FAT32 to NTFS Dismount/conversion/free space questions

[Guest]

First of all I would like to say that I am new here, so bear with me if I
don't grasp things immediately. 2nd, I think the advice given here has been
great!. Keep up the good work.

I have a 3 yrs old window XP home edition system that has a 60Gb HD that I
keep updated (security/SP2 etc). I would like to convert my 60Gb HD via the
"CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS" cmd to NTFS. I have only 8Gb of free space left on my
HD. In prepping myself for the convert sequence I've backed up everything
except my music collection (20GB). Upon initializing the convert cmd I am
greeted with a message...
"Convert can not run because the volume is in use by another process.
Convert may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO
THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this
volume?

Not knowing what "dismount" meant I answered this question <N>. I then
received this response..
"Convert can not gain exclusive access to the C:drive, so it can not convert
it now. Would you like to schedule it to be converted the next time the
system restarts?"

Because of the previous question,I answered this one <N>. (I saw the KB
article Q314097 that told me about this question).

I have 3 related questions.

1) Does "dismount" mean lose data? How should I answer this question?

2) Without getting technical how much free space is enough free space? Is
the 8Gb I have Enough (Saw that KB 156560 article too. Too mathematical, I
want the simple answer.)? and

3) How long does it takes to perform the conversion? I'm asking because the
other day I defragged and it took about 10 hours.

Finally, if there is anything else I should be aware of regarding this FAT32
to NTFS conversion that I didn't see in the above mentioned KB articles, I
would definitely apprepiate knowing it. Thanks!

ULguy

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| First of all I would like to say that I am new here, so bear with me if I
| don't grasp things immediately. 2nd, I think the advice given here has been
| great!. Keep up the good work.
|
| I have a 3 yrs old window XP home edition system that has a 60Gb HD that I
| keep updated (security/SP2 etc). I would like to convert my 60Gb HD via the
| "CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS" cmd to NTFS. I have only 8Gb of free space left on my
| HD. In prepping myself for the convert sequence I've backed up everything
| except my music collection (20GB). Upon initializing the convert cmd I am
| greeted with a message...
| "Convert can not run because the volume is in use by another process.
| Convert may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO
| THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this
| volume?
|
| Not knowing what "dismount" meant I answered this question <N>. I then
| received this response..
| "Convert can not gain exclusive access to the C:drive, so it can not convert
| it now. Would you like to schedule it to be converted the next time the
| system restarts?"
|
| Because of the previous question,I answered this one <N>. (I saw the KB
| article Q314097 that told me about this question).
|
| I have 3 related questions.
|
| 1) Does "dismount" mean lose data? How should I answer this question?
|
| 2) Without getting technical how much free space is enough free space? Is
| the 8Gb I have Enough (Saw that KB 156560 article too. Too mathematical, I
| want the simple answer.)? and
|
| 3) How long does it takes to perform the conversion? I'm asking because the
| other day I defragged and it took about 10 hours.
|
| Finally, if there is anything else I should be aware of regarding this FAT32
| to NTFS conversion that I didn't see in the above mentioned KB articles, I
| would definitely apprepiate knowing it. Thanks!
|
| ULguy

 

[Steve N.]

First of all I would like to say that I am new here, so bear with me if I
don't grasp things immediately. 2nd, I think the advice given here has been
great!. Keep up the good work.

I have a 3 yrs old window XP home edition system that has a 60Gb HD that I
keep updated (security/SP2 etc). I would like to convert my 60Gb HD via the
"CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS" cmd to NTFS. I have only 8Gb of free space left on my
HD. In prepping myself for the convert sequence I've backed up everything
except my music collection (20GB). Upon initializing the convert cmd I am
greeted with a message...
"Convert can not run because the volume is in use by another process.
Convert may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO
THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this
volume?

Not knowing what "dismount" meant I answered this question <N>. I then
received this response..
"Convert can not gain exclusive access to the C:drive, so it can not convert
it now. Would you like to schedule it to be converted the next time the
system restarts?"

Because of the previous question,I answered this one <N>. (I saw the KB
article Q314097 that told me about this question).

I have 3 related questions.

1) Does "dismount" mean lose data?
No.

How should I answer this question?

Aswer it Yes otherwise Convert will halt, but because it's the system
volume and won't be able to dismount it anyway.

2) Without getting technical how much free space is enough free space? Is
the 8Gb I have Enough (Saw that KB 156560 article too. Too mathematical, I
want the simple answer.)? and

Probably enough. It doesn't matter, Convert calculates it and it varies
due to conditions the article describes, if there isn't enough it won't
convert it.

3) How long does it takes to perform the conversion? I'm asking because the
other day I defragged and it took about 10 hours.

It certainly won't take as long as a defrag does. I've never seen it
take longer then a few minutes.

Finally, if there is anything else I should be aware of regarding this FAT32
to NTFS conversion that I didn't see in the above mentioned KB articles, I
would definitely apprepiate knowing it. Thanks!

ULguy

Realign the partition before conversion, by moving all the data area up
to a 4K boundary so you don't wind up with 512 Byte cluster size. Read here:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

Steve N.

 

[Guest]

OK Guys, Thanks for the article link "Converting Fat32 to NTFS" and the
answer and explanations to my questions. Per the article I realigned my
partition via BOOTIT NG. It took 4 hours to complete. Then I
defragged....another 5 1/2 hours. Then I performed the CONVERT (FYI ...
during convert I was informed that I needed 285211KB of free space. Less than
I thought) ; Another 1/2 hour. All appears to have gone well. In attempting
to access the internet after converting I was greeted by a warning by my
antivirus program (Trend Micro Internet Security 11) stating that microsoft
passport wanted my password. After providing it I was able to get online in
order to download the Volume ID zip file to restore my volume serial number.
However, upon running it ,a window open and closed so quickly I couldn't tell
what was going on. In using XPinfo I saw that my volume serial number was
missing. In using the CMD function I saw that my volume has a new serial
number. I believe that when passport requested my password things became
activated and my volume number "Vote" was removed because of my change to
NTFS.

How do I now restore my volume serial number (I did write it down prior to
the conversion)?. I would like to make this simply. In looking at the hints I
could not find any "WPA.DBL" or "WPA.BAK" files on the backup I made prior to
converting. Are they hidden? Perhap a phone call to microsoft to correct
this is the best way to go.

The hard part is over and I thank you for your help. I just don"t want to
lose that "Volume serial number" Vote. Any suggestion? maybe a phone number?

ULguy

 

[Steve N.]

OK Guys, Thanks for the article link "Converting Fat32 to NTFS" and the
answer and explanations to my questions. Per the article I realigned my
partition via BOOTIT NG. It took 4 hours to complete. Then I
defragged....another 5 1/2 hours. Then I performed the CONVERT (FYI ...
during convert I was informed that I needed 285211KB of free space. Less than
I thought) ; Another 1/2 hour. All appears to have gone well. In attempting
to access the internet after converting I was greeted by a warning by my
antivirus program (Trend Micro Internet Security 11) stating that microsoft
passport wanted my password. After providing it I was able to get online in
order to download the Volume ID zip file to restore my volume serial number.
However, upon running it ,a window open and closed so quickly I couldn't tell
what was going on. In using XPinfo I saw that my volume serial number was
missing. In using the CMD function I saw that my volume has a new serial
number. I believe that when passport requested my password things became
activated and my volume number "Vote" was removed because of my change to
NTFS.

How do I now restore my volume serial number (I did write it down prior to
the conversion)?. I would like to make this simply. In looking at the hints I
could not find any "WPA.DBL" or "WPA.BAK" files on the backup I made prior to
converting. Are they hidden? Perhap a phone call to microsoft to correct
this is the best way to go.

The hard part is over and I thank you for your help. I just don"t want to
lose that "Volume serial number" Vote. Any suggestion? maybe a phone number?

ULguy

See if this works:

http://www.codeproject.com/system/change_drive_sn.asp

Steve N.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, the code project link did the trick. My problem has been
completely solved. GOOD JOB. After the many hours of treading carefully in
converting my FAT32 File to NTFS all is well thanks to your help and
guidance. I really appreciate the time you spent assisting me. Thanks Again!!