Walter R.

Using Win XP SP2.

One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
partition (C) is NTFS.

How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
contents?

Walter

Bill in Co.

Walter R. wrote:
> Using Win XP SP2.
>
> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> partition (C) is NTFS.
>
> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> contents?
>
> Walter

Either with the Microsoft tool "convert.exe" (see MS article Q307881:
"How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in
Windows XP", at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881),

or with a good third party tool, like perhaps Norton Partition Magic. But
whatever tool you use, it would be best to make a copy first.

(Google is your friend. I just typed in "convert FAT32 to NTFS" in a
Google Search :-).

LVTravel

"Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote in message
news:OJt3Q$PVJHA.6116@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Using Win XP SP2.
>
> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> partition (C) is NTFS.
>
> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> contents?
>
> Walter
>

1st you should have a full backup just in case the worst happens.
Unfortunately the worst can and often does happen, especially for the
unprepared.

Start, Run, CMD then press enter. Type "Convert /?" without the quotes for
the syntax of the convert command. There is some information that you
should read prior and that is located:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

Patrick Keenan

"Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote in message
news:OJt3Q$PVJHA.6116@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Using Win XP SP2.
>
> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> partition (C) is NTFS.
>
> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> contents?

With the built-in CONVERT command. This does exactly what you are asking
for.

While I've never experienced any data loss with this, it's always best to
assume the worst and take a copy of the data first.

HTH
-pk

>
> Walter
>

John John (MVP)

Bill in Co. wrote:

> Walter R. wrote:
>
>>Using Win XP SP2.
>>
>>One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
>>partition (C) is NTFS.
>>
>>How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
>>contents?
>>
>>Walter
>
>
> Either with the Microsoft tool "convert.exe" (see MS article Q307881:
> "How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in
> Windows XP", at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881),
>
> or with a good third party tool, like perhaps Norton Partition Magic. But
> whatever tool you use, it would be best to make a copy first.

I would *never* use a third party tool to do this, the proprietary
nature of the NTFS file system along with the revisions introduced in
almost each new Windows version makes most of these third party tools
less than reliable at handling the task. All too often everything looks
ok and everything seems to have gone ok but later on these third party
conversions can sometimes develop strange "quirks".

John

Ken Blake, MVP

On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 20:30:05 -0800, "Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote:

> Using Win XP SP2.
>
> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> partition (C) is NTFS.
>
> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> contents?


To convert to NTFS, you use the CONVERT command. But first read
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm because there's an important 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

Walter R.

I used the win xp convert program and it went very smoothly. Thanks

--

Walter
www.rationality.net


"Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote in message
news:OJt3Q$PVJHA.6116@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Using Win XP SP2.
>
> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> partition (C) is NTFS.
>
> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> contents?
>
> Walter
>

Bill in Co.

John John (MVP) wrote:
> Bill in Co. wrote:
>
>> Walter R. wrote:
>>
>>> Using Win XP SP2.
>>>
>>> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The
>>> boot
>>> partition (C) is NTFS.
>>>
>>> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
>>> contents?
>>>
>>> Walter
>>
>>
>> Either with the Microsoft tool "convert.exe" (see MS article Q307881:
>> "How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system
>> in
>> Windows XP", at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881),
>>
>> or with a good third party tool, like perhaps Norton Partition Magic.
>> But
>> whatever tool you use, it would be best to make a copy first.
>
> I would *never* use a third party tool to do this, the proprietary
> nature of the NTFS file system along with the revisions introduced in
> almost each new Windows version makes most of these third party tools
> less than reliable at handling the task. All too often everything looks
> ok and everything seems to have gone ok but later on these third party
> conversions can sometimes develop strange "quirks".
>
> John

OK. I guess it does make more sense just to use Microsoft's "convert.exe"
in retrospect, since it is there already.

Ken Blake, MVP

On Wed, 3 Dec 2008 10:34:15 -0800, "Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote:

> I used the win xp convert program and it went very smoothly. Thanks


If you did that without first reading my message and without going to
the site I pointed you to and taking its advice, you very likely now
have 512-byte clusters, and your performance will suffer as a result.



> "Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote in message
> news:OJt3Q$PVJHA.6116@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> > Using Win XP SP2.
> >
> > One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The boot
> > partition (C) is NTFS.
> >
> > How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
> > contents?
> >
> > Walter
> >
>

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Bill in Co.

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Dec 2008 10:34:15 -0800, "Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote:
>
>> I used the win xp convert program and it went very smoothly. Thanks
>
>
> If you did that without first reading my message and without going to
> the site I pointed you to and taking its advice, you very likely now
> have 512-byte clusters, and your performance will suffer as a result.

Well, assuming he did, maybe he could convert them to 4K non-destructively
(by doing some research), but he may need a third party tool for that.

>> "Walter R." <wr@example.com> wrote in message
>> news:OJt3Q$PVJHA.6116@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Using Win XP SP2.
>>>
>>> One of the backup partitions on my hard disk is still in FAT 32. The
>>> boot
>>> partition (C) is NTFS.
>>>
>>> How can I convert the Fat 32 partition to NTFS without losing all its
>>> contents?
>>>
>>> Walter
>>>
>>
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup