FAT32 / NTSF

[Guest]

I have installed an external 120 Gig HD that has 4 partitions formatted with FAT32. I want to back up a computer running XP Pro that has 5 partitions formatted with NTSF. I cannot copy one of th
computer partitions (Drive C: ~8 Gig) to the external HD because FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 Gig. If I reformat the external HD to NTSF, will I be able to copy all files/folders from the partitions on the computer when they are near their capacity (~ 15 Gig) or will I still have to break the partitions down into sections in order to copy them? Thanks
Fletcher

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Yes, if you reformat the external drive to NTFS (not NTSF!) you will be able
to exceed the 4gb file size partition applicable to FAT32. File size
limitation in NTFS is 4TB!

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Cari, and yes, "NTFS"
Fletcher

 

[Tom]

limitation in NTFS is 4TB!

Not true, file size is simply is limited to how big the drive can be. From a real standpoint, an NTFS drive can be as big as 16TBs, so can file size. Theoretically NTFS can support drive storages (and file sizes) up to 16 exabytes.

http://tinyurl.com/2p6nd

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Tom, for supplying the additional information
Fletcher

 

[Tom]

I bought a external 120GB hard drive few months ago and I already moved and saved all my important files in this HD including the MPEG 2 files of our wedding. I just notice that this HD is formatted to FAT 32. How can I convert this HD to NTFS?
I use windox XP home edition.

Read here, as this can be done, but you may need to do a little prep work beforehand:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm