Converting C: from FAT to NTFS

[Ian]

My C: drive is currently FAT, and full.

Will I free up much space by converting to NTFS (or FAT32)?

Given that it is my C: drive, can I convert without loosing my operating
system (Win2000)? If so, can it be dome from Windows, or do I need to do it
from a DOS boot?


Thanks,

Ian

 

[Austin M. Horst]

Buy a larger hard drive or remove some junk.
You will not gain space by converting to NTFS.
You will lose space.
You also need enough free space to do the conversion.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=156560

The conversion is done from the Command Prompt, see Help:
Click [Start]
Help
Index tab
convert command

If you do the conversion, backup the entire drive first.
The conversion does not format the drive, but there is
always a possibility of losing data.


Austin M. Horst

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ian.

I second what Austin Horst said, and I'd like to add a couple of comments...

To convert the system partition (typically, Drive C, you will have to
issue the Convert command. It will start, then warn you that it cannot
convert the system partition except by rebooting. Say yes and it will
reboot, doing the conversion in the process.

Win2K does not use MS-DOS at all, and MS-DOS does not understand NTFS at
all, so booting from an MS-DOS boot floppy will do you no good. You run
Convert.exe in a "DOS" window. That is the MS-DOS EMULATOR that is included
in WinXP. I enclose "DOS" in quotes to emphasize that it is not true
MS-DOS, but most MS-DOS commands and programs will run in the "DOS" window.
You open the "DOS" window by clicking Command Prompt or by Running Cmd.exe.

If you have space elsewhere, backup and then delete enough files to leave
room for Convert.exe to do its job. But, as Austin said, don't expect to
have more space after the conversion.

RC

 

[Jerold Schulman]

My C: drive is currently FAT, and full.

Will I free up much space by converting to NTFS (or FAT32)?

Given that it is my C: drive, can I convert without loosing my operating
system (Win2000)? If so, can it be dome from Windows, or do I need to do it
from a DOS boot?


Thanks,

Ian

I am going to assume you have a 20GB Harddisk, with 64K clusters.
On average, that wastes 32k per cluster.

If, in Windows 2000, you open a CMD.EXE window and type
convert C: /FS:NTFS
it will result in 4096 byte clusters, an average waste of 2K.

My guess is that you will recover about 3GB.

You will need free space to perform the conversion.
See tip 320 in the 'Tips & Tricks' at http://www.jsiinc.com

If your drive is smaller, get another driver, either as a replacement, or as an
additional drive.

THe above made a ton of assumptions.



Jerold Schulman
Windows: General MVP
JSI, Inc.
http://www.jsiinc.com