Converting FAT32 -> NTFS?

I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32

Here is the information I have.

1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB

2. I am using Win XP and I just found out it has a util called CONVERT.EXE
to convert FAT32 to NTFS using the command below

convert O: /fs:ntfs <=- O is the drive letter of the external

*But* I run into the same old problem (I just spent 1/2 hr Googling
around) but just can't be able to find the answer. Or just about all the
answers I found are for either regular internal IDE drive ir less than
300GB, when my is external 500GB USB2 drive

ERROR -"Convert cannot run because the volume is in use by another process"

First I played SAFE by answering "N" (to abort) after several different
combinations I answer "Y" to all questions like: Dismount, Schedule to
convert on the next reboot etc.. but none works.

I read there is a shareware program called "BootIt Next Generation" which
supports uo to 2TG, but it doesn't mention anything about external USB
drive, or doesn't say much about converting. I downloaded the BootItNG, to
see it has bunch of small files inside a ZIP file (haven't tried to run
yet).

Hmmm I may check with Weesten Digital site see if they have any util to
convert their external HD to NTFS????

And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
500GB. Thanks

> And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> 500GB. Thanks

Something has files open on your drive, whethere it's a program or driver
installed on that drive, or something else scanning files on that drive.

Have you tried safe mode?

"Joel" <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote in message
news:88n974ppo60vu3b151vs46a7oeo915fkbi@4ax.com...
> I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
> max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
> external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
> formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32
>
> Here is the information I have.
>
> 1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB

Is that true that PM only supports 300 GB ? This could explain why my PM was
suddenly hanging (without error message) when trying to partition a 500 GB
disc. Is there a better alternative?

"Calab" <myspam@csd.ca> wrote:

> > And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> > 500GB. Thanks
>
> Something has files open on your drive, whethere it's a program or driver
> installed on that drive, or something else scanning files on that drive.
>
> Have you tried safe mode?

That's what the error report says, and I guess it's nothing more than the
USB driver. And even I told it to continue *after* reboot but it still
won't work, so I guess because Windows loads the USB driver first before the
drive can come alive.

I checked with Western Digital and as usual they offer no help, or they
give 2 options.

1. Using the CONVERT command which doesn't work. They should know better
than that before sending the customers to MicroSoft to read the exact same
information for the regular hard drive.

2. The 2nd option which they think it's the best option is to re-FDisk the
hard drive to NTFS which isn't the option I want to hear.

I may try Safe-Mode but it may not work because it still require USB
driver to work (?).

Joel wrote:
> I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
> max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
> external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
> formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32
>
> Here is the information I have.
>
> 1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB
>
> 2. I am using Win XP and I just found out it has a util called CONVERT.EXE
> to convert FAT32 to NTFS using the command below
>
> convert O: /fs:ntfs <=- O is the drive letter of the external
>
> *But* I run into the same old problem (I just spent 1/2 hr Googling
> around) but just can't be able to find the answer. Or just about all the
> answers I found are for either regular internal IDE drive ir less than
> 300GB, when my is external 500GB USB2 drive
>
> ERROR -"Convert cannot run because the volume is in use by another process"
>
> First I played SAFE by answering "N" (to abort) after several different
> combinations I answer "Y" to all questions like: Dismount, Schedule to
> convert on the next reboot etc.. but none works.
>
> I read there is a shareware program called "BootIt Next Generation" which
> supports uo to 2TG, but it doesn't mention anything about external USB
> drive, or doesn't say much about converting. I downloaded the BootItNG, to
> see it has bunch of small files inside a ZIP file (haven't tried to run
> yet).
>
> Hmmm I may check with Weesten Digital site see if they have any util to
> convert their external HD to NTFS????
>
> And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> 500GB. Thanks
Paragon claims to convert partitions. There is a free demo, else its$40.
http://paragon-partition-manager.par....qarchive.org/

Have you tried booting up with the XP install CD (or using the System
Recovery Console if you've installed it). See the instructions here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...ps/doug92.mspx

This option will often allow disk options that XP, while running,
doesn't allow.


Joel wrote:
> I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
> max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
> external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
> formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32
>
> Here is the information I have.
>
> 1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB
>
> 2. I am using Win XP and I just found out it has a util called CONVERT.EXE
> to convert FAT32 to NTFS using the command below
>
> convert O: /fs:ntfs <=- O is the drive letter of the external
>
> *But* I run into the same old problem (I just spent 1/2 hr Googling
> around) but just can't be able to find the answer. Or just about all the
> answers I found are for either regular internal IDE drive ir less than
> 300GB, when my is external 500GB USB2 drive
>
> ERROR -"Convert cannot run because the volume is in use by another process"
>
> First I played SAFE by answering "N" (to abort) after several different
> combinations I answer "Y" to all questions like: Dismount, Schedule to
> convert on the next reboot etc.. but none works.
>
> I read there is a shareware program called "BootIt Next Generation" which
> supports uo to 2TG, but it doesn't mention anything about external USB
> drive, or doesn't say much about converting. I downloaded the BootItNG, to
> see it has bunch of small files inside a ZIP file (haven't tried to run
> yet).
>
> Hmmm I may check with Weesten Digital site see if they have any util to
> convert their external HD to NTFS????
>
> And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> 500GB. Thanks

Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:

> "Calab" <myspam@csd.ca> wrote:
>
> > > And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> > > 500GB. Thanks
> >
> > Something has files open on your drive, whethere it's a program or driver
> > installed on that drive, or something else scanning files on that drive.
> >
> > Have you tried safe mode?
>
> That's what the error report says, and I guess it's nothing more than the
> USB driver. And even I told it to continue *after* reboot but it still
> won't work, so I guess because Windows loads the USB driver first before the
> drive can come alive.
>
> I checked with Western Digital and as usual they offer no help, or they
> give 2 options.
>
> 1. Using the CONVERT command which doesn't work. They should know better
> than that before sending the customers to MicroSoft to read the exact same
> information for the regular hard drive.
>
> 2. The 2nd option which they think it's the best option is to re-FDisk the
> hard drive to NTFS which isn't the option I want to hear.
>
> I may try Safe-Mode but it may not work because it still require USB
> driver to work (?).

Got it finally! and thanks to all who try to help.

And I have no idea why it allows me to convert this time but not other
times (I tried 1/2 dozen times before). And this is the whole story.

- My system got locked up for some reason so I have to reboot the system.
And I did reboot the system 3 times to try the converting before but no go.

- For some reason this time Win XP telling me that the USB devices should be
faster *if* they are connected to USB2 port. I have never seen this type of
message before (???).

- While I have nothing else to do but asking for trouble, so I TRY again
even it failed so many time before. And this time

a. It didn't pop up the message saying "..convert cannot because..." or it
ran just like the instruction

b. It took around 2-3 minutes to finish. I didn't read the whole report
and guessed everything was fine. I did "properties" and it still say
FAT32

- I ran CONVERT command again, and carefully read the report and it says
that because the HD is dirty (problem with some file) and suggested to run
CHKDSK /F (this is the command I didn't use for many years).

I ran DSKCHK O: /F and it reports no error found, or everything looks fine

- I ran CONVERT again and it works great this time.

That's it! and now I learn a new command.

"ElJerid" <stany.vdh.nospam@telenet.be> wrote:

> "Joel" <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:88n974ppo60vu3b151vs46a7oeo915fkbi@4ax.com...
> > I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
> > max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
> > external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
> > formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32
> >
> > Here is the information I have.
> >
> > 1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB
>
> Is that true that PM only supports 300 GB ? This could explain why my PM was
> suddenly hanging (without error message) when trying to partition a 500 GB
> disc. Is there a better alternative?

I just found out today. Or usually before start having some fun I often
GOOGLE around for a peace of mind and I found out the 300GB limitation of
Partition Magic.

Pen <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

> Joel wrote:
> > I just found out that my external 500GB USB hard drive is FAT32 which has
> > max size limited to 4GB, and I am dealing with lot of >4.xGB. I have 2
> > external 500GB SATA one I bought hard drive and enclosure separately and I
> > formatted it NTFS, the new one is WD 500GB USB2 which formatted as FAT32
> >
> > Here is the information I have.
> >
> > 1. I have Partition Magic v8.x but I read it only support up to 300GB
> >
> > 2. I am using Win XP and I just found out it has a util called CONVERT.EXE
> > to convert FAT32 to NTFS using the command below
> >
> > convert O: /fs:ntfs <=- O is the drive letter of the external
> >
> > *But* I run into the same old problem (I just spent 1/2 hr Googling
> > around) but just can't be able to find the answer. Or just about all the
> > answers I found are for either regular internal IDE drive ir less than
> > 300GB, when my is external 500GB USB2 drive
> >
> > ERROR -"Convert cannot run because the volume is in use by another process"
> >
> > First I played SAFE by answering "N" (to abort) after several different
> > combinations I answer "Y" to all questions like: Dismount, Schedule to
> > convert on the next reboot etc.. but none works.
> >
> > I read there is a shareware program called "BootIt Next Generation" which
> > supports uo to 2TG, but it doesn't mention anything about external USB
> > drive, or doesn't say much about converting. I downloaded the BootItNG, to
> > see it has bunch of small files inside a ZIP file (haven't tried to run
> > yet).
> >
> > Hmmm I may check with Weesten Digital site see if they have any util to
> > convert their external HD to NTFS????
> >
> > And because shed me some light how to convert FAT32->NTFS on external
> > 500GB. Thanks
> Paragon claims to convert partitions. There is a free demo, else its$40.
> http://paragon-partition-manager.par....qarchive.org/

Thanks for the information. I got it converted using the internal CONVERT
command (see other message for more detail).

There is a shareware utility called DFSEE (www.dfsee.com) that might be
able to do what you need. The author participates in a Yahoo group
helping registered users, but her might have been a question about your
issue you can find.


Alan

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