How to convert from FAT32 to NTFS?
in [Windows XP New Users]
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From: Patti Barden on 7 Dec 2009 11:02 Somewhere on my computer I saw that my hard drive was in NTFS but an external harddrive I bought is installed as FAT32. The external hd says it is best to run it in NTFS. I haven't put anything on the external hd yet and have no idea how to convert. Can any one point me in the right direction? Patti
From: John John - MVP on 7 Dec 2009 11:19 If you haven't yet put anything on the drive it's best to format it rather than converting it. Right click on the drive and select the Format option and then select NTFS in the File system box. You can also do this from the Disk Management tool, to launch the Disk Management console enter diskmgmt.msc in the Start menu Run box. John Patti Barden wrote: > Somewhere on my computer I saw that my hard drive was in NTFS but an > external harddrive I bought is installed as FAT32. The external hd says it > is best to run it in NTFS. > > I haven't put anything on the external hd yet and have no idea how to > convert. Can any one point me in the right direction? > Patti > >
From: Bruce Chambers on 7 Dec 2009 12:54 Patti Barden wrote: > Somewhere on my computer I saw that my hard drive was in NTFS but an > external harddrive I bought is installed as FAT32. The external hd says it > is best to run it in NTFS. > > I haven't put anything on the external hd yet and have no idea how to > convert. Can any one point me in the right direction? > Patti > > As you've nothing on the disk yet, it would be best, as "john John" said to simply delete the existing FAT32 partition, create a new one, and format it as NTFS to start. For future reference, though: You can safely convert your current 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 Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ~ Denis Diderot
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 7 Dec 2009 13:13 On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 16:02:16 -0000, "Patti Barden" <patti(a)freeola.com> wrote: > Somewhere on my computer I saw that my hard drive was in NTFS but an > external harddrive I bought is installed as FAT32. One has nothing to do with another. You can have both at once. > The external hd says it > is best to run it in NTFS. It has nothing to do with this drive or with it's being external. In my view, it's best to run all drives as NTFS, *unless* you also want to use it on an older non-NTFS-aware operating system, like Windows 98. > I haven't put anything on the external hd yet and have no idea how to > convert. Can any one point me in the right direction? If there's nothing on it, don't convert it, just reformat it. Right-click on it and choose Format. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup
From: Leonard Grey on 7 Dec 2009 14:00
Mind if I stick my head in? Thanks, please see below, inline: --- Leonard Grey Errare humanum est Ken Blake, MVP wrote: > On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 16:02:16 -0000, "Patti Barden" <patti(a)freeola.com> > wrote: > >> Somewhere on my computer I saw that my hard drive was in NTFS but an >> external harddrive I bought is installed as FAT32. > > > > One has nothing to do with another. You can have both at once. > > >> The external hd says it >> is best to run it in NTFS. > > > It has nothing to do with this drive or with it's being external. In > my view, it's best to run all drives as NTFS, *unless* you also want > to use it on an older non-NTFS-aware operating system, like Windows > 98. > "In my view, it's best to run all drives as NTFS..." I understand that very well in the context of internal drives. However, I don't understand the advantage of NTFS for an external drive used for data or for backup. If you plug an NTFS-formatted external hard drive into another computer where you do /not/ have administrator permissions, you can't access the data on the drive because NTFS enforces user account permissions. And you can't use the data on the drive with a Mac. It's not the end of the world, but you can think of situations where this could be inconvenient. LG > >> I haven't put anything on the external hd yet and have no idea how to >> convert. Can any one point me in the right direction? > > > > If there's nothing on it, don't convert it, just reformat it. > Right-click on it and choose Format. > |