How To: Convert FAT To NTFS Without Losing Data

NTFS(NT File System) is the standard file sytem for Microsoft’s Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.NTFS file system provides more stability, security and less fragmentation than previous FAT(File Allocation Table) file system used in operating systems like MS-DOS,Windows 98,Windows ME etc.NTFS is the recommended file system for Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems because it’s is more powerful than FAT or FAT32 file systems used in former Windows OS’s, and includes features required for hosting Active Directory as well as other important security features.Windows Vista needed NTFS file system in order to install and we can’t install Windows Vista on a FAT partition.Converting a partition from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS can be done by an inbuilt utility(convert.exe) in the Windows XP operating system.So if you want increased security and faster data encryption,go ahead and convert to NTFS.

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

For example,running the command convert E: /fs:ntfs would format drive E: to the NTFS format.You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

Warning:

Note:

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Written by Tony on April 2nd, 2009 with 4 comments.
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Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com sweety
#1. May 31st, 2009, at 9:45 AM.

how to convert external USB devices to FAT

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com admin
#2. May 31st, 2009, at 10:25 AM.

First off, delete the partition that you wish to convert. This is done by
going into Disk Management: right click “My Computer” -> Manage -> Disk
Management, which is found under the Storage section. Right click the
partition you wish to remove, and click “Delete Volume”. This will erase the
partition. Once you have done this, you must re-create the partition. This
is done by right clicking on an unallocated region of a disk, and selecting
“Create Partition”. Then click “Create Logical Drive”. Bear in mind that
Windows cannot format a FAT32 partition that is any larger than 32GB. This
is the case because FAT32 is terribly inefficient on volumes that are larger
than 32GB: fragmentation becomes a serious problem.

To format this new volume, right click it, and choose Format. Again, if the
volume you wish to format is larger than 32GB, FAT32 will not be one of the
options available to you in the drop-down box. You will have to create
multiple partitions if you want to format a large drive as FAT32.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com admin
#3. May 31st, 2009, at 10:29 AM.

Also there is a nifty little program called SwissKnife, that is completely free and that you can use to format many types of external drives such as USB, Firewire, PCMIA, SATA and SCSI. You can also use it to create partitions on an external hard drive and it formats faster than Windows.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Jac @ flower florist
#4. November 18th, 2009, at 10:24 PM.

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