xp sp2 disk management problem

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Guest

When attempting to change the format of an external hard drive(Western
Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk Management does not display the
option "NEW PARTION". Any suggestions. Thank you.
 
dan said:
When attempting to change the format of an external hard drive(Western
Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk Management does not display the
option "NEW PARTION" [PARTITION?]. Any suggestions. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Try converting it from a Command Prompt:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
convert X: /fs:ntfs
Replace X: with the drive letter of your external drive.
Remember to back up your important files before performing
the conversion.
 
Pegasus said:
dan said:
When attempting to change the format of an external hard
drive(Western Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk
Management does not display the option "NEW PARTION" [PARTITION?].
Any suggestions. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Try converting it from a Command Prompt:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
convert X: /fs:ntfs
Replace X: with the drive letter of your external drive.
Remember to back up your important files before performing
the conversion.
Click to expand...


But first read http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue
regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.
 
Ken Blake said:
Pegasus said:
dan said:
When attempting to change the format of an external hard
drive(Western Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk
Management does not display the option "NEW PARTION" [PARTITION?].
Any suggestions. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Try converting it from a Command Prompt:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
convert X: /fs:ntfs
Replace X: with the drive letter of your external drive.
Remember to back up your important files before performing
the conversion.
Click to expand...


But first read http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue
regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of this - interesting stuff. However, there are a couple of
points about this issue:
- If this is a serious issue, why isn't there an official MS KB article on
this
item, with an MS solution?
- The link you quote recommends a third-party product that will move just
about every sector on the disk. This is a high-risk operation at the best
of
times, especially in the hands of a novice, and it will probably result
in a
disaster if there is a power failure in the middle. So instead of a
faster
NTFS partition, the OP might end up with a thrashed NTFS partition.
 
Pegasus said:
Ken Blake said:
Pegasus said:
When attempting to change the format of an external hard
drive(Western Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk
Management does not display the option "NEW PARTION" [PARTITION?].
Any suggestions. Thank you.

Try converting it from a Command Prompt:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
convert X: /fs:ntfs
Replace X: with the drive letter of your external drive.
Remember to back up your important files before performing
the conversion.
Click to expand...


But first read http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's
an issue regarding cluster size that isn't obvious.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of this - interesting stuff. However, there are a
couple of points about this issue:
- If this is a serious issue, why isn't there an official MS KB
article on this
item, with an MS solution?
Click to expand...


Beats me! I'm not privy to what Microsoft decides to say or warn about.

- The link you quote recommends a third-party product that will move
just about every sector on the disk. This is a high-risk operation
at the best of
times, especially in the hands of a novice, and it will probably
result in a
disaster if there is a power failure in the middle. So instead of a
faster
NTFS partition, the OP might end up with a thrashed NTFS partition.
Click to expand...



That's why I always recommend a backup before undertaking anything like
this. In fact I would strongly recommend a backup even before doing a plain
conversion. There's *always* a risk that something like a power failure in
te middle of the conversion could trash everything.
 
Bitstring <#[email protected]>, from the wonderful
person "Pegasus (MVP) said:
I wasn't aware of this - interesting stuff. However, there are a couple of
points about this issue:
- If this is a serious issue, why isn't there an official MS KB article on
this
item, with an MS solution?
- The link you quote recommends a third-party product that will move just
about every sector on the disk. This is a high-risk operation at the best
of
times, especially in the hands of a novice, and it will probably result
in a
disaster if there is a power failure in the middle. So instead of a
faster
NTFS partition, the OP might end up with a thrashed NTFS partition.
Click to expand...

If there is a power failure during convert you are equally stuffed. I've
used the BootitNG method, works fine. The alternative of 512 byte NTFS
clusters does NOT work fine!
 
I performed the convert command as suggested and it worked great. Thanks all
for your help.

Pegasus (MVP) said:
dan said:
When attempting to change the format of an external hard drive(Western
Digital My books) from FAT32 to NTFS, XP Disk Management does not display the
option "NEW PARTION" [PARTITION?]. Any suggestions. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Try converting it from a Command Prompt:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
convert X: /fs:ntfs
Replace X: with the drive letter of your external drive.
Remember to back up your important files before performing
the conversion.
Click to expand...
 
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