Can I safely convert FAT32 to NTFS?

[Guest]

Due to hard drive problems, my XP Home install was done as a FAT32 file system. I would like to change that to the NTFS file system. Drive 0 (80GB) has 3 partitions - C: used for OS & pgm files, D: & E: used for data. Drive 1 (partitions H: & I serves as backup file repository and temporary workspace.

C: partition was sized to 8,032.5MB under Win98SE, following PartitionMagic warnings about "non-bootable" size. It currently has 1,390.6MB free space and 12,103.6MB unallocated space available for expansion. I would like to expand C: to appx 20G.

I have two questions: (1) Should I convert all partitions on Drive 0 before expanding partition C:, or the other way around and (2) Should I be concerned about the 2 byte offset problem mentioned at http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm? I use PQ Drive Image for backup and PQ PM 8 for partition actions.
Carl

 

[Guest]

Convert all,ntfs is more efficient,FAT32 is retired in xp.
Go to start,run,type:cmd In cmd type:CONVERT C: /FS:ntfs
Then restart computer for it to run,when back on desktop,run
disk cleanup,then defrag,then reopen cmd,type:CHKDSK C: /F
Agree to restart,type:EXIT Restart computer.

 

[John R Weiss]

Due to hard drive problems, my XP Home install was done as a FAT32 file

system. I would like to change that to the NTFS file system. Drive 0
(80GB) has 3 partitions - C: used for OS & pgm files, D: & E: used for data.
Drive 1 (partitions H: & I serves as backup file repository and temporary
workspace.

Should be no problem. Conversion works better if the HD is freshly
defragged. Run chkdsk /f and defrag on each drive before converting. You
may want to defrag again after converting.

I would convert H: and I: first, then do a fresh data backup to one of them,
"just in case." Then convert D: and E:.

C: partition was sized to 8,032.5MB under Win98SE, following

PartitionMagic warnings about "non-bootable" size. It currently has
1,390.6MB free space and 12,103.6MB unallocated space available for
expansion. I would like to expand C: to appx 20G.

After all your data partitions are done, you should have a good idea of
whether you'll encounter any problems.

Since PQ Magic doesn't like a boot partition of over 8 GB in FAT 32, I'd
convert C: to NTFS first, then move/expand it to fill the unallocated space.
Conversion to NTFS requires some free space, so you may have to temporarily
move some files off C: if Convert doesn't like the 1.3 GB available. Clear
out all your browser caches, temp file directories, and Recycle Bin. Delete
or move all Uninstall folders from the Win folder. Temporarily move the
"i386" and "Service Pack Files" (if any) folders from the Windows folder to
another drive (they're used for upgrades and driver installations).

I have two questions: (1) Should I convert all partitions on Drive 0

before expanding partition C:, or the other way around and (2) Should I be
concerned about the 2 byte offset problem mentioned at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm? I use PQ Drive Image for backup and PQ
PM 8 for partition actions.

I don't know about the offset problem, but you can probably use PQ Magic 8
to first move the C: drive to the beginning of the partition or move the
partition to the beginning of the HD (if necessary), before converting to
NTFS. You might also want to use PQM rather than XP's Convert to do the
conversion, and set the cluster size as you want.

 

[Guest]

as to what I read in partition magic anything you add to C: will be a sub folder in C:. I have a 40 gb that was showing up as only 31.4gb so I reformated the whole drive to the NTFS and reinstalled XP so it would all show up as just C: with out any sub folders.