FAT32 to NTFS

[rn5a]

I am working on Win2K Pro which is installed in the C:\ drive whose
file system is FAT32. I would like to convert the file system of C:\
from FAT32 to NTFS. I know how to do it but what I would like to make
sure 100% before proceeding is will it affect the directories & files
that already reside in C:\ in anyway? Will it be safe to convert C:\
from FAT32 to NTFS?

Apart from the C:, I have another 6 drives (i.e. total 7 drives) - D:,
E:, F:, G:, H: & I:. Of these, the file system of D: where WinXP Pro is
installed is NTFS, file system of F: is FAT & the file systems of E:,
G:, H:, & I: are FAT32.

 

[DL]

Its usually safe, but as with any such operation a backup of data is
reccommended

 

[John John]

It usually goes well and without problems but anything can happen when
you convert a drive or partition. Conversion glitches often lead to
complete loss of data, make sure you have a valid backup of your
valuable data!

You should also take proper steps to ensure that you don't end up with
512 byte clusters after the conversion, that is not a very good thing.
You should align the data on the partitions to a 4k boundary before you
do the conversion and you should also defrag the partition before you
convert it. See here for more information:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

John

 

[James]

I am working on Win2K Pro which is installed in the C:\ drive whose
file system is FAT32. I would like to convert the file system of C:\
from FAT32 to NTFS. I know how to do it but what I would like to make
sure 100% before proceeding is will it affect the directories & files
that already reside in C:\ in anyway? Will it be safe to convert C:\
from FAT32 to NTFS?

Apart from the C:, I have another 6 drives (i.e. total 7 drives) - D:,
E:, F:, G:, H: & I:. Of these, the file system of D: where WinXP Pro is
installed is NTFS, file system of F: is FAT & the file systems of E:,
G:, H:, & I: are FAT32.

You might want to also make an image of C before the conversion and
store it on one of the other drives. Make sure you also have a set of
image restoring recovery disks in case something goes wrong. Drive
Image or ImageForWindows or BootItNG should do the job well. Drive
Image is now www.Symantec.com and IFW or BootItNG is from
www.TeraByteUnlimited.com. If you set your NG reader server to
"terabyteunlimited.com" on port 1198 you will be able to join their news
groups for further information on imaging. I use imaging as it
eliminates the hastles of doing a new install when things go wrong. I
simply am returned to the full installation as it was when the image was
created. A great time saver. You also don't have to remember what apps
were loaded or how to get back into all the data when they are restored.
Everything is just as it was.

James