Converting a FAT volume to NTFS in WinXP Prof.

[Black Cluster]

You can change your Windows XP file system {FAT or FAT32 to NTFS}, without the need of formatting the partition! Simply, the following function and its switches can easly get the dirty job done!

Go to start=> run=> type "CMD" without quotes
then type, the follwoing:

Convert volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:Filename] [/Nosecurity] [/X]

The first two switches are MUST! you can't operate without specifing the drive volume and its desired file system!

Volume: Specifies the drive letter {followed by a colon}, the volume name that you want to convert.
/FS:NTFS: Specifies converting the volume to NTFS.
/V: Runs the convert in the verbose mode.
/CvtArea:finelname: Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be the pleacholder for NTFS system files.
/Nosecuirty: Sets the security settings to make converted files and directories accessible by everone
/X: Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary, and all open handles to the volume are then not valid.

I hope you found it helpful rathar than helpless

Cheers

[.:front2back:.]

is there any chance of data loss if this is performed...
can this be done to transform NTFS to FAT32 or FAT.?

just a few questions i thought i would throw up.

front2back

[Black Cluster]

Hi fronty,

The good thing about this tip is, it keeps all your data in place, no data loss at all!
No, AFAIK, you can't use that tip to convert from NTFS to FAT or FAT32!

Cheers

[.:front2back:.]

Well i just tried it. i installed windowsXP on a spare hard drive with a FAT32 partition.
Anyhow just did the Tip and it works.
I must admit i did have doubts on this but heck i guess the proof is in the pudding..

AP's have been sent enjoy BC

front2back

[nebulus200]

I've done it before with a laptop that was installed to use FAT32, worked like a champ (and this was a few years ago)...

[morganlefay]

I have done this many times with no issues...

Although I think if you had a power out or some kinda interuption during the conversion...it would fry the partition..

As always...a good backup is recommended

And no...no going from ntfs to fat

MLF

[SirDice]

One thing to note though...

If you install XP and choose to install it using on an NTFS partition, several directories will get proper permissions (most notably the windows directory). If you install XP on a FAT/FAT32 partition and convert it afterwards everyone will have read/write permissions everywhere.

Edit: Well, not quite, but close enough...

When you install Windows 2000 to an NTFS file system partition, part of the set up process is to apply default security settings to the system files and folders located on the boot partition.

If you initially installed Windows 2000 to a FAT or FAT32 partition, and then later used the Convert.exe utility to convert the partition to NTFS, default security settings are not applied. To apply default Security settings after a convert you can use the below steps to apply "setup security.inf" to the system. However, in Windows 2000 Microsoft does not support setting security on already installed files to match NTFS security after a convert from FAT(32). To get a file permission that matches the security settings of a NTFS install, the system must be formatted and reinstalled selecting NTFS as the file system during the text portion of the Windows 2000 install. If a clean install is not possible, you can perform an in-place upgrade of the system after the files system has been converted to NTFS. The upgrade will address the file permission of all operating system components, however any program that had custom security will not have the correct permissions set. If you want, you can create a user defined .inf file that contains custom security settings for additional files and folders and apply them the same way.

Source: The Default NTFS Permissions Are Not Applied to a Converted Boot Partition