Best way to convert to NTFS? Partition Magic 8 vs convert C: /fs:ntfs

[SR]

I'm running FAT on both my drives and I'm wondering what's more
reliable?

I have Partition Magic 8 which can convert to NTFS (and gives better
control over cluster (aka "block" in some venues) size.

Is it better to just use the built in converter? I heard there is a
small possibility it may fail, and I'd rather not end up with hosed
drive.

Thank for any help and advice.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

I am not sure which is better, but both can and have failed causing
catastrophic data loss.
Although are reliable, back-up important data just in case.

 

[Li'l Roberto]

There's always the possibility of things going wrong, albiet there is
only a small risk with PM.
It's never failed me, but, I always back up the drive to removable
media before working with partitions - you should do the same......

rgds
Li'l Roberto

 

[Li'l Roberto]

As a PS to my original comments clean out all temp files and defrag
before commencing

rgds
Li'l Roberto

 

[SR]

I'm running FAT on both my drives and I'm wondering what's more
reliable?

I have Partition Magic 8 which can convert to NTFS (and gives better
control over cluster (aka "block" in some venues) size.

Is it better to just use the built in converter? I heard there is a
small possibility it may fail, and I'd rather not end up with hosed
drive.

Thank for any help and advice.

Thank you both (Jupiter and Li'l). Yes I know to defrag first, I have
both my drives defrag once weekly automatically (diskeeper is great) so
that's not a problem.

I'm most annoyed by FAT32's wastefulness of space in reguards to "size
on disk", which is sometimes serveral times larger then the reported
file size. In other words to big cluster/block size.

As far as backing up, I have actually been delaying the NTFS move for
sometime now. I've been planning on gettign a new larger HD and using PM
to "move" the partition (image that is) to the new drive (and resize to
fill) and convert to NTFS there, therefore my original drive is the
backup. (Once the main partition is up and NTFS'ed on the new drive) I
cna clear my old "C:" drive and move/resize/NTFS-ify my "D:" drive. Then
my old "D:" drive will go to another system I'm building (a 2003
server.)

Seems like a good plan just need to finally crounge up some funds for
the new drive. Does XP (Pro) SP allow for larger drives than 137 GB
(actually the barrier is 128 GB if you go by the more correct 1,024
factors instead of 1,000 hd makers use, but that's another arguement...)
BTW my drives are both ATA 133's (or more correct, the controller is ATA
133 and the drives can use that.)

Thanks again.

 

[Li'l Roberto]

I'm most annoyed by FAT32's wastefulness of space in reguards to "size on
disk", which is sometimes serveral times larger then the reported file
size. In other words to big cluster/block size.

Thats the downside of FAT32 [cluster size], and realy it's no longer
approriate with todays large HDDs, NTFS will happily accommodate drives
of 200GB and beyond.
take a look at this MS KB article regarding FAT32
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314463

As far as backing up, I have actually been delaying the NTFS move for
sometime now. I've been planning on gettign a new larger HD and using PM
to "move" the partition (image that is) to the new drive (and resize to
fill) and convert to NTFS there, therefore my original drive is the
backup. (Once the main partition is up and NTFS'ed on the new drive) I cna
clear my old "C:" drive and move/resize/NTFS-ify my "D:" drive. Then my
old "D:" drive will go to another system I'm building (a 2003 server.)

You should be OK going that route, if things get ugly you will
still have the old drive intact for executing plan "B" <G>

rgds
Li'l Roberto

 

[SR]

I'm most annoyed by FAT32's wastefulness of space in reguards to
"size on disk", which is sometimes serveral times larger then the
reported file size. In other words to big cluster/block size.

Thats the downside of FAT32 [cluster size], and realy it's no
longer approriate with todays large HDDs, NTFS will happily
accommodate drives of 200GB and beyond.
take a look at this MS KB article regarding FAT32
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314463

Thank you again for the info.

You should be OK going that route, if things get ugly you
will still have the old drive intact for executing plan "B" <G>

rgds
Li'l Roberto

Exactly

 

[KWW]

Actually migrating from one drive to the other is a challenge in itself.
Read up on the tech articles first!
Good luck.
KWW

I'm most annoyed by FAT32's wastefulness of space in reguards to
"size on disk", which is sometimes serveral times larger then the
reported file size. In other words to big cluster/block size.

Thats the downside of FAT32 [cluster size], and realy it's no
longer approriate with todays large HDDs, NTFS will happily
accommodate drives of 200GB and beyond.
take a look at this MS KB article regarding FAT32
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314463

Thank you again for the info.

You should be OK going that route, if things get ugly you
will still have the old drive intact for executing plan "B" <G>

rgds
Li'l Roberto

Exactly

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'm running FAT on both my drives and I'm wondering what's more
reliable?

I have Partition Magic 8 which can convert to NTFS (and gives better
control over cluster (aka "block" in some venues) size.

Is it better to just use the built in converter? I heard there is a
small possibility it may fail, and I'd rather not end up with hosed
drive.

Do not use the inbuilt convert without precautions, or it is liable to
leave you with 512 byte clusters, which is not good. As you have PM 8
use that - it will give the optimal 4K ones

 

[SR]

Actually migrating from one drive to the other is a challenge in
itself. Read up on the tech articles first!
Good luck.

Not with Partition Magic it's not. Worked for me two out of two tries
before It lets you "copy" the partition (or image of the partition of
you will) to the new drive, after which the partition can be resized to
fill up the new larger drive. And either befor or after this step
convert to NTFS.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I'm running FAT on both my drives and I'm wondering what's more
reliable?

I have Partition Magic 8 which can convert to NTFS (and gives
better
control over cluster (aka "block" in some venues) size.

Is it better to just use the built in converter? I heard there
is a
small possibility it may fail, and I'd rather not end up with
hosed
drive.

It's not just the built-in converter; there is a small
possibility that *any* method of conversion can fail. For
example, a power failure while such a conversion is in the works
could be catastrophic. For that reason you should never take such
a step without having a backup of anything you can't afford to
lose.

I would use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue
regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.

 

[NobodyMan]

I'm running FAT on both my drives and I'm wondering what's more
reliable?

I have Partition Magic 8 which can convert to NTFS (and gives better
control over cluster (aka "block" in some venues) size.

Is it better to just use the built in converter? I heard there is a
small possibility it may fail, and I'd rather not end up with hosed
drive.

Thank for any help and advice.

As others have noted, the dangers exist using either method.

FWIW, I've moved hundreds of machines from fat32 to ntfs using the
convert command and never experienced any corruption or data loss.
YMMV, though.