How to convert FAT32 back to NTFS?

[Mark]

Hi ! A friend of mine used Partition Magic 8.0 to create a partition
under my Windows XP. I now have NTFS C drive and FAT 32 E drive(the
new partition). I want to reverse the partition (security problem with
FAT32) and bring everything back to as it was before. Any idea how ?
Should I use Partition Magic to convert FAT32 back to NTFS and then
merge the two NTFS drives to one C drive ? If this works, I would then
run a IBM Product Recovery program and create new NTFS partitions
using Windows XP's own tools. How about the convert prompt ? Any ideas
? Possible Problems ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joep]

Should I use Partition Magic to convert FAT32 back to NTFS and then
merge the two NTFS drives to one C drive ?

Same differnce, PM 'uses' the OS convert tool anyway. Assuming there's no
data in the FAT32, why not just delete and enlarge the NTFS drive? Avoid
merging whenever possible.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

Hi ! A friend of mine used Partition Magic 8.0 to create a partition
under my Windows XP. I now have NTFS C drive and FAT 32 E drive(the
new partition). I want to reverse the partition (security problem with
FAT32) and bring everything back to as it was before. Any idea how ?
Should I use Partition Magic to convert FAT32 back to NTFS and then
merge the two NTFS drives to one C drive ? If this works, I would then
run a IBM Product Recovery program and create new NTFS partitions
using Windows XP's own tools. How about the convert prompt ? Any ideas
? Possible Problems ?

From Start/Run, type CMD. At the command prompt, type:
CONVERT E: /FS:NTFS

Are C and E the same physical drive? If you want one partition, you can
move everything to C: (if possible), delete that partition, then use PM to
expand your C:. I think PM might also have a way to merge two adjacent
partitions.

 

[Mark]

Andrew:
C and E are on the same physical drive. I would like to get rid of PM
as I have heard that it messes up your hard disk. After using PM it is
only possible to use IBM's Rapid Restore on C: to set the system back
to an earlier date. It totally ignores E:. I want to reverse
everything back to one drive (C:NTFS) in a safe way. Partition Magic
can merge the two drives, but they have to be either both FAT or NTFS.
(I have C:NTFS and E:FAT32).

Joep:
Can C: be enlarged by using Windows XP tools ?

Thanks
Mark