how to convert from Ntfs to fat32?

[o0RaidR0o]

NTFS vs FAT32

Just some food for thought based on popular opinion. It has been said that on a drive/partition that is 20-25GB's that a FAT32 partition is faster(hence why gaming it often found to be faster on a 98 pc), however anything over 25GB's NTFS is the favored partition because of the smaller cluster size it utilizes the larger space more effectively. Of course this is discounting any built in security features that are inherit using NTFS. I'm just talking performance issue's.

Good Luck

 

[Zedric]

NTFS is better, even on a 20Gig drive. It's safer, and not only as in user security.

NTFS:
- ...can have smaller clusters than FAT32 on big drives.
- ...has better space allocation than FAT32. This means less fragmentation.
- ...is journalizing. This means that a disk won't corrupt (files) if a computer is accidentally rebooted or crashes. No more lost clusters.

FAT32 is a stone age file system with really simple layout. NTFS is a modern robust file system with many useful features. I say use NTFS as long as you can.

 

[sdibias]

Originally posted by OldasDirt
NTFS does have it's advantages, but not to the home user. It isn't any faster and the advanced security isn't something you generally need. FAT32, however has one big advantage in that you can boot to a Windows 98 floppy and edit or manipulate files. I often boot to a Win98 floppy and copy the contents of C:\Windows\System32\Config (the location of the registry) to another folder just in case something goes gamey in there. I've also managed to pull my work computer out of the crapper by replacing some files which Windows File protection wouldn't let me touch while active.

You can just as easily boot from an NTFS-DOS boot floppy to access and manipulate files on NTFS partitions. Of course this option may be out of most peoples budget so there are a few other options to choose from. You could install the Windows 2000/XP recovery console to manipulate a limited number of files on an NTFS partition. Of course the average person will not know what this is but it does exist and can be used in times of need. The recovery console can be installed by popping in your Windows CD opening a command prompt and switching over to the CD-ROMs drive letter. Then type in the command "\i386\winnt32 /cmdcons" It is a great thing to have installed.

I also have an NTFS reader that I throw on my boor floppies for accesing the NTFS boot partitions I work with. You can copy files through it among other things. It can be found below:

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10126096.html

 

[jkipk]

Originally posted by SpacemanNZ
The only way FAT32 wont get recognised, is if you have FAT32, and NFTS on the same hard drive. NOT different hard drives/computers. So, in your case, you WILL be able to access the FAT32 computer HDD, thru the NFTS system. (If they're installed on different computers).

Not quite sure what you mean here: I have a FAT32 partition on my NTFS/xp home hd and xp treats it like any other drive. Same computer, (same hd!!).

kip

 

[Zedric]

Re: Re: how to convert from Ntfs to fat32?

Originally posted by jkipk
Not quite sure what you mean here: I have a FAT32 partition on my NTFS/xp home hd and xp treats it like any other drive. Same computer, (same hd!!).

I think he meant a FAT32 system (like Win98) won't recognize a NTFS partition on the same computer, but will recognize and use it over a network.

That's the way it is anyway...

 

[dubstar]

i think you guys should thumb wrestle, and whoever wins, they get to decide all this mumbo jumbo you guys are talking about...


but seriously, i have a bunch of crap on my computer, and its FAT32, so if i go NTFS, will i lose any data? what typically wont work correctly on NTFS (im saying this because somebody earlier said that encrypted files dont work, but idont know if i have encrypted files..)

 

[WiredBrain]

Originally posted by dubstar
i think you guys should thumb wrestle, and whoever wins, they get to decide all this mumbo jumbo you guys are talking about...


but seriously, i have a bunch of crap on my computer, and its FAT32, so if i go NTFS, will i lose any data? what typically wont work correctly on NTFS (im saying this because somebody earlier said that encrypted files dont work, but idont know if i have encrypted files..)

If you're still using older software (XP incompatible), stick with FAT32 because they won't run on NTFS. I think the most important point is PERFORMANCE. The time taken for defragmenting a 1 GB FAT32 is the same to the time taken to defragment a 20 GB NTFS. Maybe more than NTFS.

 

[melon]

NTFS all the day. There is no debate.

I lost my enthusiasm for FAT32 the minute it started slowing down when I actually used most of my hard drive (God forbid!)--which was about a day into using my first Windows 98 computer . Please do it a favor and put it out of its misery. FAT32 is dead.

Melon

 

[XP Abuser]

melon is right fat32 is lame for large hard drives also fat32 has more errors and slower defrag and cant repair bad sectors on the fly so NTFS it is

and if your really bent on fat32 then i suggest partiton magic , 8 is the newest version and it is a godsend

 

[Zedric]

Originally posted by dubstar
but seriously, i have a bunch of crap on my computer, and its FAT32, so if i go NTFS, will i lose any data? what typically wont work correctly on NTFS (im saying this because somebody earlier said that encrypted files dont work, but idont know if i have encrypted files..)

You won't loose data converting (although the converter warns about this). The only thing that won't work is booting into Win9x or DOS and trying to access the partition. Apart from that you'll be ok. Even if you use old DOS-apps in WinXP.

 

[dubstar]

$$65 For something that wont change too much about the computer... I dont know, if anybody can point me in the direction of a trial :blink: then that would be great.

thanks

 

[OldasDirt]

If you have access to a drive imaging program like Ghost or Drive Image you could create an image of your FAT32 partition. Then you can convert to NTFS and if you don't like it you could clone back from your image.
You'll need at least a second partition (or better yet a second drive) to create the image on.