Convert To NTFS?

[rwinegar]

I have a Maxtor Model 3000DV 1394 external hard drive. This drive is formatted as FAT32. Is there anyway I can easily convert it to NTFS so it is the same as the internal drive on my XP equipped computer? Can I make the conversion without affecting the data on this drive?

Dell 8200 P4 512 ram

Thanks.

[AlaricD]

Partition Magic might be able to do it, but I'm not sure if it can do it from Windows, which you'd need to do to access the drive.

It may be better to back up the data, then prepare it with XP's disk management tools. It may be faster, too, than doing the non-destructive filesystem conversion that PM offers-- as well as saving you the $70-$80 for the software which might not even work.

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[ylen13]

here u go

convert d: /fs:ntfs /v

"d:" would be the letter of whatever drive you want to convert

*mind the spaces before / and before the letter of the drive you want to convert

this should work with n/p.U may wante to back up your date just incase.Warning:if u do convert to ntfs u can't convert back with out lose all of your data.

[tombg59]

Does this help? Convert FAT32 To NTFS
Written By: Allen and edited by Steve | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 18107 | Print Tweak | 11/18/2001


To change from FAT 32 to NTFS for more stability and security, open the command prompt and type: "Convert C: /FS:NTFS". Make sure there is a space between the C: and the foward slash (/). Once you press enter it will ask you for confirmation and press Y. Then press Y and enter once more to reboot. It will take between one hour and 15 minutes to convert to NTFS. Now you can set passwords for files and use encryption. This also works for windows XP Home. Tom



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tombg59

[rwinegar]

Thanks everyone. Will this destroy the data on the drive? There are more than 8,000 MP3 files on this drive.

[ceh383]

Converting from FAT32 to NTFS using the command line given above should not cause loss of data. To be safe BACK-UP IMPORTANT DATA. Better safe than sorry.....

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[glussier]

Converting from the command line will work and you won't loose any data, however note that you will loose some hard-drive performance as the cluster size will be adjusted to 512bytes. If you have Partition Manager 7, you could use-it and set the cluster size to 4k.

[rwinegar]

I was all set to make the conversion until I read glussier's post. This drive is fast as far as external drives go. I write data to my CDRW on the fly at 24 X from it. But, I need to remember that it does have some short comings. The one thing I would not want to do is slow it down. So long as it is not causing any problems, I may delay the conversion.

Thanks for the education. Virtual Dr is a great place to learn.

[mpc]

Why would you want to have ntfs on an external firewire storage drive?

[paul@iansyst]

i dont think the cluster size change will make any noticable diference with heavy compressed files,,, if u think about it MP3's are Mpg2 layer 3,, so compresion is high,, your allready loosing plenty of disk IO time,, due to the compresion,, anyways,, if you really want it NTFS that badly,, you have a 24x writer,, back it all up,, format it properly,, and the restore it ;-)

[LotusAstra]

Hi, The only real reason i can see to use NTFS is for its usually un-needed security...

I've been using NTFS with XP since getting it and haven't seen any benifets myself, i have only used NTFS on the Boot Drive luckly or i would have had major probs after a crash... however due to the poor nature of XP and 2K's CHKDSK tool i simply don't weant to use NTFS again and will be going back to FAT32 on my next oppertunity!

The problems i find with CHKDSK are:

1. it doesn't ask before fixing
2. doesn't tell u what it just fixed
3. has no *.ini file or equivelent for customisation or options
3. it tells u things like minor probs exist but are nothing to worry about and doesn't give specific info about it
4. When a full Chkdsk is ran on NTFS it takes about 10 times longer than FAT32

Ofcourse the first 2 Chkdsk problems are there if one is using FAT32 too, but i don't use Chkdsk at all for FAT32... i still use the standard ScanDisk as supplied with Win98.

Basically if files become currupt with NTFS & CHKDSK one won't know what files are currupt until you need them... with FAT32 & ScanDisk one would still potentially loose the files but you would know exactly what u loose as it happens the way it should be!

Some might argue that with NTFS files are less likely to become corrupt after crash, that may or may not be the case but personally i wouldn't wanna take the risk, if CHKDSK had a little feadback then i can't see a prob with NTFS!

Maybe there is a Third Party tool that works on NTFS and has all the options/config of trusty old ScanDisk, i would sure like to know if there is!

Regards

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