Convert Fat32 To Ntfs

[jasonR]

Convert FAT32 To NTFS in Windows XP Pro. To change from FAT 32 to NTFS for more stability and security, open the command prompt and type: "Convert C: /FS:NTFS". Make sure there is a space between the C: and the forward slash (/). Once you press enter it will ask you for confirmation and press Y. Then press Y and enter once more to reboot. It will take between one hour and 15 minutes to convert to NTFS. Now you can set passwords for files and use encryption. This also works for windows XP Home.

[Jaden]

Before you start to convert a FAT volume or a FAT32 volume to NTFS, consider the following limitations and requirements:

• UDF and CDFS are only used with optical media and cannot be converted to NTFS.
• FAT12 is the only format used on floppy diskettes.
• Some earlier programs that were not written for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or for Microsoft Windows 2000 may exhibit slow performance after you convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS. This issue does not occur on a clean partition of NTFS.
• You can use the convert command (Convert.exe) to convert an existing FAT volume or FAT32 volume to NTFS. Because this conversion retains all your files (unlike a format operation), use Convert.exe when you want to keep existing files on your volumes intact.
• The conversion to NTFS is a one-way process. After you convert a drive or a partition to NTFS, you cannot convert it back to FAT or to FAT32. To restore the volume to the previous file system, you must reformat it as FAT or as FAT32. This action erases all existing data including your programs and personal files. In this case, you must either restore your data from a backup, or reinstall your operating system and programs.
• Convert.exe requires that you have some free space on the drive or on the partition to convert it. If Convert.exe determines that there is not sufficient free space on the volume, it does not convert the volume.
• If you run other Microsoft Windows operating systems on your computer in addition to Windows XP, note the following issues:
  
  
  • Only Windows 2000 and Windows XP have full access to files on an NTFS volume.
  • Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later can access files on an NTFS volume. However, there are some limitations with files that are stored by using features from the latest version of NTFS.
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition and earlier, and MS-DOS cannot access files on an NTFS volume.

[JACKOPA]

FAT : File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture developed by Bill Gates and Marc McDonald in the late 1960s and 1970s. It is the main file system in use for MS-DOS and the earlier versions of Windows up to but not inclusive of Windows NT.

NTFS : New Technology File System is a relatively newer file system which is used by Windows NT, server 2003/2008, XP, and Vista. It is more powerful than the FAT system and employs newer security features.