converting fat32 to ntfs

WhiteWashMan

i have a user here who wants to use ntfs on their system as they have to use very big files (like 30 gig!) now he has already converted their d:\ drive with no problem, but he now wants his c:\ drive converted as well.
my question is if it is ok to do a straight conversion using disk manager. will i have to reformat? will the OS (win2k) remain fine?
any consequences?

SickBoy

It should work fine. The only difference is that non system volumes can be done on the fly within windows but to convert a system volume the OS will need to be restarted and the convertion will take place before windows starts up.

WhiteWashMan

yep, i finally managed to find a nicely buried document to say that.
cheers

bonkey

WWM - I assume they fixed it, but this conversion would screw you under NT4.

Under NT4, if you converted the system partition to NTFS at any time other than install time, then Windows would effectively shit itself and die, becuase the system wasnt granted sufficient permissions to some stuff it needed!!!!!

Like I said - I *assume* that this oversight was fixed on Windows 2K, but I've known more than one person who got royally screwed with it under NT4.

jc

SickBoy

That must be an issue with an early service pack as I've converted several NT4 system drives to NTFS.
Maybe I just got lucky...

Loomer

Yeah Bonkey - I don't know where you heard that, I 've converted FAT system partitions numerous times in NT without issue. The only major issue when converting that you have to keep in mind is having enough free space and there is a formula you can use to calculate this:

1. Start by taking the size of the volume, in bytes, and dividing by 100. If this value is less than 1,048,576, use 1,048,576. If it is larger than 4,194,304, use 4,194,304.

2. Add to the above the size of the volume in bytes divided by 803.

3. Add to the above the number of files and directories on the volume multiplied by 1280.

4. Add to the above 196,096.

You should get the round about figure of free space required

TacT

If you want to convert your nt fat partition to ntfs all you need is to have service pack 6a installed and enough disk space as covered above

Boston

I know this might nto help, but in winXp setup you have a nice fat32-ntfs or back convertor that wont format the drive.

if i remember correctly, so if you have the windows xp cd give it a try

WhiteWashMan

well, someone had a 70 gig partition, so space was not a prolem.
no ideawhy they had a 0 gig partition with the os on it but there you go!
anyway, it worked fine. fat32 converted to ntfs nice and easy except for a problem with licenceing for some application, but thats not my problem so i dont care

Celt

Originally posted by Boston
I know this might nto help, but in winXp setup you have a nice fat32-ntfs or back convertor that wont format the drive.

if i remember correctly, so if you have the windows xp cd give it a try

In winxp, just open dos prompt, type
convert C(or whatever): fs:ntfs
then restart, and it does all the work

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by Celt
In winxp, just open dos prompt, type
convert C(or whatever): fs:ntfs
then restart, and it does all the work

that'll be it...

bonkey

Originally posted by SickBoy
That must be an issue with an early service pack as I've converted several NT4 system drives to NTFS.

Nah - it was with NT4, SP5.

Hmmm - maybe there were some other conditions as well. I must check up on it, just outta curiosity.

jc

sceptre

Originally posted by bonkey


Nah - it was with NT4, SP5.

Hmmm - maybe there were some other conditions as well. I must check up on it, just outta curiosity.

jc

Odd, I converted a few systems with SP2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all without a problem

TacT

hehe it's good to stand corrected, helps me remember next time it comes round

sceptre

The one thing I did find annoying though (and this may also ring a bell with you) is that security for user profiles and user files is only added automatically by Windows when the drive is NTFS to start with (in other words, concverting a FAT/FAT32 drive to NTFS after installing NT4 will still mean that one of the mmain reasons for having NTFS in the first place isn't present. Manually adding the security is just a whole load of hassle and does tend to cause problems like you've mentioned). May be different with Win2k/XP, haven't bothered to try it. Reason enough to convert to NTFS before installing NT (if possible), IMHO

TacT

I think your right sceptre, not sure you can get that nice security tab you get after installing on an ntfs partition under nt, as opposed to installing with fat32 and then converting

The other thing as mentioned above more sources tell me that bonkey was indeed correct in the first place that you needed service pack 5 for nt4.0 in order to be able to convert to ntfs?

Could this be a possible answer, maybe you need service pack 5 to get the security tab after converting your system from fat32, although you converted several systems with service pack2 upwards, could this be the reason you aren't getting a security tab with nt?