Convert Fat32 to NTFS on one partition ?

[Sunny]

I have 2 x 80Gb Hard Drives Partitioned with Partition Magic V8.01.
Drive 1 :
"C" Fat 32 - WinXP Home - 20 Gb
"C" Fat 32 - WinME (hidden) - 20 Gb
"E" Fat 32 - Data - 40Gb
Drive 2 :
"D" Fat 32 - Data - 40 Gb
"F" Fat 32 - Data - 40 Gb
I use "F" for CDR recording , but would like to use it for DVD as well.
To overcome the Fat32, 4Gb file limit? can I convert "F" to NTFS, and still
be able to swap files between partitions ?
(Could the NTFS partition be accessed when booted to WinME?)
(Got lost in the MS knowledge base)

 

[Mike M]

Win Me, in common with all of the Win 9x operating systems, cannot
natively either read or write NTFS volumes.

 

[Sunny]

Thanks Mike M,
WinXP (Fat 32) would be able to read/write to all partitions OK?
(Files raised in the NTFS and transferred to a Fat32 partition, or vice
versa)
Not too concerned about losing sight of 40Gb while In WinME, as long as I
can retain control when in WinXP.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You can convert it, but....

- You will not be able to access it from the WinME installation without help
from a third party tool (you'll find one at sysinternals.com).

- Any files larger than 4GB will have to remain on the "F" volume, you won't
be able to move them to one of the FAT32 volumes.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Mike M]

When running XP you will be able to both read and write to all volumes
that are formatted using either the FAT or NTFS filing systems. There's
also no reason why you shouldn't run a system that has both FAT and NTFS
volumes. I have one such system here.

As Rick has mentioned third party tools exist that can be installed on Win
Me that will allow it to read and sometimes also to write to NTFS volumes.

 

[Sunny]

Thanks to both of you.
Cheers

- You will not be able to access it from the WinME installation without
help from a third party tool (you'll find one at sysinternals.com).

- Any files larger than 4GB will have to remain on the "F" volume, you
won't be able to move them to one of the FAT32 volumes.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

can I convert "F" to NTFS, and
still be able to swap files between partitions ?

Yes. Windows XP can use NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12, in any and
all combinations, regardless of what file system it itself is
installed on.

(Could the NTFS partition be accessed when booted to WinME?)

No. Windows Me can not see NTFS at all.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I use "F" for CDR recording , but would like to use it for DVD as well.
To overcome the Fat32, 4Gb file limit? can I convert "F" to NTFS, and still
be able to swap files between partitions ?

Yes. Read my page www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm first

(Could the NTFS partition be accessed when booted to WinME?)

No - that only recognises FAT

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

If you have a file size problem on the F drive, you would need to also
convert the XP C drive if you need to move files between F and C. As long
as files exceeding 4GB stayed on the F drive only, you would be OK. The ME
C drive would not be able to access the F drive after the conversion.

I can see no reason why you can't convert the XP C drive in any case. The
issue only exists with the drives that ME can see.

 

[Ron Martell]

I have 2 x 80Gb Hard Drives Partitioned with Partition Magic V8.01.
Drive 1 :
"C" Fat 32 - WinXP Home - 20 Gb
"C" Fat 32 - WinME (hidden) - 20 Gb
"E" Fat 32 - Data - 40Gb
Drive 2 :
"D" Fat 32 - Data - 40 Gb
"F" Fat 32 - Data - 40 Gb
I use "F" for CDR recording , but would like to use it for DVD as well.
To overcome the Fat32, 4Gb file limit? can I convert "F" to NTFS, and still
be able to swap files between partitions ?
(Could the NTFS partition be accessed when booted to WinME?)
(Got lost in the MS knowledge base)

In addition to converting the partition to NTFS you will have to align
it properly for NTFS. Otherwise it may end up with a 512 byte cluster
size instead of 4K and that makes the use of the drive much less
efficient.

Your Partition Magic will be able to align the partition boundary
properly but I am not sure if it will do so automatically when you
convert (assuming you use PM rather than the XP conversion utility).

See MVP Alex Nichol's article on converting to NTFS at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Alex Nichol]

Your Partition Magic will be able to align the partition boundary
properly but I am not sure if it will do so automatically when you
convert (assuming you use PM rather than the XP conversion utility).

The latest PM (v 8) will do the alignment as part of the conversion

 

[Sunny]

Thanks to everyone
Will be using Partition Magic, but what I have to watch is that Boot Magic
needs a Fat32 partition.
Any attempt to Install BootMagic inWinXP, gets me "Boot Magic is already
install and cannot be installed twice"

 

[Rick T]

In addition to converting the partition to NTFS you will have to align
it properly for NTFS. Otherwise it may end up with a 512 byte cluster
size instead of 4K and that makes the use of the drive much less
efficient.

oh, son-of-a-....

Is there *anything* M$ does which isn't retarded? Do they get bonuses?


Rick
(currently cat-herding Win2k with, yup, cute little .5k clusters on the OS
partition)

 

[Rick T]

heheheheheheehhehh

(nm)