NTFS and FAT32 Inquirey

Ive been reading about NTFS file system and have found plenty of resources for switching between FAT32 and NTFS and back again. Google has provided me much but I want to be sure before i jump.

I am getting conflicting information and would like some expert opinions. If I convert my FAT32 drive to NTFS, is it true or has anyone sucessfully changed back to a FAT32 afterwards.

I have hered Partition Magic and some other third party Partition applications can acomplish the task of switching back to a FAT32 and I just want to be sure before I do. Other sources tell me this is inposible. Has anyone done this?

I have also a 5GB partition unformated currently waiting for RedHat to go in, would a dual boot system be possible haveing NFTS for the Win XP and RedHat on the ext2

Do you recomend me to put in the NTFS filesystem?

Hi Mate,

You left a little bit of information out?...what operating systems do we want here? Basically NTFS is WIN2k or XP and the others runWin9x/Me.

If you have data that you want to keep........why the hell mess with your computer, if it works?

I keep reading all this linux v. windoze sucks.... buy an old machinne to mess with?

We are not around, to encourage stupidity, so don't mess with your main box?

Take very good care

johnno

The operating systems are XP Pro and RedHat. All my important data is backed up I have no woryes for data loss.

This is a second machine. Im sure I can convert to NTFS no problems I only wory that if I do this and end up wanting FAT32 back later will this be possible, google reveals some yes and no answers to this question and I just want to know if anyone here has done this.

OK I understand.............but if I were you I would make a clean start on the second machine? unless it was my wife/girlfriends? :)

Just reformat it for NTFS and Linux?

What is your real requirement sir?....you are talking two machines here...what do you want to see?

Hell we will help, if only you willl let us

Take care

One thing that you have to remember about with NTFS is that Linux can't write to it. You can get drivers to read it, but unless you're rich, you can't get any to write (for Linux that is).

So if you have some text documents that you regularly edit, it might be worth setting up a third partition of FAT32, so that you can store any word docs, jpegs, etc and edit them from both OS's. As for converting, I've never tried NTFS to FAT32, but I've never experienced any problems with FAT to NTFS.

Thanks nihil for the sugestion of a clean start. Im concidering that as my final option.

The two machines Im talking about is my old 133MHz PC and my newer 1GHZ Celeron PC. What I want if the disision is made to have a dual boot system, with Win XP Pro on NTFS and RedHat on ext2 (same machine)

The issue concerning me is, if I do this, and later down the road I decide that I want to go back to FAT32 for my Windows OS, is this possible.

Im getting conflicting stories on weather or not converting NTFS back to FAT32 is or isnt posible. And the only way I will realy know is to do it, but I would like to know if anyone here has done this sucessfully.

Partition magic 6 say's that is possible, So check out the latest version.
To convert FAT to FAT32 or NTFS to FAT/FAT32

(1 select a disk and a FAT or NTFS partition.

You can see which partitions are labeled FAT or NTFS by looking at the Type column in the partition list.

2 Click Operations Convert.
3 Click FAT or FAT32 (the option available depends on the partition you selected in step 1).
4 Click OK.

Tips· Converting a partition from NTFS to FAT or FAT32 will cause you to lose all security settings on all files and directories that you may have created on that partition. This is because FAT and FAT32 do not support security attributes inherent with the NTFS file system.

Windows 2000 NTFS partitions that have sparse files, reparse points, or encrypted files should not be converted to FAT or FAT32 with this version of PartitionMagic.

Copyright © 1994-2000 PowerQuest Corporation. All rights reserved.)

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If I convert my FAT32 drive to NTFS, is it true or has anyone sucessfully changed back to a FAT32 afterwards.

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My test machine frequently changes from FAT(32) to NTFS or EXT3 and back.
I have never used partition magik for this (always fdisk/cfdisk).

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I have also a 5GB partition unformated currently waiting for RedHat to go in, would a dual boot system be possible haveing NFTS for the Win XP and RedHat on the ext2

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Yes
I use a FAT32 partition next to my NTFS/EXT3 partitions to move data between linux and windows (NFTS writing from linux is still very experimental)

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Do you recomend me to put in the NTFS filesystem?

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Yes (it has better security) but for moving data between linux and windows I would recomend having a FAT32 partition with it.

thanks to all for your help in this subject. I have now made my desision I will put a nfts filesystem for my xp pro and when my redhat cds arive I will install that onto the currently unformated 5G partition.

I am learning lots.

One other point is that NTFS also makes better use of your HDD space, especially if you have lots of small files on a large HDD. Its directory structure is also significantly faster than FAT in this respect.

As noODle said, if you want to swap data between Redhat & Windows on the same box, the best solution is to initially partition your HDD with an extra FAT partition in addition to your Windows NT partition and Redhat partitions.

That way, either OS can easily read or write to this extra partition, as they both understand this format.

journy101:

i think the question you should be asking yourself isnt IF you should change format, but rather WHY you want to change it.. i only ask this because you stated you are unsure if you want to change for fear that you might want to change back later.

As a broad statement, NTFS partition is really only needed for extra security and other features that you are highly unlikely to use on a typical home system. also NTFS cannot be read by Windows OS lower than 2k.

i would leave it as a FAT system for no other reason than "whats the point?"

Ntfs is very usefull when you want to devide your HD space. Because with a NTFS partitionated disk, it's possible to enable disk quotas. Disk quotas: Set a limit to the space available for a certain user.

im my experience, dealing with mutiple partitions and differen't file systems, it is better (if you can afford it) to just use 2 seperate hard drives one with linux one with whatever windows OS you want, linux and windows don't play well together, and whenever i have tried to get the 2 to co-exist on the same hardrive, there are conflicts, and information tends to get over written, and programs stop working, i have heard successful dual boot stories, but from what i have messed with its better just to use seperate hard drives, it cuts down on the chances of conflicts and data loss and provides a more stable enviroment for both OS's. NTFS is a great system for WINxp pro and Win2k, but i haven't had any experience trying to partition a drive for both NTFS and ext2/3

I have never had ANY trouble with a dual boot system of WinXP and RedHat.

i have tried this many times with the variation of FAT and NTFS as the windows partition, and there has never been any 'cross over' or conflicts.

however, IF you do use 2 seperate hard drives, there is a possibility that linux will automatically use the windows hard drive as swap space, makin it unbootable.... but if you unplug that hdd for the install of linux then it wont pick up the other OS and you wont be able to create a dual boot (lilo or grub) automatically.

all in all i prefer the single hdd dual boot, however, after all of what has been said.. there is no need to change your current windoze partition. so dont.