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Thread ID: 122924	2012-01-21 06:15:00	FAT32 & NTFS	Lurking (218)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1255308	2012-01-21 06:15:00	New 300gb HDD in pc has file system NTFS and a WD 750gb external HDD file system FAT32. Would this be the reason for the external drive to have used 611gb of disk space? It does store photos and a few camera videos of the grandkids, but 611gb. Thanks for any suggestions. Lurking.	Lurking (218)
1255309	2012-01-21 06:22:00	Why is a hard drive that large formatted as FAT32 in the first place anyway!? :eek:	pcuser42 (130)
1255310	2012-01-21 09:11:00	The filesystem doesn't affect the used space that much, it will use more space on a large volume with FAT32 over NTFS but it is unlikely it's using all that much just from the file system. Pre-formatted external hard drives tend to use FAT32 because it's more widely compatible but NTFS is a better file system. Open the drive, highlight everything, right click and chose properties, wait while it thinks for a bit, then see how big it says the total filesize is. If it's not close to the same as the used space maybe something is wrong. Also note if windows has been set to use drive space for the deleted items in the trash can it defaults to up to 10% of the space, try emptying the trash can and see if it makes a difference.	dugimodo (138)
1255311	2012-01-21 20:10:00	and a few camera videos of the grandkids, but 611gb. Depending on the quality and length of the video and also depending on what you mean by "a few camera videos" then these can quickly take up space.	Tukapa (62)
1255312	2012-01-21 20:11:00	Why is a hard drive that large formatted as FAT32 in the first place anyway!? :eek: As dugimodo states below, wtf would I know about file systems at any rate, lol. The filesystem doesn't affect the used space that much, it will use more space on a large volume with FAT32 over NTFS but it is unlikely it's using all that much just from the file system. Pre-formatted external hard drives tend to use FAT32 because it's more widely compatible but NTFS is a better file system. Open the drive, highlight everything, right click and chose properties, wait while it thinks for a bit, then see how big it says the total filesize is. If it's not close to the same as the used space maybe something is wrong. Also note if windows has been set to use drive space for the deleted items in the trash can it defaults to up to 10% of the space, try emptying the trash can and see if it makes a difference. dugimodo, thanks for that. Have attached both descriptions. Can the external drive be changed to NTFS and how? or doesn't it matter?. Thanks again, Lurking.	Lurking (218)
1255313	2012-01-22 02:40:00	It looks like the drive really does just have that much used. I was going to say you'd have to reformat to convert, but then I remembered XP had a tool for exactly that. A quick google found this support.microsoft.com it's for XP but I checked and windows 7 has the command as well so either should work. Bear in mind any disk operations pose some risk to your data, if you don't have a backup you're taking a chance. If the content is important to you it should be backed up anyway right?	dugimodo (138)
1255314	2012-01-22 04:21:00	dugimodo, got a box of dvd-r for xmas, so will copy all the photos/camera clips onto these and go from there. Making sure they have burnt properly before deleting, lol. Thanks, Lurks.	Lurking (218)
1255315	2012-01-22 08:16:00	You don't need to delete them to convert to ntfs. Backing up is just a precaution. Converting is pretty reliable.	linw (53)
1255316	2012-01-22 18:58:00	If you want to use the external to show your data on TV, you cannot use NTFS. Most if not all TV's requires FAT32. For this reason, my two externals I have formatted to Fat32 before using them.	Bryan (147)
1255317	2012-01-22 20:04:00	Bryan, thanks for that. Lurking.	Lurking (218)
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