Convert FAT32 to NTFS

[Ron]

I am having difficulty converting to FAT32 to NTFS.

In the command prompt I type:

C:\> CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

Then it asks Enter the current volume label for drive C:

At this point I can not go further because I am unsure if I type C: / ......

 

[Fitz]

When you originally formatted the drive, did you name it (i.e. System,
Storage, etc?) This should be displayed by looking at the drive in My
Computer or Windows Explorer. If it is named (other than Local Disk, I
believe), then the prompt is asking you to enter the name of the drive. No
C:/...just type the name.

If I am correct, then it will probably assign that name to the drive in the
new format.

Fitz

 

[Steve N.]

I am having difficulty converting to FAT32 to NTFS.

In the command prompt I type:

C:\> CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

Then it asks Enter the current volume label for drive C:

At this point I can not go further because I am unsure if I type C: / ......

A DIR command will show the volume label.

If you have never named the disk then it has no label, just press enter.

Steve

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am having difficulty converting to FAT32 to NTFS.

In the command prompt I type:

C:\> CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

Then it asks Enter the current volume label for drive C:

It is the name returned if in the command prompt window you type VOL C:
(first line).

But before going further, read up on precautions at my page
www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

 

[Ron]

Thanks, I finally got it now. Is it best to "compress the disk to save
space?"

I don't want to do it if it takes system resources.

 

[Bill James]

Compressing the disk will slow down your computer since files must be uncompressed before they can be opened. It's a poor solution for insufficient free disk space -- as cheap as hard drives are a person is much better off just buying a bigger drive if they are low on space.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Windows VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/

Thanks, I finally got it now. Is it best to "compress the disk to save
space?"

I don't want to do it if it takes system resources.

 

[Plato]

Thanks, I finally got it now. Is it best to "compress the disk to save
space?"

NO. Never compress a disk.

 

[Al Dykes]

NO. Never compress a disk.

Never say never.

I've compressed the entire C drive on countless systems. I first did
this when a 200MB disk in a PC was hot sh*t and our developers needed
more space when the first IDE packages came into use. I don't compress
the entire disk on modern systems.

I've compresses multi-GB RAID arrays when the data we were storing was
all numeric and coming in batches of a Gig a day. Simple numeric data
compresses at 20:1. This was a production system and benchmarks showed
the the Oracle update this data went into was bottlenecked reading
uncompressed data files. Compression gave us an effective read rate
increase of 20x.

In File Explorer do a File->Open, browse to C:\ right click on it,
pick propertis/advanced and check the compress box, and pick all
subdirectories. It will pop up a message about being unable
to compress the pagefile, which you can ignore.

Do a full defrag after compressing the file system.

These days I compress the file systems that hold my Photoshop PSD
files. I get about 10% back, which is several GB.

DOn't compress anything like a database file, which gets random record
or block updates. It'll work but performance may suck, big time. If
it's read-mostly it may still be a win.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Thanks, I finally got it now. Is it best to "compress the disk to save
space?"

No! It is very dangerous to compress some files on it that are needed
to load the system.

Reserve compression - *after* the event - for selected folders only.
Ones where it does pay are the dllcache and ServicePackFiles folders in
Windows; but in general not windows itself; Windows\System32 or
Windows\system32\drivers

 

[Plato]

Never say never.

Ever try getting data off a crashed compressed disk?

 

[Al Dykes]

Ever try getting data off a crashed compressed disk?

Sure. Pop the disk into a good machine running the same version of the
OS, as the secondary drive. If it's not a hardware problem you'll get
all your data. If it's a hardware problem, you're f**ked, no matter
what file system you use. That's what backups are for.

Compression in w/98 was dangerous. In NTFS it's a core function and
safe, although one of the MVP guys has said there is a potential
problem with the files needed to boot. That may be a recent change.
With the size of disk these days, I have not compressed an entire C
drive in a long time.

I've been using compression, when needed, on hundreds of machines in a
corporate environemnt, from when it first appeared. It (or ntfs in
general) have never lost me any data.