Format 250 GB second hard drive to NTFS using Windows XP

[Gayle]

My apologies for my computer illiteracy. I am running
Windows XP. Comp USA installed a second hard drive (WD 250
GB) formatted to FAT 32. Due to the need to process very
large files, I removed all the files from the second hard
drive and tried to change the format to NTFS. I tried
using the command prompt drive:/fs:ntfs, but got the error
message "not recognized as an internal or external
command, operable program or batch file." Then I tried
Windows XP format utility. The function goes to 60%
complete (takes about 30 minutes), then quickly goes to
100% and I get the error message that the drive cannot be
formatted. The drive now shows no format (neither FAT 32
nor NTFS). How can I format this drive to NTFS? If I
need to "partition", could you please give detailed
instructions, as I am clueless. Any advise would be
appreciated. Thanks.

[Nicholas]

Right-click on MY COMPUTER and select MANAGE.
Click on DISK MANAGEMENT and in the upper right-hand
window, right-click on your partition and select FORMAT.


--=20
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------

"Gayle" > wrote in message:
...

| My apologies for my computer illiteracy. I am running=20
| Windows XP. Comp USA installed a second hard drive (WD 250=20
| GB) formatted to FAT 32. Due to the need to process very=20
| large files, I removed all the files from the second hard=20
| drive and tried to change the format to NTFS. I tried=20
| using the command prompt drive:/fs:ntfs, but got the error=20
| message "not recognized as an internal or external=20
| command, operable program or batch file." Then I tried=20
| Windows XP format utility. The function goes to 60%=20
| complete (takes about 30 minutes), then quickly goes to=20
| 100% and I get the error message that the drive cannot be=20
| formatted. The drive now shows no format (neither FAT 32=20
| nor NTFS). How can I format this drive to NTFS? If I=20
| need to "partition", could you please give detailed=20
| instructions, as I am clueless. Any advise would be=20
| appreciated. Thanks.

[Earl F. Parrish]

"Gayle" > wrote in message
...
> My apologies for my computer illiteracy. I am running
> Windows XP. Comp USA installed a second hard drive (WD 250
> GB) formatted to FAT 32. Due to the need to process very
> large files, I removed all the files from the second hard
> drive and tried to change the format to NTFS. I tried
> using the command prompt drive:/fs:ntfs, but got the error
> message "not recognized as an internal or external
> command, operable program or batch file." Then I tried
> Windows XP format utility. The function goes to 60%
> complete (takes about 30 minutes), then quickly goes to
> 100% and I get the error message that the drive cannot be
> formatted. The drive now shows no format (neither FAT 32
> nor NTFS). How can I format this drive to NTFS? If I
> need to "partition", could you please give detailed
> instructions, as I am clueless. Any advise would be
> appreciated. Thanks.

For what it's worth, the correct syntax for the conversion from
FAT32 to NTFS is
"convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs." If you literally typed what you
had in your message, there is no command at all there. From the
command prompt every line has to contain a command which is on the
list you get when you type "help" without the quotation marks. Make
sure you run the "cmd" command from the Run box first, otherwise the
command will execute and close the command prompt window before you
can read what is there.

--
Earl F. Parrish

[Alex Nichol]

Gayle wrote:

>My apologies for my computer illiteracy. I am running
>Windows XP. Comp USA installed a second hard drive (WD 250
>GB) formatted to FAT 32. Due to the need to process very
>large files, I removed all the files from the second hard
>drive and tried to change the format to NTFS. I tried
>using the command prompt drive:/fs:ntfs, but got the error
>message "not recognized as an internal or external
>command, operable program or batch file."


It is not drive - it is Convert

if it is drive D: then it would be
Convert D: /fs:ntfs

But first read up at www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm
It would be worth doing the check mentioned. It may come back that the
drive is already 'aligned' but if it is not and you ended with 512 byte
NTFS clusters, that would be very painful.

Or - if you have not yet made use of the drive, so do not wish to retain
data files - you could simply reformat it yourself from the beginning.
Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk
Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive.
R-click in the partition on it, take Format - and NTFS will be the only
choice on offer



--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows - File Systems)
Bournemouth, U.K.