tips for FAT32 to NTFS conversion?

[LRW]

Hi. I'm running WinXP Pro.
I have a 40GB HD0 that's split into a 5GB primary partition for the OS and a
35GB extended partition for everything else.
I'm considering converting the 1st partition at least, if not both, to NTFS
to use the file level security and compression.

Are there any tips I should be aware of before I do this? (Aside from
backing up data.) Any reason I would NOT want to do this?
I have 1.2GB free on the 1st partition, but only 3GB free on the second one.

Also, in case it matters, I have a HD1 that I dual-boot to Linux. Now, I
don't care about the Linux OS not being able to see and read from the Win
drive, so that doesn't matter. But I have the MBR do the dual-boot option
(GRUB if anyone else knows Linux, is what I'm using.) Will that be affected?

Thanks for any feedback!
Liam

 

[Jack]

use Portion Magic......and in any case...BACK UP your critical data..

 

[Jack]

use Partition Magic......your data will be "safe"...but in any case...BACKUP
all your critical data..

 

[Rifleman]

use Partition Magic......your data will be "safe"...but in any case...BACKUP
all your critical data..

Please read this:
Posting on Newsgroups:

 

[Haggis]

I did it to two drives in my system this morning ...primary 40gb and
secondary 20gb FAT32>NTFS

no lost of files or settings...open command prompt and type at c:\
convert c:<drive> /fs:ntfs

it will analyse a few things then reboot , convert and boot back into XP
~20mins.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Personally, I wouldn't even consider using FAT32 when NTFS is an
option. FAT32 has no security capabilities, no compression
capabilities, no fault tolerance, and a lot of wasted hard drive space
on volumes larger than 8 Gb in size. But your computing needs may
vary, and there is no hard and fast answer.

To answer your questions without getting too technical is
difficult, but has been handled quite well by Alex Nichol in the
article here:

FAT & NTFS File Systems in Windows XP
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfs.htm

Somewhat more technical information is here:

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q314463

Choosing Between File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...prodtechnol/winntas/tips/techrep/filesyst.asp

NTFS file system
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/ntfs/

You can safely convert your 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

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