Convert to NTFS

[Striker]

Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into WinXP? I
thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is the name of
the file. Thanks

[Shenan T. Stanley]

Striker <> wrote:
> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into WinXP? I
> thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is the
> name of the file. Thanks

Start -> Run
CMD

At the command prompt type:
CONVERT /?

Should look like the following:

C:\>convert /?
Converts FAT volumes to NTFS.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.

Good Luck!

--
Shenan Stanley
"Just trying to help"

[Robert Michon]

Stanley's answer is Ok but there is a bit of preparation to make sure you
end up with maximum usability of the drive space.

This site explains all that is necessary to do just that.

http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

--
Bob Michon
Associate Expert
Expert Zone---http://microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default.asp
___
"Striker" > wrote in message
.. .
> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into WinXP? I
> thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is the name
of
> the file. Thanks
>
>

[Shenan T. Stanley]

Robert Michon <> wrote:
> Stanley's answer is Ok but there is a bit of preparation to make sure
> you end up with maximum usability of the drive space.
>
> This site explains all that is necessary to do just that.
>
> http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
>
>> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into WinXP?
>> I thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
>> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is the
>> name of the file. Thanks

Heh - another person using my last name. =P
I thought people only did that when they were speaking it because they were
afraid to try and pronounce it. *grin*

--
Shenan Stanley
"Just trying to help"

[Harry Ohrn]

"Shenan T. Stanley" > wrote in message
...
> Robert Michon <> wrote:
> > Stanley's answer is Ok but there is a bit of preparation to make sure
> > you end up with maximum usability of the drive space.
> >
> > This site explains all that is necessary to do just that.
> >
> > http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
> >
> >> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into WinXP?
> >> I thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> >> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is the
> >> name of the file. Thanks
>
> Heh - another person using my last name. =P
> I thought people only did that when they were speaking it because they
were
> afraid to try and pronounce it. *grin*
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> "Just trying to help"
>


Probably thinks that "Shenan" is a female name too right? ;-)

--

Harry Ohrn - MS MVP (Windows Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/
www.webtree.ca/newlife/

[Ken Blake]

In , Striker wrote:

> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into
WinXP? I
> thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what
is the
> name of the file. Thanks


You've already gotten several good answers. I wanted to add only
one comment. Using the convert command should not result in any
data loss. But whenever you take a big step like this, it's
important to realize that there's always a possibility that
something might go wrong, and it's prudent to make sure you have
a backup of anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[mikey]

check this site under performance for the line that reads
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.mspx

NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT

might not be a good idea to convert after all, if performance is the intent







"Ken Blake" > wrote in message ...
In , Striker wrote:

> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into
WinXP? I
> thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what
is the
> name of the file. Thanks


You've already gotten several good answers. I wanted to add only
one comment. Using the convert command should not result in any
data loss. But whenever you take a big step like this, it's
important to realize that there's always a possibility that
something might go wrong, and it's prudent to make sure you have
a backup of anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup



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[Shenan T. Stanley]

Harry Ohrn > wrote:
> "Shenan T. Stanley" > wrote in
> message ...
>> Robert Michon <> wrote:
>>> Stanley's answer is Ok but there is a bit of preparation to make
>>> sure you end up with maximum usability of the drive space.
>>>
>>> This site explains all that is necessary to do just that.
>>>
>>> http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
>>>
>>>> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into
>>>> WinXP? I thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
>>>> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is
>>>> the name of the file. Thanks
>>
>> Heh - another person using my last name. =P
>> I thought people only did that when they were speaking it because
>> they were afraid to try and pronounce it. *grin*
>>
>> --
>> Shenan Stanley
>> "Just trying to help"
>>
>
>
> Probably thinks that "Shenan" is a female name too right? ;-)

Probably does. So is life. heh

--
Shenan Stanley
"Just trying to help"

[Lemon Jelly]

mikey in something approaching English - wrote:
> check this site under performance for the line that reads
> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.mspx
>
> NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT

My experience has been that performance is virtually impossible to tell
between the 2. Benchmarks tend to confirm this. The general consensus
seems to be the performance hit is negliable. Large FAT32 volumes waste
a lot of space. NTFS is more fault-tolerant than FAT. The down-side to
NTFS is offline file access is difficult compared with merely booting
from DOS as with FAT.
--
Paul

[Robert Michon]

My apologies Shenan. I saw that AFTER I posted.

--
Bob Michon
Associate Expert
Expert Zone---http://microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default.asp
___
"Shenan T. Stanley" > wrote in message
...
> Harry Ohrn > wrote:
> > "Shenan T. Stanley" > wrote in
> > message ...
> >> Robert Michon <> wrote:
> >>> Stanley's answer is Ok but there is a bit of preparation to make
> >>> sure you end up with maximum usability of the drive space.
> >>>
> >>> This site explains all that is necessary to do just that.
> >>>
> >>> http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
> >>>
> >>>> Isn't there a utility to change to NTFS from FAT32 built into
> >>>> WinXP? I thuoght I remebered one that would convert and not
> >>>> hurt the programs and things already on the disk. If so, what is
> >>>> the name of the file. Thanks
> >>
> >> Heh - another person using my last name. =P
> >> I thought people only did that when they were speaking it because
> >> they were afraid to try and pronounce it. *grin*
> >>
> >> --
> >> Shenan Stanley
> >> "Just trying to help"
> >>
> >
> >
> > Probably thinks that "Shenan" is a female name too right? ;-)
>
> Probably does. So is life. heh
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> "Just trying to help"
>
>

[Robert Michon]

I agree with Paul. Although you do take a bit of a storage space hit with
FAT32, the average user can really muck things up when it comes to NTFS
partitions. I recall my first experience with NTFS file systems...it wasn't
pretty...lost an entire drive worth of data (fortunately backed up WITHOUT
retaining permissions) or I would have been totally screwed.

My rule of thumb is if you have to ask how to do it, maybe you shouldn't,
especially when it comes to converting the file system to NTFS.

--
Bob Michon
Associate Expert
Expert Zone---http://microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default.asp
___
"Lemon Jelly" > wrote in message
...
> mikey in something approaching English - wrote:
> > check this site under performance for the line that reads
> > http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.mspx
> >
> > NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT
>
> My experience has been that performance is virtually impossible to tell
> between the 2. Benchmarks tend to confirm this. The general consensus
> seems to be the performance hit is negliable. Large FAT32 volumes waste
> a lot of space. NTFS is more fault-tolerant than FAT. The down-side to
> NTFS is offline file access is difficult compared with merely booting
> from DOS as with FAT.
> --
> Paul
>
>

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Bitstring >, from the wonderful
person mikey > said
>check this site under performance for the line that reads
>http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.mspx
>*
>NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT
>*
>might not be a good idea to convert after all, if performance is the intent

Entirely depends on the type(s) of file(s) and the cluster size(s) IME
... 512 byte NTFS clusters are a pain always. 4kbyte NTFS clusters are
pretty much same performance as 'normal sized' FAT32 clusters on
'average mix of files' .. however FAT32 'big' clusters are a definite
advantage on huge audio/video/graphics files .. and a disadvantage on
small text files.
(assuming you don't go defragging your disk every 10 minutes of course,
which removes some of the advantage of big clusters).

If you haven't got a clue, go with NTFS 4k cluster sizes (but don't get
saddled with the 512byte version). I use NTFS most everywhere these
days, except my media libraries.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.