Fat32

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (More info?)

On 25 Oct 2004 19:57:40 GMT, ccrlyles@aol.com (Ccrlyles) wrote:

>Can a fat32 hard drive in windows xp be converted to NTFS without losing any
>data, having to reformating and/or reinstall programs?

Yes

Here is command

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C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxxx>convert /?
Converts FAT volumes to NTFS.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:NTFS Specifies that the volume is to be converted to NTFS.
/V Specifies that Convert should be run in verbose mode.
/CvtArea:filename
Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be
the place holder for NTFS system files.
/NoSecurity Specifies the converted files and directories security
settings to be accessible by everyone.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid.
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Only problem with this is that it only gives you a cluster size of 512
bytes - which to my mind to too small - so I ended up starting from
scratch anyway so I could get a more realistiic 4kb cluster size.

I think products like partition magic can do it.

Make sure you back up first though - just in case it all goes pear
shaped.

HTH
Cheers