<<Hmm...I can boot my NT 4.0 server (SP3) from just about any old
DOS boot disk ... I kept the drives in FAT format for that reason, and was
that ever valuable!  (It allowed me to recover when NT screwed up and
wouldn't boot about 6 months ago.)>>


This is something that is frequently overlooked. A FAT-format system
partition for an NT box allows all sorts of recovery options that are not
available if NTFS is used: you can replace broken pieces from a boot floppy,
you can replace the registry with a known-good copy, and you can change NT
boot options by directly editing BOOT.INI.

        <<(Yes, I know the advantages (*and* the disadvantages) of using the
other file system formats)>>


I guess many people think a system is more secure if the system partition is
NTFS. Generally, that's not the case; if the box is physically accessible,
an intruder can get the data off of it anyway.

If you aren't going to use FAT for your system partition, at least arrange
to have another bootable partition on the machine with a second copy of NT
on it. That way, if the "real" system becomes unbootable, you can boot the
standby NT installation and try to do your surgery from there.


Steve