condescending posting in forums as yours.Read my post again: "basic technical structure" is what I wrote, not basic. Do you need glasses too perhaps? because you seem to miss words?Your answer is also of a laughable technical level. Not only have I already setup a batch file to schedule chkdsk, I have set task scheduler to do so once a month. Why would anyone want to run a chkdsk AT THE SAME TIME as a defrag? Chkdsk is run independently and CANNOT RUN during a defrag, it runs at bootup. We at work run chkdsk on PCs which slow down after several months since chkdsk/f/r is essential to keeping windows running quickly and efficiently. THAT is why I asked about it here.And the article you quoted is straight from Wikipedia. Do you know that Wikipedia is a mere public encyclopedia and that it's so-called "facts" are not necessarily verified formally? Do you also know that the last part of your so-called "answer" states Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7, NO NTFS version is mentioned there? Another demonstration of your English comprehension problems and haughty/snobby attitude.Yes, YOU are limited by your thinking process and you think everyone else is... Never mind. Go back to your job and don't waste my time. John

Hello again,I need to clarify my posting above so it is better understood. First, I forgot to mention that I have the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Pro, not the 32-bit. My XP is the 32-bit Pro version.I am pretty sure I found the answer to the first question regarding the NTFS version because I verified the NTFS version with the command "fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo [drive letter:] " command and it gave me 3.1, which makes sense since I formatted Windows 7 partition with Windows XP (a bit silly since I did not think about the fact that there would be differences in the file system but anyways, I can always re-install Windows 7 from scratch).But the question regarding chkdsk/f/r still remains. Because of the differences between Windows 7 and XP, even with the two OSes having the same NTFS file system version, would the chkdsk in Windows 7 make any harmful "repairs" or fixes to the XP partitions? Perhaps someone from Microsoft can help me with this question, or someone who has knowledge of this aspect of Windows?Thanks for any help or links to resources you can provide.John

Good, now I know you're looking ;)MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

I appreciate that you're trying to get me to search, but my questions are rather specific yet are not so technical that only a high-level OS programmer can answer them neither. I looked at a multitude of sites and did search with many keywords and was amazed that I could not find anything at all (I mentioned this in my original posting). There are many of these "step-by-step installation guides" for Win7 but none mentions anything this technical or detailed regarding formatting with NTFS or what would happen if the partition where windows 7 was to be installed was NTFS-formatted previously with an older version of windows, particularly versions before Vista. This is the kind of question that, perhaps, can be answered by something like a Microsoft Windows 7 resource kit. I will be going downtown soon and will look (for the 3rd. time, for various reasons) at the Win7 resource kit and see if it can help me. I thought this forum would be the BEST place to post BECAUSE of the specific and technical nature of the questions I had and I thought forum members would be glad to suggest or help, which after all, is what forums are for, no?John

Sure, it was probably just the way you asked the multitude of questions. Its generally more preferred to ask one question. I always try holding off answering these types of questions because they generally turn into nothing more than discussions which I care nothing about. I also wasn't so sure of your intentions so I had to prod. :) I just got the Windows 7 Resource guide (all 1700 pages), gives me a heart attack just to carry it around, Amazon has a good price on it, it would be worth your investment. Most of us who answer questions do so to help a user who's stuck and really needs help getting their system working. You didn't exactly fit that category and if you look around, you'll see that I on a few occasions have a little fun to provoke some thinking. I think you're the maybe 2nd person who didn't care for it too much and decided attacking me was a better defense :) I don't dare put all my certifications on my sig. I'm tired of certs or renewing certs. Oh and kudos's to you for finding where I got that wiki junk :) Oh and remember, patience is a virtue and so is tempering your anger :) Good luck on your quest. MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Hi cdobbs,Well, I ended up buying the Windows 7 Resource kit today after all, ha! It does not have all the answers but I did not expect it to. I already had a book on windows 7 but it was nothing more than a "power user guide" which helps to get started but was of less help than I thought it would be, since I found that I already figured out most of the things mentioned in the book. I think I also found the answers for the chkdsk question, but only through deductive reasoning, not by direct answers. There are still switches included in chkdsk in Windows 7 which relate to even Fat16 or 32 file systems so I can (probably) safely assume that it is safe to run it on any version of windows.As for attacking you, I think your tone was not what I expected, regarding the fact that I could go beyond 1st. level help desk etc... and you seemed to think I knew nothing about chkdsk nor NTFS nor Windows. I actually do hold Win2k Pro MCP, Network+ and A+ if you must know, as certifications, and I studied in quite a detail, Windows NT Server 4 (exam 70-067) and some Server 2000/2003 and have taken a course in Server 2003 but never took any exams. It's just that for some reason, even though I had never "worried" about running chkdsk before, since Windows 7 (and Vista) are quite different, I thought I'd check first before scheduling chkdsk. I never used Vista you see and from what I've heard, it was probably not a big loss. I know that, at least in Windows XP, even on my home computer, which has far fewer installations (SMS updates happen everyday at my workplace to all users) and hence far fewer "activity" in terms of files being added/deleted, changed, after 3 months or so, I start seeing system slowness and even sometimes crashes, even when I had performed defrags. And chkdsk/f/r immediately fixes the issues (no bad sectors, just "inconsistencies", and other "junk" accumulating through time) and the PC runs much faster and smoother than before.I thought these forums were also for discussion and questions, instead of just technical problems? John