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August 5th, 2002, 06:34 PM
#1
Member
Help a newbie out?
Im thinking of converting my XP on FAT32 to NTFS using the convert commmand at the prompt, but im a bit nervous of what this will do. I looked in all the help sections relating to it and looked at what flags the convert command takes but im still not sure if its the best idea. There are currently no partitions on the HD, but there are several users who would be *quite* angry to lose their stuff.
If anyone has had experience in this change, or why it should/shouldn't be done, id appreciate the feedback. Thanks.
Darwin\'s rollin\' over in his coffin, The fittest are surviving much lest often,
Now everything seems to be reversing, And it\'s worsening!
--nofx, American Errorist
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August 5th, 2002, 06:41 PM
#2
Simply put it changes the volume from fat 32 to NTFS.
There are some things you should be made aware of.
Dos CANT read NTFS.
You CANT go back.
Unless you have a solid reason to go there, leave things as they are. If it works why fix it?
Remember -
The ark was built by amatures...
The Titanic was built by professionals.
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August 5th, 2002, 06:42 PM
#3
I have done this numerous times on both 2000 and XP and haven't had any problems whatsoever. I would recommend, however, to back up everyone's data before you do the conversion. Although I have never had a problem, I'm sure some people have, and if a problem during the conversion does occur, your drive will pretty much be toast and you'll have to reformat it and reinstall everything. If you don't have a method of backing up the data, then you may not want to take the risk (no matter how small that risk is). Why do you want to convert in the first place? I would suggest that you only convert if you really need to if you don't have any way of backing up the data.
AJ
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August 5th, 2002, 06:51 PM
#4
I also have used the convert to move from FAT32 to NTFS without any problems (3-4 times now). I would highly recommend that you follow avdven's suggestion of performing a complete backup or ghost of the drive if it is absolutely something on that PC that the user can not lose, kind of a pain, but better safe than sorry.
As far as moving to NTFS, I would recommend it if at all possible. It is much more effecient than FAT32 and it makes it possible to further secure the box through the use of the file permissions that are inherit in the NTFS (and hence through NT/Win2k/WinXP). There are several things you can do with the file permissions to further lock down your workstations/servers that would not be possible if the file system is left as FAT32 and as leaky as Windows is, anything helps...
Good luck,
Neb
There is only one constant, one universal, it is the only real truth: causality. Action. Reaction. Cause and effect...There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it, to understand the 'why'. 'Why' is what separates us from them, you from me. 'Why' is the only real social power, without it you are powerless.
(Merovingian - Matrix Reloaded)
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August 5th, 2002, 07:07 PM
#5
Member
When you say:
Does this mean that the command prompt becomes totally useless?
What about booting directly into dos?
Also, thanks for the suggestions
Darwin\'s rollin\' over in his coffin, The fittest are surviving much lest often,
Now everything seems to be reversing, And it\'s worsening!
--nofx, American Errorist
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August 5th, 2002, 07:10 PM
#6
It means that you will no longer be able to boot into DOS. The command prompt, from within Windows XP, will still work because that's just an emulation of DOS. If you boot to DOS using a Windows 98 boot disk, you will be able to access what's on the floppies as well as in the CD-ROM, but your hard disk will not show up. The only way to get it back into a readable format from DOS would be to fdisk the drive and format it using FAT32 again, erasing everything on the drive.
AJ
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August 5th, 2002, 07:11 PM
#7
No, it means that if you take a win95/win98/winme boot diskette and try to boot of it, that the DOS will not recognize your partitions and therefore not recognize your harddrive. However, since your OS is WinXP, this isn't relevant, just make a boot disk from there (if you even need one).
In other words, it has nothing to do with whether or not you can pop up a command prompt and do something. It only has to do with if you say decide to install win98 (ugh) over an exisiting installation of XP/2000/NT that has NTFS partitions, then you will have some (not insurmountable) problems trying to delete the partitions and installing win98.
Neb
There is only one constant, one universal, it is the only real truth: causality. Action. Reaction. Cause and effect...There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it, to understand the 'why'. 'Why' is what separates us from them, you from me. 'Why' is the only real social power, without it you are powerless.
(Merovingian - Matrix Reloaded)
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August 5th, 2002, 07:18 PM
#8
Member
NTFS is faster.
NTFS is more secure.
A computer running DOS or Windows 95/98 can read files stored on a networked NTFS drive. (If this is important do not turn off the 8.3 format)
NTFS can give you more space on your fixed drives.
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August 5th, 2002, 07:31 PM
#9
Member
lol, avdven and nebulus will just have to agree to disagree... everything one says contradicts the other!
Thx, netman... Those were the reasons that i was looking to make the switch 
(approx) how long does it take to do the convert? its a 37 GB hard drive.
Darwin\'s rollin\' over in his coffin, The fittest are surviving much lest often,
Now everything seems to be reversing, And it\'s worsening!
--nofx, American Errorist
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August 5th, 2002, 07:34 PM
#10
a)sna, it shouldn't take all that long. The size of the drive isn't the biggest issue, it's how full the drive is that will decide how long the process will take. I would count on anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how much data you have.
AJ
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