Convert to NTFS without loss of files?

[Walter R.]

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

Walter

 

[Bill in Co.]

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

Walter

Either with the Microsoft tool "convert.exe" (see MS article Q307881:
"How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in
Windows XP", at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881),

or with a good third party tool, like perhaps Norton Partition Magic. But
whatever tool you use, it would be best to make a copy first.

(Google is your friend. I just typed in "convert FAT32 to NTFS" in a
Google Search .

 

[LVTravel]

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

Walter

1st you should have a full backup just in case the worst happens.
Unfortunately the worst can and often does happen, especially for the
unprepared.

Start, Run, CMD then press enter. Type "Convert /?" without the quotes for
the syntax of the convert command. There is some information that you
should read prior and that is located:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

With the built-in CONVERT command. This does exactly what you are asking
for.

While I've never experienced any data loss with this, it's always best to
assume the worst and take a copy of the data first.

HTH
-pk

 

[John John (MVP)]

Either with the Microsoft tool "convert.exe" (see MS article Q307881:
"How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in
Windows XP", at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881),

or with a good third party tool, like perhaps Norton Partition Magic. But
whatever tool you use, it would be best to make a copy first.

I would *never* use a third party tool to do this, the proprietary
nature of the NTFS file system along with the revisions introduced in
almost each new Windows version makes most of these third party tools
less than reliable at handling the task. All too often everything looks
ok and everything seems to have gone ok but later on these third party
conversions can sometimes develop strange "quirks".

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an important issue
regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.

Also note that conversion is a big step, affecting everything on your
drive. When you take such a big step, no matter how unlikely, it is
always possible that something could go wrong. For that reason, it's
prudent to make sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford to
lose before beginning.

 

[Walter R.]

I used the win xp convert program and it went very smoothly. Thanks

 

[Bill in Co.]

I would *never* use a third party tool to do this, the proprietary
nature of the NTFS file system along with the revisions introduced in
almost each new Windows version makes most of these third party tools
less than reliable at handling the task. All too often everything looks
ok and everything seems to have gone ok but later on these third party
conversions can sometimes develop strange "quirks".

John

OK. I guess it does make more sense just to use Microsoft's "convert.exe"
in retrospect, since it is there already.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I used the win xp convert program and it went very smoothly. Thanks

If you did that without first reading my message and without going to
the site I pointed you to and taking its advice, you very likely now
have 512-byte clusters, and your performance will suffer as a result.

 

[Bill in Co.]

If you did that without first reading my message and without going to
the site I pointed you to and taking its advice, you very likely now
have 512-byte clusters, and your performance will suffer as a result.

Well, assuming he did, maybe he could convert them to 4K non-destructively
(by doing some research), but he may need a third party tool for that.

 

[Walter R.]

How do I know what size clusters I have?

 

[R. McCarty]

A Chkdsk C: ( from a Command Prompt Window ) will show
the cluster size as part of the volume summary.
_____ Bytes in each allocation unit

How do I know what size clusters I have?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A Chkdsk C: ( from a Command Prompt Window ) will show
the cluster size as part of the volume summary.
_____ Bytes in each allocation unit

Yes, or he could do it more quickly by creating a small file and
checking how much the free disk space changed by.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Yes, or he could do it more quickly by creating a small file and
checking how much the free disk space changed by.

If they are 512 bytes, can he convert them to 4K with the MS tools, or will
he need a third party tool, Ken?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If they are 512 bytes, can he convert them to 4K with the MS tools, or will
he need a third party tool, Ken?

I don't know for sure, but http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm would
seem to suggest that it's not possible to do so after converting to
NTFS.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/4/2008 1:27 PM, and on a whim, Ken Blake, MVP
pounded out on the keyboard:

I don't know for sure, but http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm would
seem to suggest that it's not possible to do so after converting to
NTFS.

Partition Magic 8 allows clusters to be resized, and also shows the
waste factor in clusters from 512 to 64k. On one 50 gig partition, 512k
clusters waste 11.5 meg. Using 64k clusters, 1,485 meg are wasted.

--
Terry R.

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[Ken Blake, MVP]

The date and time was 12/4/2008 1:27 PM, and on a whim, Ken Blake, MVP
pounded out on the keyboard:


Partition Magic 8 allows clusters to be resized,

OK, thanks for the info.

and also shows the
waste factor in clusters from 512 to 64k. On one 50 gig partition, 512k
clusters waste 11.5 meg. Using 64k clusters, 1,485 meg are wasted.

The standard NTFS cluster is 4K, and I wouldn't suggest that anyone
use anything else. Moreover the amount of waste is no longer a
significant factor in making decisions like this. The difference
between 11.5MB and 1,485MB is about 1.5GB. At today's drive prices,
that's something like $1.50 US worth of disk space--insignificant to
almost everyone.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 12/5/2008 7:07 AM, and on a whim, Ken Blake, MVP
pounded out on the keyboard:

OK, thanks for the info.




The standard NTFS cluster is 4K, and I wouldn't suggest that anyone
use anything else. Moreover the amount of waste is no longer a
significant factor in making decisions like this. The difference
between 11.5MB and 1,485MB is about 1.5GB. At today's drive prices,
that's something like $1.50 US worth of disk space--insignificant to
almost everyone.

On a drive that stores a lot of video editing data, it could be
worthwhile to have the largest clusters possible. For general usage 4k
should be fine.

--
Terry R.

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