I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier, the
file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the system drive (C
to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my files/data
on those drives.
"Sreedhar" <Sreedhar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7BDA8305-C3DC-4756-B02B-34945710150F@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier, the
> file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the system drive
> (C
> to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
>
> How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my
> files/data
> on those drives.
>
> Thank you.
> --
> Sreedhar
> Hi,
>
> I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier, the
> file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the system drive (C
> to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
>
> How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my files/data
> on those drives.
>
> Thank you.
> Make sure the partitions are aligned to 4K boundaries or else you may
> end up with 512 bytes clusters. http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm
>
> John
>
> Sreedhar wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier,
>> the file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the
>> system drive (C to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
>>
>> How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my
>> files/data on those drives.
>>
>> Thank you.
And even though it's "safe" to your data, the wise use will still do a
backup before messing with anything that close to the OS. Stuff
happens.
On Sun, 8 Jun 2008 05:03:00 -0700, Sreedhar
<Sreedhar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier, the
> file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the system drive (C
> to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
>
> How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my files/data
> on those drives.
To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue regarding
cluster size that isn't obvious.
Also note that conversion is a big step, affecting everything on your
drive. When you take such a big step, no matter how unlikely, it is
always possible that something could go wrong. For that reason, it's
prudent to make sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford to
lose before beginning.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:56:25 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
<kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:
> On Sun, 8 Jun 2008 05:03:00 -0700, Sreedhar
> <Sreedhar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > I've re-installed Windows XP on my laptop with four drives. Earlier, the
> > file system is FAT32. During re-install, I've formatted the system drive (C
> > to NTFS. All other drives are still FAT32.
> >
> > How can I change the rest of the drives to NTFS without losing my files/data
> > on those drives.
>
>
> To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
> http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an issue regarding
> cluster size that isn't obvious.
>
> Also note that conversion is a big step, affecting everything on your
> drive. When you take such a big step, no matter how unlikely, it is
> always possible that something could go wrong. For that reason, it's
> prudent to make sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford to
> lose before beginning.
By the way, given the need to make a backup before you do this, and
given that you don't need to convert the system drive, the easiest way
to do this might be to make a backup, then reformat the drive as NTFS,
and finally restore from the backup.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
changing file system 
Linear Mode
