NTFS cluster size problem.

[Jim Nugent]

I was one of the suckers (there must be thousands) who received a computer
with Windows 2000 Pro installed on a FAT32 file system, and after a little
while, decided to convert it to NTFS and ran convert.exe /fs:ntfs. Now I
have a 30GB NTFS partition with 512 byte (0.5K) clusters. I should note that
this my "boot" partition, i.e. the one with \WINNT on it.

I have tried two different programs (V-Com System Commander and Norton
Partition Magic), both of which have a menu selection which offers to resize
the clusters on an NTFS
partition. Both programs thoroughly checked the partition for problems, and
the proceeded to fail in some spectacular way, leaving me with an
unrecognizable partition. The software manufacturers' tech support tried
(Symantec didn't even charge me), but were unable to get this function to
work. Fortunately, in both cases, I was able to restore a Ghost image ---
and 0.5K clusters. I have three questions:

1. Is there any reliable way to fix this?

2. If the only answer to (1.) is reformat/reinstall, is it worth the effort?
It would probably take me 2-3 days to rebuild this machine. Would I gain
much performance or other file system goodness from such an endeavor?

3. Why didn't MS warn you right up front that this (tiny clusters) would
likely happen if you ran this tool? This factoid is not found in the
documentation path that one would normally follow to learn how to use
convert.exe. IMHO this caveat should be right alongside "you should back up
your data first..."

Thank you,

 

[Jerold Schulman]

I was one of the suckers (there must be thousands) who received a computer
with Windows 2000 Pro installed on a FAT32 file system, and after a little
while, decided to convert it to NTFS and ran convert.exe /fs:ntfs. Now I
have a 30GB NTFS partition with 512 byte (0.5K) clusters. I should note that
this my "boot" partition, i.e. the one with \WINNT on it.

I have tried two different programs (V-Com System Commander and Norton
Partition Magic), both of which have a menu selection which offers to resize
the clusters on an NTFS
partition. Both programs thoroughly checked the partition for problems, and
the proceeded to fail in some spectacular way, leaving me with an
unrecognizable partition. The software manufacturers' tech support tried
(Symantec didn't even charge me), but were unable to get this function to
work. Fortunately, in both cases, I was able to restore a Ghost image ---
and 0.5K clusters. I have three questions:

1. Is there any reliable way to fix this?

2. If the only answer to (1.) is reformat/reinstall, is it worth the effort?
It would probably take me 2-3 days to rebuild this machine. Would I gain
much performance or other file system goodness from such an endeavor?

3. Why didn't MS warn you right up front that this (tiny clusters) would
likely happen if you ran this tool? This factoid is not found in the
documentation path that one would normally follow to learn how to use
convert.exe. IMHO this caveat should be right alongside "you should back up
your data first..."

Thank you,

If you don't have another disk partition, add an inexpensive 40 GB drive.
Install Windows 2000 on the new drive.
Ammend the c:\boot.ini startup options to rename the new install as alternate or emergency and change the default back to the 1st install.
Boot the alternate install and use ntbackup to backup the C: drive to the alternate installs partition.
Format the C: drive.
Restore the backup.

 

[Jim Nugent]

Jerry,
Thank you! I didn't think that a full ntbackup of a drive would restore to
empty partition to make a bootable system. I know the ntbackup help says it
will only back up the registry and system state on the "local" machine, but
since it's a "sleeping" copy of windows that gets backed up, it picks up the
registry and any "magic" files needed? I have a second copy of Windows 2000
Pro Evaluation in another partition already, and a 31 MB backup partition.

Plus I'll have a fresh ghost image around also just in case
--
Jim
"Be right back... Godot"

If you don't have another disk partition, add an inexpensive 40 GB drive.
Install Windows 2000 on the new drive.
Ammend the c:\boot.ini startup options to rename the new install as

alternate or emergency and change the default back to the 1st install.