Will I loose everything If I do this?

October 31st, 2003

If I follow these steps to convert my hard drive to NTFS, Will it format my hard drive, and I will lose everything on it? Thanks!

FAT/FAT32 versus NTFS
Q. I installed Windows XP, but did not know whether to use FAT, FAT32 or NTFS. I chose FAT32. Was this correct?

A. FAT, FAT32 and NTFS are hard drive formats. FAT32 is an evolutionary development of the File Allocation Table, a system that goes back to DOS. The New Technology File System (NTFS) was developed for Windows NT. Microsoft recommends that you use NTFS, which it says is more fault tolerant and has better security.

If you are already using FAT or FAT32, you can convert to NTFS. Click Start>>All Programs>>Accessories>> Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type:

convert C: /fs:ntfs

That assumes your hard drive is C:. If it is not, substitute the correct letter. During the conversion process, you will be asked for a volume name. Press Enter.

This conversion process also applies to Windows 2000.

October 31st, 2003

No you will not lose any data.

This question seems to be getting asked a lot lately around here.

**Glaanieboy** · October 31st, 2003

But, backup your important data just to be sure.

**GoNz0** · October 31st, 2003

and it will take a hell of a lot of defragmenting to put it all straight after converting

October 31st, 2003

Originally posted by GoNz0
and it will take a hell of a lot of defragmenting to put it all straight after converting

ok, Thanks. I wil Let it run all night

**Unleashed** · October 31st, 2003

Look on ntfs.com - its a site that tells you all the pro's and con's of NTFS and FAT32, so you can make the judgement yourself.

**ElementalDragon** · October 31st, 2003

Don't they say that it is better to do a fresh format to NTFS than it is to convert from FAT32 to NTFS? thought i heard that somewhere, but not exactly sure.

**GoNz0** · October 31st, 2003

formats always better than a convert. as this guy will find out, it could take 20-30 defrags to sort out if theres a lot of info on there.

October 31st, 2003

Originally posted by GoNz0
formats always better than a convert. as this guy will find out, it could take 20-30 defrags to sort out if theres a lot of info on there.

Hmm. I have 30/60GB filled. So Is it really worth it?

**GoNz0** · October 31st, 2003

i would say so, go get diskeeper free (google) as that will sort the mess out in a few hours.

about the defragging. it's not a case of leaving it on all night, it's more a case of remember to do it once a day for a week at least to let the files get back to the front of the disk. the convert is kind alike throwing all your files in a bag, converting and letting a blind man put em back LOL

still worth it though, the file security is great, NO MORE SCAN DISK if you crash

October 31st, 2003

ok.. I know that defraging takes forever on my machine. I mainley want more stability, and better performance. After my computer has been on for 5 or so days, it becomes a littile laggy, and bogged down. Will this help that? or is there something else I need to do? My computer will only let me use about half of the programs I can-when I first start it up-after a few days of my computer being on.

October 31st, 2003

Just use Partition Magic 8, saves a whole heap of grief. Be aware to back up prior.

**GoNz0** · October 31st, 2003

nah mine does that after a few days m8, things dont start, things just stop, run outa memory cus things forget to free up ram etc. running a game free's up the memory for me, but once msn spacs out and wont start, i have to reboot. you want it to last weeks, install 2000 pro

Gus K · November 4th, 2003

Hmm. I have 30/60GB filled. So Is it really worth it?

No. You might end up with 512b clusters (FAT 32's preffered) instead of XP's NTFS preffered 4K. If you do end up with 512b clusters your computer will be sluggish and always be getting fragmented.

Corvette · November 4th, 2003

Well one day before I was here I converted to ntfs and it was really slow at first, I was just about to prepare to reinstall on FAT32 but then suddenly it speeded up!

But atfer what I got atfer I fixed the damage from a bad boot screen which was a slow and crashy system because I thought a repair would fix it. When I tinkered from the recovery console, The regular bootscreen came up but it started repair! I reformatted and started from scratch with FAT32

November 4th, 2003

Hmmm. I heard the good side, and the bad... Now What???? I have not done anything yet, but now I am not so sure....

**ShepsCrook** · November 6th, 2003

Honestly. I ALWAYS do NTFS. Every system I use. I'd use Partition Magic if you aren't sure of yourself.

November 7th, 2003

Originally posted by GoNz0
igo get diskeeper free (google) as that will sort the mess out in a few hours.

Ok, I guess I decided to go for it, I could not find this program GoNz0 was talking about for free. I am hoping I get much greater system performance & stability.

**ShepsCrook** · November 7th, 2003

Doesn't Partition magic have a trial edition or something. If so, you could give that a whirl.

**GoNz0** · November 8th, 2003

check your PM box

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #1
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	Will I loose everything If I do this? If I follow these steps to convert my hard drive to NTFS, Will it format my hard drive, and I will lose everything on it? Thanks! FAT/FAT32 versus NTFS Q. I installed Windows XP, but did not know whether to use FAT, FAT32 or NTFS. I chose FAT32. Was this correct? A. FAT, FAT32 and NTFS are hard drive formats. FAT32 is an evolutionary development of the File Allocation Table, a system that goes back to DOS. The New Technology File System (NTFS) was developed for Windows NT. Microsoft recommends that you use NTFS, which it says is more fault tolerant and has better security. If you are already using FAT or FAT32, you can convert to NTFS. Click Start>>All Programs>>Accessories>> Command Prompt. At the command prompt, type: convert C: /fs:ntfs That assumes your hard drive is C:. If it is not, substitute the correct letter. During the conversion process, you will be asked for a volume name. Press Enter. This conversion process also applies to Windows 2000.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #5
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	Originally posted by GoNz0 and it will take a hell of a lot of defragmenting to put it all straight after converting ok, Thanks. I wil Let it run all night

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #6
Unleashed We Speak Geek Joined: July 2003 Location: Fredericton, Canada ex Norwich, England ex Hougang, Singapore ex Durban, South Africa Posts: 1,249 Reputation: 460 Power: 124	Look on ntfs.com - its a site that tells you all the pro's and con's of NTFS and FAT32, so you can make the judgement yourself. CPU: Intel Core2 Q6600 \| Mobo: BFG nVidia 680i SLI \| RAM: 2GB 2x Corsair XMS6400 \| PSU: Hiper 580 Watt \| HDD: WD160GB SATAII \| GFX: BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC 640MB \| DVD: SAMSUNG 20x DVD+/-R/RW/RAM SATA

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #7
ElementalDragon The One and Only Joined: August 2002 Location: Lehighton, PA Posts: 3,160 Blog Entries: 3 Reputation: 1095 Power: 161	Don't they say that it is better to do a fresh format to NTFS than it is to convert from FAT32 to NTFS? thought i heard that somewhere, but not exactly sure. Core 2 Quad Q9450 \| 4GB DDR2 800 \| Abit IP-35 Pro \| eVGA GTX 295+ I Love Windows 7! Has my post been helpful to you? If so, please click the to the left to add to my reputation.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #9
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	Originally posted by GoNz0 formats always better than a convert. as this guy will find out, it could take 20-30 defrags to sort out if theres a lot of info on there. Hmm. I have 30/60GB filled. So Is it really worth it?

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October 31st, 2003	Top \| #2
Vector_One Unregistered Posts: n/a	No you will not lose any data. This question seems to be getting asked a lot lately around here.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #3
Glaanieboy OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: March 2002 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,626 Reputation: 270 Power: 153	But, backup your important data just to be sure.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #4
GoNz0 NTFS Stoner Joined: March 2002 Location: the year 2525 Posts: 2,781 Reputation: 350 Power: 155	and it will take a hell of a lot of defragmenting to put it all straight after converting

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #8
GoNz0 NTFS Stoner Joined: March 2002 Location: the year 2525 Posts: 2,781 Reputation: 350 Power: 155	formats always better than a convert. as this guy will find out, it could take 20-30 defrags to sort out if theres a lot of info on there.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #10
GoNz0 NTFS Stoner Joined: March 2002 Location: the year 2525 Posts: 2,781 Reputation: 350 Power: 155	i would say so, go get diskeeper free (google) as that will sort the mess out in a few hours. about the defragging. it's not a case of leaving it on all night, it's more a case of remember to do it once a day for a week at least to let the files get back to the front of the disk. the convert is kind alike throwing all your files in a bag, converting and letting a blind man put em back LOL still worth it though, the file security is great, NO MORE SCAN DISK if you crash

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #11
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	ok.. I know that defraging takes forever on my machine. I mainley want more stability, and better performance. After my computer has been on for 5 or so days, it becomes a littile laggy, and bogged down. Will this help that? or is there something else I need to do? My computer will only let me use about half of the programs I can-when I first start it up-after a few days of my computer being on.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #12
Leevoy Unregistered Posts: n/a	Just use Partition Magic 8, saves a whole heap of grief. Be aware to back up prior.

October 31st, 2003	Top \| #13
GoNz0 NTFS Stoner Joined: March 2002 Location: the year 2525 Posts: 2,781 Reputation: 350 Power: 155	nah mine does that after a few days m8, things dont start, things just stop, run outa memory cus things forget to free up ram etc. running a game free's up the memory for me, but once msn spacs out and wont start, i have to reboot. you want it to last weeks, install 2000 pro

November 4th, 2003	Top \| #14
Gus K NTFS abuser Joined: November 2002 Location: USA Posts: 380 Reputation: 30 Power: 120	Hmm. I have 30/60GB filled. So Is it really worth it? No. You might end up with 512b clusters (FAT 32's preffered) instead of XP's NTFS preffered 4K. If you do end up with 512b clusters your computer will be sluggish and always be getting fragmented.

November 4th, 2003	Top \| #15
Corvette Sauske! Joined: July 2003 Posts: 761 Reputation: 70 Power: 115	Well one day before I was here I converted to ntfs and it was really slow at first, I was just about to prepare to reinstall on FAT32 but then suddenly it speeded up! But atfer what I got atfer I fixed the damage from a bad boot screen which was a slow and crashy system because I thought a repair would fix it. When I tinkered from the recovery console, The regular bootscreen came up but it started repair! I reformatted and started from scratch with FAT32 Or should I say Sometime in 2007? vB 3.6?!?!?! BOOYAH!

November 6th, 2003	Top \| #17
ShepsCrook Red Sox Fan! Joined: September 2003 Location: Raleigh NC Posts: 1,484 Reputation: 590 Power: 125	Honestly. I ALWAYS do NTFS. Every system I use. I'd use Partition Magic if you aren't sure of yourself. There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Antec P182b, i7 920, 12GB Ram,HD6870, X-Fi Platinum, 128GB SATAIII Crucual, 2x 640GB AALS This is Bunny Dead ---> (\__/) No world domination <--(='.'=)--<< For him today.. hahaha (")_(")

November 7th, 2003	Top \| #19
ShepsCrook Red Sox Fan! Joined: September 2003 Location: Raleigh NC Posts: 1,484 Reputation: 590 Power: 125	Doesn't Partition magic have a trial edition or something. If so, you could give that a whirl. There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Antec P182b, i7 920, 12GB Ram,HD6870, X-Fi Platinum, 128GB SATAIII Crucual, 2x 640GB AALS This is Bunny Dead ---> (\__/) No world domination <--(='.'=)--<< For him today.. hahaha (")_(")

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November 4th, 2003	Top \| #16
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	Hmmm. I heard the good side, and the bad... Now What???? I have not done anything yet, but now I am not so sure....

November 7th, 2003	Top \| #18
gmagnuson Unregistered Posts: n/a	Originally posted by GoNz0 igo get diskeeper free (google) as that will sort the mess out in a few hours. Ok, I guess I decided to go for it, I could not find this program GoNz0 was talking about for free. I am hoping I get much greater system performance & stability.

November 8th, 2003	Top \| #20
GoNz0 NTFS Stoner Joined: March 2002 Location: the year 2525 Posts: 2,781 Reputation: 350 Power: 155	check your PM box