CONVERT FAT 32 to NTFS

[Wayne]

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

 

[philo]

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

It's fairly safe...but still a good idea to back up all important data
first.

also good idea to have machine on a UPS in case of power failure during
conversion

 

[Wayne]

While in XP, then command prompt to execute CONVERT, I noticed that CONVERT
process requires that the disk be unmounted (did this for other drives).
What will this do to the 'C' drive from where CONVERT is executed and XP is
located?

Or am I complicating the problem???

Wayne

A UPS is in place.

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

It's fairly safe...but still a good idea to back up all important data
first.

also good idea to have machine on a UPS in case of power failure during
conversion

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Wayne,

Here's a good article on the subject.
Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

 

[Donald McDaniel]

While in XP, then command prompt to execute CONVERT, I noticed that CONVERT
process requires that the disk be unmounted (did this for other drives).
What will this do to the 'C' drive from where CONVERT is executed and XP is
located?

Or am I complicating the problem???

Wayne

A UPS is in place.

You're complicating the non-problem. You will be asked to reboot,
then the conversion will be accomplished.

Of course, if you don't feel that's safe, just boot using the XP
install disk, and use the FIRST "Recovery" option, go the the Recovery
Console, and enter your Administrator account Password (NOT your user
account password, administratior privileges not-withstanding -- it
won't work. It MUST be the ORIGINAL Administrator account Password
you created when installing XP), and enter the convert command using
the flags you pointed out earlier. DON'T include the "\" part of
"C:", since you will be converting the DRIVE, not the root folder
(can't anyway).

Since the HD won't be mounted, you won't have to reboot.

ConvertConverts FAT and FAT32 volumes to NTFS.

Syntax
convert [volume] /fs:ntfs [/v] [/cvtarea:FileName] [/nosecurity] [/x]

Parameters
volume
Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or
volume name to convert to NTFS.
/fs:ntfs
Required. Converts the volume to NTFS.
/v
Specifies verbose mode, that is, all messages will be displayed during
conversion.
/cvtarea:FileName
For advanced users only. Specifies that the Master File Table (MFT)
and other NTFS metadata files are written to an existing, contiguous
placeholder file. This file must be in the root directory of the file
system to be converted. Use of the /CVTAREA parameter can result in a
less fragmented file system after conversion. For best results, the
size of this file should be 1 KB multiplied by the number of files and
directories in the file system, however, the convert utility accepts
files of any size.
For more information about using the /cvtarea parameter, see "File
Systems" at the Microsoft Windows XP Resource Kits Web
site.(http://www.microsoft.com/)

Important

You must create the placeholder file using the fsutil file createnew
command prior to running convert. Convert does not create this file
for you. Convert overwrites this file with NTFS metadata. After
conversion, any unused space in this file is freed. For more
information about the fsutil file command, see Related Topics.
/nosecurity
Specifies that the converted files and directory security settings are
accessible by everyone.
/x
Dismounts the volume, if necessary, before it is converted. Any open
handles to the volume will no longer be valid.
Remarks
You must specify that the drive should be converted when the computer
is restarted. Otherwise, you cannot convert the current drive.
If convert cannot lock the drive (for example, the system volume or
the current drive), it offers to convert the drive the next time the
computer restarts.
The location of the MFT is different on volumes that have been
converted from previous version of NTFS, so volume performance might
not be as good on volumes converted from Windows NT.
Volumes converted from FAT to NTFS lack some performance benefits
compared to volumes initially formatted with NTFS. On converted
volumes, the MFT might become fragmented. In addition, on converted
boot volumes, NTFS permissions are not applied after the volume is
converted.
Examples
To convert the volume on drive E to NTFS and display all messages,
type:

convert e: /fs:ntfs /v


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

[Chuck Davis]

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

Window help returns:
To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1.. Open the Command Prompt window.
2.. In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the
ntfs format.

Notes

a.. To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
b.. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

 

[Wayne]

Chuck:

Have done what you suggest for disks other than "C". All fine. Now wish to
do same for "C" where XP is located. Told that using CONVERT command as you
say, will execute upon restarting.

DO you know if the CONVERT command will ask (for "C") to unmount? If so,
what will this do to "C" (where command prompt and CONVERT are located).
Another mail said that I need to download a package ($40.oo) to assure the
size of the clusters (if not done properly, told that CONVERT will revert
cluster size to 512).

Not interested in complicating this issue; however, a number of very
thoughtful replies so not seem to cover the total issue. I just repaired XP
(crashed last week due to a PS problem) and really do not want to do this
again.

Sorry for my stupidity, Confused a little bit ,
Wayne

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

Window help returns:
To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1.. Open the Command Prompt window.
2.. In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the
ntfs format.

Notes

a.. To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
b.. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Chuck:

Have done what you suggest for disks other than "C". All fine. Now wish to
do same for "C" where XP is located. Told that using CONVERT command as you
say, will execute upon restarting.

DO you know if the CONVERT command will ask (for "C") to unmount? If so,
what will this do to "C" (where command prompt and CONVERT are located).
Another mail said that I need to download a package ($40.oo) to assure the
size of the clusters (if not done properly, told that CONVERT will revert
cluster size to 512).

Not interested in complicating this issue; however, a number of very
thoughtful replies so not seem to cover the total issue. I just repaired XP
(crashed last week due to a PS problem) and really do not want to do this
again.

Sorry for my stupidity, Confused a little bit ,
Wayne

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

Window help returns:
To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1.. Open the Command Prompt window.
2.. In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the
ntfs format.

Notes

a.. To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
b.. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

I guess if you don't believe what anyone says, (including Microsoft),
and DO it, you will never find out, will you?

But you can do it either way. By starting Convert from the Command
prompt, or by using the Convert command from the Recovery console
(with the correct flags).

If you do it from the Command prompt, you will be told that it can't
do it at that time, and ask you if you want to do it the next time you
reboot, and the mounted drive (C will be dismounted after you
reboot, and the conversion starts. And it will cause no problems,
since the convert command will be in MEMORY, excuting, and the
conversion will do nothing to it anyway. After which, it will run
chkdsk (if I remember correctly), then it will again ask you to
reboot, and this time, C: will be remounted and will then be NTFS
rather than FAT32 and you will boot into XP normally. But it will
have 512 byte clusters, which is not what the cluster size would be if
the drive had been formatted as NTFS from the start, rather than
converted from FAT32.

Microsoft tells us that the command is safe. Millions of users tell
us the command is safe. We tell you the command is safe. We have no
way to prove this except our word.

It's up to you whether you will take our word for it or not.

I've never lost data when using the convert command. Millions of
people have never lost data using the command. It's quite safe, IF
you remember to back up data in the rare event that your power goes
out while converting the volume. And even then, it still should
recover gracefully, without data loss. If you've replaced your faulty
power supply with one which is rated for the voltages your computer
needs, it should not fail, unless it was a very cheap or badly
manufactured one, in which case you're taking a crap shoot without
backing up your data.

But, even with Windows 98, the command was safe.

Stop making a simple thing complicated, friend.

We never learn without making mistakes, Wayne. We can't learn to walk
without falling down from time to time. And we absolutely NEVER learn
without stepping out and TRYING things for ourselves.

We tell you it is very safe. But you will NEVER learn that for
yourself unless you DO IT, and succeed.

We can't give you a "guarantee in gold" that it WON'T fail, since we
have absolutely no control over the Power Grid, your machine's
condition, and chance. That's up to the Creator. But we CAN share
our experience with you. I'm sure some will say that it has failed
for them. That's possible. But the overwhelming majority of those
who've used the command will tell you that it worked without error as
Microsoft says it will. But Microsoft is not God, and so cannot give
an absolute guarantee. Because of this, they advise you to back up
your data before using the command.

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

[Guest]

yeh, unmounting is ok to do. It will go into somekind of process of ending
windows and begin the conversion. Probably runs the conversion from ram so it
unmounts the disk. I was impressed when i converted.....

 

[Guest]

ps: when you do convert /? you will see an exampl of the command line. Use
it.....

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Wayne should note that the important thing about converting to NTFS is to
make sure he doesn't end up with 512-byte clusters instead of the normal 4K,
which will be the likely result of he doesn't take appropraite precautions.

Wayne, read here: "CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP" by the late MVP Alex Nichol, at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

yeh, unmounting is ok to do. It will go into somekind of process of
ending windows and begin the conversion. Probably runs the conversion
from ram so it unmounts the disk. I was impressed when i
converted.....

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP?
[ C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

 

[Wayne]

All replies are appreciated! Of course the "Try It" camp/position is true
in itself. What the CONVERT.EXE utility does not tell us is the resulting
size of the cluster ~ 512 bytes (or is that known by the more experienced?)

Will follow through with Alex Nichol's paper and dwnld the appropriate
$40.oo utility to keep the cluster at 4k. (Is there a no-cost, share-ware
utility? If so, what would it be called???)

BTW, what is the downside of a 512 byte cluster vs a 4k cluster? Speed?
Efficiency? Since I ran Convert on my other drives/partitions, I now find
that they are all filled with 512-byte clusters. Can these clusters be
resized?

Kind Regards,
Wayne

Wayne should note that the important thing about converting to NTFS is to
make sure he doesn't end up with 512-byte clusters instead of the normal 4K,
which will be the likely result of he doesn't take appropraite precautions.

Wayne, read here: "CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP" by the late MVP Alex Nichol, at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

yeh, unmounting is ok to do. It will go into somekind of process of
ending windows and begin the conversion. Probably runs the conversion
from ram so it unmounts the disk. I was impressed when i
converted.....

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP?
[ C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

 

[Bruce Chambers]

All replies are appreciated! Of course the "Try It" camp/position is true
in itself. What the CONVERT.EXE utility does not tell us is the resulting
size of the cluster ~ 512 bytes (or is that known by the more experienced?)

Will follow through with Alex Nichol's paper and dwnld the appropriate
$40.oo utility to keep the cluster at 4k. (Is there a no-cost, share-ware
utility? If so, what would it be called???)

For a fully functional, free, 30-day evaluation version, BootItNG
can't be beat:

Terabyte Unlimited's BootItNG
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

BTW, what is the downside of a 512 byte cluster vs a 4k cluster? Speed?
Efficiency?

Correct on both counts.

Since I ran Convert on my other drives/partitions, I now find
that they are all filled with 512-byte clusters. Can these clusters be
resized?

Not without reformatting the partitions, as far as I know.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

All replies are appreciated! Of course the "Try It" camp/position is
true in itself. What the CONVERT.EXE utility does not tell us is
the resulting size of the cluster ~ 512 bytes (or is that known by
the more experienced?)

Will follow through with Alex Nichol's paper and dwnld the appropriate
$40.oo utility to keep the cluster at 4k. (Is there a no-cost,
share-ware utility? If so, what would it be called???)

Yes, you can use BootIt Next Generation, as the page I cited explains. As
Alewx states, "priced at US$30 but with a 30-day fully functional trial."

BTW, what is the downside of a 512 byte cluster vs a 4k cluster?
Speed?

Exactly. The use of 512-byte clusters will be slower.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Efficiency? Since I ran Convert on my other
drives/partitions, I now find that they are all filled with 512-byte
clusters. Can these clusters be resized?

Kind Regards,
Wayne

Wayne should note that the important thing about converting to NTFS
is to make sure he doesn't end up with 512-byte clusters instead of
the normal 4K, which will be the likely result of he doesn't take
appropraite precautions.

Wayne, read here: "CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP" by the late MVP Alex Nichol, at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

yeh, unmounting is ok to do. It will go into somekind of process of
ending windows and begin the conversion. Probably runs the
conversion from ram so it unmounts the disk. I was impressed when i
converted.....

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within
XP? [ C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Yes, you can use BootIt Next Generation, as the page I cited explains. As
Alewx states, "priced at US$30 but with a 30-day fully functional trial."




Exactly. The use of 512-byte clusters will be slower.

In addition, 4k clusters are a much better use of larger HDs
space-wise, or so the experts say.

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In addition, 4k clusters are a much better use of larger HDs
space-wise, or so the experts say.

Actually, no--it's the other way around. The smaller the cluster size, the
less space is wasted to slack. Unless a file's size is exactly a multiple of
the cluster size, every file will waste a portion of its last cluster. If
you assume that how much of that last cluster is wasted is randomly
distributed (not strictly true, but close enough for our purposes here) on
the average every file wastes half of one cluster. So total waste due to
slack is roughly the number of files times cluster size. Since 4K is 8 times
512 bytes, waste is 8 times as high with 4K clusters.

But in these days of very cheap hard drives, the value of that waste in
dollars (substitute your own local currency, if not dollars) is so small as
to be insignificant. I don't think any decisions about cluster size,
partition size, or anything else should even take that kind of waste into
consideration.

 

[Wayne]

Interesting happened "on the way to the forum". I have two physical drives,
three partitions in each (each about 10Gb).

Before "I knew anything (!)", I used CONVERT on drive #2 (Part F, G, H).
CONVERT changed the FAT32 system to NTFS, 512 bytes per Cluster (512 bytes
per Sector, 1 sector to a Cluster).

For Drive #1, Partitions D & E I converted first before thinking, asking
about what might happen to the Root Partition, C. These converted to 8
Sectors per Cluster or 4k bytes! Driven by this "success" and w/o other
means ~ BootItNG which I did dwnld), I used Convert directly on "C". . . .
4k bytes per Cluster.

Question: Why did one drive convert to only One Sector/Cluster and another
to Eight Sectors/Cluster?

Wayne

ps: when you do convert /? you will see an exampl of the command line. Use
it.....
--
~~~~~~~~~~~
"To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
That is the data".......W.Gatespeare

Using XP on a machine that originally was driven by ME.

Have converted all drives/partitions that were FAT 32 to NTFS.

Can I safely convert the ROOT Drive, C, from the C Prompt within XP? [
C:\>Convert C:/fs:ntfs ]

Wayne

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Interesting happened "on the way to the forum". I have two physical
drives, three partitions in each (each about 10Gb).

Before "I knew anything (!)", I used CONVERT on drive #2 (Part F, G,
H). CONVERT changed the FAT32 system to NTFS, 512 bytes per Cluster
(512 bytes per Sector, 1 sector to a Cluster).

For Drive #1, Partitions D & E I converted first before thinking,
asking about what might happen to the Root Partition, C. These
converted to 8 Sectors per Cluster or 4k bytes! Driven by this
"success" and w/o other means ~ BootItNG which I did dwnld), I used
Convert directly on "C". . . . 4k bytes per Cluster.

Question: Why did one drive convert to only One Sector/Cluster and
another to Eight Sectors/Cluster?

It has to do with how the clusters are aligned before conversion.. Read
here:: http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

 

[Jim Gainsley]

CVTAREA is complex, can there much of a downside to not using it?

Jim

While in XP, then command prompt to execute CONVERT, I noticed that CONVERT
process requires that the disk be unmounted (did this for other drives).
What will this do to the 'C' drive from where CONVERT is executed and XP is
located?

Or am I complicating the problem???

Wayne

A UPS is in place.

You're complicating the non-problem. You will be asked to reboot,
then the conversion will be accomplished.

Of course, if you don't feel that's safe, just boot using the XP
install disk, and use the FIRST "Recovery" option, go the the Recovery
Console, and enter your Administrator account Password (NOT your user
account password, administratior privileges not-withstanding -- it
won't work. It MUST be the ORIGINAL Administrator account Password
you created when installing XP), and enter the convert command using
the flags you pointed out earlier. DON'T include the "\" part of
"C:", since you will be converting the DRIVE, not the root folder
(can't anyway).

Since the HD won't be mounted, you won't have to reboot.

ConvertConverts FAT and FAT32 volumes to NTFS.

Syntax
convert [volume] /fs:ntfs [/v] [/cvtarea:FileName] [/nosecurity] [/x]

Parameters
volume
Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or
volume name to convert to NTFS.
/fs:ntfs
Required. Converts the volume to NTFS.
/v
Specifies verbose mode, that is, all messages will be displayed during
conversion.
/cvtarea:FileName
For advanced users only. Specifies that the Master File Table (MFT)
and other NTFS metadata files are written to an existing, contiguous
placeholder file. This file must be in the root directory of the file
system to be converted. Use of the /CVTAREA parameter can result in a
less fragmented file system after conversion. For best results, the
size of this file should be 1 KB multiplied by the number of files and
directories in the file system, however, the convert utility accepts
files of any size.
For more information about using the /cvtarea parameter, see "File
Systems" at the Microsoft Windows XP Resource Kits Web
site.(http://www.microsoft.com/)

Important

You must create the placeholder file using the fsutil file createnew
command prior to running convert. Convert does not create this file
for you. Convert overwrites this file with NTFS metadata. After
conversion, any unused space in this file is freed. For more
information about the fsutil file command, see Related Topics.
/nosecurity
Specifies that the converted files and directory security settings are
accessible by everyone.
/x
Dismounts the volume, if necessary, before it is converted. Any open
handles to the volume will no longer be valid.
Remarks
You must specify that the drive should be converted when the computer
is restarted. Otherwise, you cannot convert the current drive.
If convert cannot lock the drive (for example, the system volume or
the current drive), it offers to convert the drive the next time the
computer restarts.
The location of the MFT is different on volumes that have been
converted from previous version of NTFS, so volume performance might
not be as good on volumes converted from Windows NT.
Volumes converted from FAT to NTFS lack some performance benefits
compared to volumes initially formatted with NTFS. On converted
volumes, the MFT might become fragmented. In addition, on converted
boot volumes, NTFS permissions are not applied after the volume is
converted.
Examples
To convert the volume on drive E to NTFS and display all messages,
type:

convert e: /fs:ntfs /v


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

[Donald McDaniel]

CVTAREA is complex, can there much of a downside to not using it?

Jim

While in XP, then command prompt to execute CONVERT, I noticed that CONVERT
process requires that the disk be unmounted (did this for other drives).
What will this do to the 'C' drive from where CONVERT is executed and XP is
located?

Or am I complicating the problem???

Wayne

A UPS is in place.

You're complicating the non-problem. You will be asked to reboot,
then the conversion will be accomplished.

Of course, if you don't feel that's safe, just boot using the XP
install disk, and use the FIRST "Recovery" option, go the the Recovery
Console, and enter your Administrator account Password (NOT your user
account password, administratior privileges not-withstanding -- it
won't work. It MUST be the ORIGINAL Administrator account Password
you created when installing XP), and enter the convert command using
the flags you pointed out earlier. DON'T include the "\" part of
"C:", since you will be converting the DRIVE, not the root folder
(can't anyway).

Since the HD won't be mounted, you won't have to reboot.

ConvertConverts FAT and FAT32 volumes to NTFS.

Syntax
convert [volume] /fs:ntfs [/v] [/cvtarea:FileName] [/nosecurity] [/x]

Parameters
volume
Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon), mount point, or
volume name to convert to NTFS.
/fs:ntfs
Required. Converts the volume to NTFS.
/v
Specifies verbose mode, that is, all messages will be displayed during
conversion.
/cvtarea:FileName
For advanced users only. Specifies that the Master File Table (MFT)
and other NTFS metadata files are written to an existing, contiguous
placeholder file. This file must be in the root directory of the file
system to be converted. Use of the /CVTAREA parameter can result in a
less fragmented file system after conversion. For best results, the
size of this file should be 1 KB multiplied by the number of files and
directories in the file system, however, the convert utility accepts
files of any size.
For more information about using the /cvtarea parameter, see "File
Systems" at the Microsoft Windows XP Resource Kits Web
site.(http://www.microsoft.com/)

Important

You must create the placeholder file using the fsutil file createnew
command prior to running convert. Convert does not create this file
for you. Convert overwrites this file with NTFS metadata. After
conversion, any unused space in this file is freed. For more
information about the fsutil file command, see Related Topics.
/nosecurity
Specifies that the converted files and directory security settings are
accessible by everyone.
/x
Dismounts the volume, if necessary, before it is converted. Any open
handles to the volume will no longer be valid.
Remarks
You must specify that the drive should be converted when the computer
is restarted. Otherwise, you cannot convert the current drive.
If convert cannot lock the drive (for example, the system volume or
the current drive), it offers to convert the drive the next time the
computer restarts.
The location of the MFT is different on volumes that have been
converted from previous version of NTFS, so volume performance might
not be as good on volumes converted from Windows NT.
Volumes converted from FAT to NTFS lack some performance benefits
compared to volumes initially formatted with NTFS. On converted
volumes, the MFT might become fragmented. In addition, on converted
boot volumes, NTFS permissions are not applied after the volume is
converted.
Examples
To convert the volume on drive E to NTFS and display all messages,
type:

convert e: /fs:ntfs /v

Jim, I didn't write anything but what I wrote. All else is cut and
pasted from Help And Support's article for the convert command.

To be honest, the /cvrtarea flag seems to be rather complex to me
also. I personally like to avoid complexity when able, so I just
format my partitions as NTFS in the first place, and never bother with
the convert command. But I back up my data, and have no problems
installing XP clean each time as a result. I've never had good luck
with doing upgrade installs, especially upgrading from an older OS to
a newer one.

Of course, someone who fails to back up his data, then wants to do
low-level disk changes is counting on the luck of the draw. I prefer
not to gamble when it's not necessary.

Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet, and wipe your drives if
you want a good install of XP.


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================