converting to NTFS

[marco Starglider]

hi,

i 've got a new xternal hd with a capacity of 500 gig.
it's formatted in fat32, and i already have about 40 gig's
on it.

1. is it safe to convert it to NTFS using 'convert' from the
command prompt, and will the data remain untouched?

2. is it necessary to run 'fsutil file createnew ' from the com prompt
first? and what does it do?

regards,

m

 

[Tom Porterfield]

hi,

i 've got a new xternal hd with a capacity of 500 gig.
it's formatted in fat32, and i already have about 40 gig's
on it.

1. is it safe to convert it to NTFS using 'convert' from the
command prompt, and will the data remain untouched?

Yes it is safe and the data will remain. Before doing the conversion
you should first read http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm for ways
to avoid some possible issues.

2. is it necessary to run 'fsutil file createnew ' from the com prompt
first? and what does it do?

No, that is not necessary.

 

[marco Starglider]

tom,

the article itself is pretty readable. however, the additional links are
a little bit too much for me.
is it safe if i just do a defragment, and then:

com prompt:
vol k:
convert k: /fs:ntfs

m

ps is it better to add /x to the command?