Convert FAT32 to NTFS 1

[SystemDown]

I want to convert a drive from FAT32 to NTFS on Windows 2000 platform. The hard drive contains user created files and so forth. If I use the convert command from a command prompt will I lose any data, or to rephrase, do I run the risk of losing data on the drive?
Thanks

 

[butchrecon]

Convert: Converts a Volume from FAT/FAT32 to NTFS
You can use Convert to convert a volume from FAT/FAT32 to NTFS. This utility performs the conversion within the existing volume. You do not need to back up and restore the files when you use this program.

You cannot convert the Windows 2000 boot partition while you are running Windows 2000, so Convert allows you to convert the partition the next time you start Windows 2000. When you convert the partition this way, Windows 2000 restarts twice to complete the conversion process. The syntax of the command is:

convert D: /FS:NTFS [/v]
(Where D: is the drive you want to convert)

To use this utility, at the command line type:

convert

with the appropriate options. Table 3.17 describes the options available with Convert.

Table 3.17 Convert Options

Option Description
drive Logical drive that you want to convert.
/FS Specifies that you want to convert to NTFS.
/v Runs the tool in verbose mode.



Important

Volumes that are converted from FAT to NTFS, (rather than initially formatted with NTFS) lack some performance benefits. Fragmentation of the MFT might occur and on boot partitions, NTFS permissions are not applied after the partition is converted.

Free Space Required to Convert FAT to NTFS
The conversion of a disk partition from FAT to NTFS requires a sufficient amount of available free disk space in order to build the NTFS disk structures. For information about the process Convert uses to convert FAT to NTFS and the space required for conversion, see the Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at

http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.

Converting NTFS and FAT Volumes
FAT and NTFS use very different on-disk structures to represent the allocation of space for files. These structures are often referred to as metadata or file system overhead. Another kind of overhead associated with FAT and NTFS is related to the fact that both file systems allocate disk space in clusters of a fixed size. The exact size of these allocation units or clusters is determined at format time, and the defaults are dependent on the size of the volume.

Like FAT, NTFS has a certain amount of fixed-size overhead and a certain amount of per-file overhead. To support the advanced features of NTFS, such as recoverability, security, and support for very large volumes, the NTFS metadata overhead is somewhat larger than the FAT metadata overhead. However, because NTFS cluster overhead is smaller than FAT cluster overhead, it is often possible to store as much if not more data on an NTFS volume as on a FAT volume, even without using NTFS file compression.

Convert builds the NTFS metadata using space that is considered free space by FAT. Thus, if the conversion fails to complete, the FAT representation of the user files is still valid.

James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

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[randyQ]

If you are on a domain and are sharing files from the computer(s) in question, please know that a pre-2000 windows PC won't be able to read data off of an NTFS partition. Although converting gives you greater control over your drive and files, you sacrifice two-way file sharing between NTFS and FAT(32) disks. Only the NTFS disk will be able to see FAT(32) disks, not the other way around.

 

[utah007]

It has been my experience that FAT32 disks will read shares from NTFS with no trouble.

This thread has been really helpful, btw, as I am looking to convert my PC to NTFS as well. It is far superior to FAT32 in many ways.

 

[tyro]

Hi

I have a new computer that I want to install Windows 2000 on. My old computer is running Win 95. I want to transfer my data from the old computer to the new computer. I have never done this before and am not really sure how. Is there a problem to transfer the information if I make the windows 2000 NTFS? the win 95 computer is running FAT 16. I was planning on installing both hard drives on the new system and then doing it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As I said I have never done this before. I don't want to upgrade to Windows 2000 after copying the files over to the new computer because I want to do a clean install.

Thank you very much

 

[tyro]

sorry I put the previous message in the wrong place. I meant to start a new thread.

tyro