How to convert boot drive to NTFS?

[Keith]

I just upgraded my system from WinME to WinXP Home edition.
I didn't get any option to convert the boot drive to NTFS during the
upgrade.
It is still Fat32 and things like defragging take forever.
How do I convert it to NTFS without loosing everything?
Does it matter?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I just upgraded my system from WinME to WinXP Home edition.
I didn't get any option to convert the boot drive to NTFS during the
upgrade.
It is still Fat32 and things like defragging take forever.
How do I convert it to NTFS without loosing everything?
Does it matter?

You can safely convert your current 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

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP
(by Alex Nichol, MS-MVP)
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

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:

| I just upgraded my system from WinME to WinXP Home edition.
| I didn't get any option to convert the boot drive to NTFS during the
| upgrade.
| It is still Fat32 and things like defragging take forever.
| How do I convert it to NTFS without loosing everything?
| Does it matter?

 

[Aart Jansen]

in a command prompt, type...
convert c: /fs:ntfs

answer yes you want to to any prompts. reboot.

 

[Ken Blake]

in a command prompt, type...
convert c: /fs:ntfs

answer yes you want to to any prompts. reboot.

Doing as you suggest without reading the article Cary cited below would be a
bad mistake. It would very likely leave you with a 512-byte cluster size,
and corresponding poor performance.

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

Agreed 100%

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!

Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com

 

[kt]

Install a new hard drive
copy your data to that
format the original hard drive
install XP as a new install using the NTFS option
worked a treat for me
(I originally did the the Dos conversion to NTFS after upgrading - but
always felt "something was just not quite right)

 

[Jason Haynes]

No need to install a new drive and copy data. From the command prompt, enter
CONVERT x: /FS:NTFS, just replace x with the drive letter to convert.