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| Thread ID: 103784 | 2009-10-06 08:35:00 | Convert Fat32 C Drive to NTFS and not lose OS etc? | gza (13233) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 817442 | 2009-10-06 08:35:00 | Mate has WINXP Pro +SP3 on his computer. Format is Fat32. Can I convert this FAT32 'C' Drive to NTFS and not lose the OS et al? I will be using the Program/Tool Easeus Partition Master 4 Home Edition to do the job, if its possible. I have used Easus to convert Extended drives/partitions to FAT32 from NTFS and back to FAT32 from NTFS, with out loss of data in these partitions. But attempting to do the same on the Primary Master Drive I have not attempted. Is it possible to do the conversion? Failing that, if I backup to my External HDD, his C drive using Windows backup utility, and fresh instal WINXP Pro SP3 as NTFS format, is the FAT32 backup I create going to load to the NTFS Formated Reinstal of WINXP as NTFS or FAT....that is if it can be done? Sorry about the lack of info on his computer, it has a MSI MoBo, a 1.25GHz AMD Athlon, 128GB of PC100 Ram (but it will run the 512MB PC2100 I've loaned him to speed it up a lot!) and a 10GB Maxtor 31024HI Master drive. I'm giving him a 30GB Quantum Fireball lct 20 30 HDD to run as a slave drive. I'd prefer to load the XP Pro SP3 etc to the 30GB and then he use his 10GB drive as a slave. But thats another day. Can I do the quick FAT32 to NTFS convert and leave it like that for a while? Cheers |
gza (13233) | ||
| 817443 | 2009-10-06 08:39:00 | You can convert it without losing anything. However you cant change it back to FAT without a 3rd party program. You can convert it in a command prompt. Like what it says on the MS site (support.microsoft.com). Type convert (drive letter):/FS:NTFS | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 817444 | 2009-10-06 09:00:00 | Thanks Speedy. I'll look into the command prompt you mention, not to good with command prompts but your advice instructions on How to Do are sound I'm sure. Also, to all and Mods, I'm sorry about the double post. It happens when I click Submit Thread, am told I'm not signed in and to refresh page and sign in ( even though I was signed in when I started to write the thread). I find that the thread is posted twice. Used to happen to me before when I was online to PF1, I don't know why it happens.... My apologies. In future, I'll check if its posted in the forum before refreshing page and re-signing in. gza |
gza (13233) | ||
| 817445 | 2009-10-06 09:03:00 | Thats cool. I got the mods (well Jen I think) to delete the other post :) This forum (earlier) was starting to lag again. That can happen :badpc: Just go to start / run type cmd. Then type convert (drive letter):/FS:NTFS Thats it. Obviously you put in c: (or whatever for drive letter). |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 817446 | 2009-10-06 10:24:00 | Got it Speedy...convertC: /FS:NTFS I've been using 'Search' and reading the Threads on the matter. Mixed views but all informative. I'll probably give it a go tomorrow. Cheers and ciao for now gza |
gza (13233) | ||
| 817447 | 2009-10-06 18:12:00 | I did this exact thing on my Laptop following the instructions on MS site, went without a hitch but takes longer than expected, be patient even when it seems as if nothing is happening. | zqwerty (97) | ||
| 817448 | 2009-10-06 18:50:00 | Be aware: When you use the Convert.exe utility to convert a FAT partition to NTFS, Windows always uses the original FAT cluster size as the NTFS cluster size. Fat32 = 512 bytes NTFS = 4K You won't get 4k doing a convert. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 817449 | 2009-10-06 20:58:00 | Be aware: When you use the Convert.exe utility to convert a FAT partition to NTFS, Windows always uses the original FAT cluster size as the NTFS cluster size. Fat32 = 512 bytes NTFS = 4K You won't get 4k doing a convert. You do get 4k clusters when converting, providing the data is aligned to 4k boundaries. Just got around to doing this on my wifes computer. If the data is not aligned, then yes, the conversion will result in 512 byte clusters, and there won't be much point in converting. So, a tool is needed to carry out this alignment, or at least check to see if re-aligning is necessary, it isn't always, but must be checked anyway. It tells you here how to do it: www.aumha.org |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 817450 | 2009-10-06 21:47:00 | An hour ago, I tried the convert using the command prompt convert C: /FS:NTFS Wouldn't do it and was rescheduled when next time computer started. Rebooted and it started to do, completed, but hadn't done the conversion to NTFS. I then used Easus Partition Master 4 Home Edition to do the job, and it did it. C drive is now NTFS with all data in place. As there was only 320MB of free space on the drive before the format change, I think the change needed about 120MB of this 320MB...now disk space is Critically low. Going to send Documents and Settings to the 'E' drive, but for some reason am getting message"Cannot copy NTUSER:it is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using it and try again"...but thats off topic so we'll leave that here. I'll post a Thread on it if I can't figure it. pctek; I think I got 4k clusters, I will check it out and post back. Thank you all gza |
gza (13233) | ||
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