FAT 32 to NTFS

  • Thread starter Thread starter AndreP
  • Start date Start date
A

AndreP

Is it possible to convert a FAT32 disk to NTFS without
losing all the data on it or does it have to be
reinstalled?
 
Greetings --

You can safely convert your hard drive to NTFS whenever desired,
without having to format the partition and reinstall everything. As
always when performing any serious changes, back up any important data
before proceeding, just in case. A little advance preparation is also
strongly recommended, so you can avoid any performance hits caused by
the default cluster size:

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
AndreP,
My suggestion is to backup your data, and perform a clean install, or
buy a 3rd Party software package such as Partition Magic to convert from
FAT/FAT32 to NTFS. The reason, is you can specify the cluster size. The
native Win2k/XP convert command creates NTFS with 512k clusters, native NTFS
formatting from a clean install uses 4096k clusters, or using PM you can
specify 4096k clusters, which are more efficient for I/O processing. This
can be very significant on I/O intensive applications, especially running on
laptops or low-end desktops, significantly impacting performance.
 
Greetings --

FYI, the same results can be obtained (regarding cluster size and
the resulting performance issue) without having to _purchase_
Partition Magic. BootItNG's free evaluation version can to the same
thing. See this article for details:

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

"Star Fleet Admiral Q"
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Back
Top