converting to ntfs

[Guest]

I have been trying to do this conversion and have several
problems. First, I have no idea how to answer the prompt
that asks for the "vomume name," and there's nothing in
the help files to tell me this (I'm on a dual boot
system). The conversion won't happen without this volume
name (and, yes, I did try "vol d:")

Second, one person suggested I use BootIt software, but
for some reason that software doesn't like any of my
floppies so it doesn't work for the cluster reallignment
issue.

It seems to me that this "easy" conversion isn't "easy" at
all, if you want an optimal setup. Then there's this
stuff about "fsutil" files and so forth . . .

HELP...!?

 

[R. McCarty]

Volume is simply the name assigned to the drive. You can
change it to any reasonable text string you like. Open My
Computer, Right Click the drive in question. Then Left Click
Properties. The Volume identifier is in the Text box. You can
delete the current name and enter any you want.

 

[Guest]

Well... I did the conversion and all's fine so far.

But I was not able to get the BootIt software to do the
realignment as someone suggested. If you are monitoring
this, can you please tell me what problems I might expect
from doing this conversion without any of the bells and
whistles various people (and help files) have suggested?

Thanks

 

[Rob Schneider]

Well... I did the conversion and all's fine so far.

But I was not able to get the BootIt software to do the
realignment as someone suggested. If you are monitoring
this, can you please tell me what problems I might expect
from doing this conversion without any of the bells and
whistles various people (and help files) have suggested?

Thanks

Not sure why you felt need to use BootIt software ... just becuase
someone said to isn't necessarily good enough. Suggest you read the
documentation/instructions for BootIt to learn more. BootIt (from what
I read on links shown via a Google search) really has nothing to do with
converting to NTFS or floppy disks. It's a partion and multi-boot manager.

 

[Guest]

Hi and thanks. I was sent to an article written by Alex
Nichol (MS-MVP). The gist of this is that a 512 cluster
value is a bad thing, but will happen automatically unless
the clusters are "realigned on 4kb boundaries." The guy
who aimed me at this article, obviously, thinks this is
important -- your view?

(He indicated that BootIt, run from a boot floppie, would
do this realignment under a "maintenance" menu. I
couldn't get BootIt to work at all, probably because I
moved it's install program after download rather than
downloading it to the extract file in the first place.)

 

[CS]

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 10:03:52 -0800,

The article by Alex is correct and will save you a lot of extra work
later on if you should wish to change the 512 clusters to 4K. It is
important to maintain 4K clusters throughout. The procedure should be
painless and fast when using BootIt Next Generation. I have done it
several times and it works as advertised. Of course you do have to
use BootIt Next Generation correctly and from the floppy disk in
maintenance mode.

Partition Magic 8.X will also re-align clusters so that the conversion
yields 4K clusters, however, why pay the extra money for PM when BING
will do more for less.

 

[Guest]

Thanks more! I have already done the conversion, without
changing the cluster size, and I just downloaded BootIt
again, this time (hopefully) the right way.

Is it possible to do this realignment now with ntfs
conversion done, or do I need to wait until I re-format
some time in the future. I guess there are two questions
in that: (1) can this be done now and (2) what are the
actual concrete consequences of this cluster size
differential? (That is, is it worth doing for someone who
uses a computer a lot, but is not an IT or program/code
meister? Will I notice any real difference?

One more question, If you don't mind -- it appears to me
that the EFS does nothing to seal files once somebody has
the user password. There isn't a key process to open an
encrypted file; it's "invisible," I assume, and that's
handy for protection against (I guess) some kinds of
hacks. But it doesn't seem to me that this is going to
render me secure files. I have other encryption software
I can use, but I was hoping . . .

Thanks. It's terrific to get seriously competent help as
I learn this new OS.