NTFS and external USB hard disk

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I have Win XP Pro SP2
I also have an external Lacie 250GB hard disk I want to store my Virtual PC
files on. But, it is formatted at FAT32 and I can't put a file on there that
is over 4GB. So, I tried to convert the drive to NTFS, but Windows won't let
me do this. It keeps telling me the disk is dirty and to run chkdsk / f.
Which I have done and completes fine finding no problems on the drive. Yet
convert e: /fs:NTFS still does not convert the drive reporting it is dirty.
What is causing this and how do I fix it? I have tons of data on the drive
so I can't re-partition it as I don't want to loose that data. I need to
convert it to NTFS.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Check your post in the Virtualpc newsgroup for my suggestion.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Stephen Aldous" <blah.blah@no.spam.thankyou.com> wrote in message
news:CuedncTQZaXOlYLfRVnyvA@pipex.net...
>I have Win XP Pro SP2
> I also have an external Lacie 250GB hard disk I want to store my Virtual
> PC files on. But, it is formatted at FAT32 and I can't put a file on there
> that is over 4GB. So, I tried to convert the drive to NTFS, but Windows
> won't let me do this. It keeps telling me the disk is dirty and to run
> chkdsk / f. Which I have done and completes fine finding no problems on
> the drive. Yet convert e: /fs:NTFS still does not convert the drive
> reporting it is dirty. What is causing this and how do I fix it? I have
> tons of data on the drive so I can't re-partition it as I don't want to
> loose that data. I need to convert it to NTFS.
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Anyone? I've ran chkdsk and no problems, I've defragmented the disk, no
problems. I've checked the sectors on the disk are all lined up ok, no
problems. Yet it will still not convert to NTFS reporting that the drive is
"dirty". No idea what this means. Google search brings up nothing. I've also
told device manager to run it as performance instead of hot swap, still no
joy. PLEASE HELP ME!!

Thanks.


"Stephen Aldous" <blah.blah@no.spam.thankyou.com> wrote in message
news:CuedncTQZaXOlYLfRVnyvA@pipex.net...
>I have Win XP Pro SP2
> I also have an external Lacie 250GB hard disk I want to store my Virtual
> PC files on. But, it is formatted at FAT32 and I can't put a file on there
> that is over 4GB. So, I tried to convert the drive to NTFS, but Windows
> won't let me do this. It keeps telling me the disk is dirty and to run
> chkdsk / f. Which I have done and completes fine finding no problems on
> the drive. Yet convert e: /fs:NTFS still does not convert the drive
> reporting it is dirty. What is causing this and how do I fix it? I have
> tons of data on the drive so I can't re-partition it as I don't want to
> loose that data. I need to convert it to NTFS.
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
 
G

Guest

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

My thought is that files are in use. In any case, have you tried using the
Safely Remove Hardware function in the notification area to unmount the
drive, unplugging, and then plugging back in?

Using the Safely Remove Hardware function flushes pending writes to the
drive before closing the handle. I think 'dirty' is referring to a state in
which the drive is waiting for a signal that no more writes are pending.
Pardon my faulty vocab here, but that is what I think is going on. When you
reconnect the drive might be 'clean' again.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote in message
news:Oh%23bXU1GFHA.2360@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Check your post in the Virtualpc newsgroup for my suggestion.
>
> --
> Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
> (Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
> "Stephen Aldous" <blah.blah@no.spam.thankyou.com> wrote in message
> news:CuedncTQZaXOlYLfRVnyvA@pipex.net...
>>I have Win XP Pro SP2
>> I also have an external Lacie 250GB hard disk I want to store my Virtual
>> PC files on. But, it is formatted at FAT32 and I can't put a file on
>> there that is over 4GB. So, I tried to convert the drive to NTFS, but
>> Windows won't let me do this. It keeps telling me the disk is dirty and
>> to run chkdsk / f. Which I have done and completes fine finding no
>> problems on the drive. Yet convert e: /fs:NTFS still does not convert the
>> drive reporting it is dirty. What is causing this and how do I fix it? I
>> have tons of data on the drive so I can't re-partition it as I don't want
>> to loose that data. I need to convert it to NTFS.
>>
>> Any help appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
>
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

ANYONE? SOMEONE MUST KNOW WHAT TO DO..


"Stephen Aldous" <blah.blah@no.spam.thankyou.com> wrote in message
news:w-KdnS__UZhhkL7fRVnygQ@pipex.net...
> Anyone? I've ran chkdsk and no problems, I've defragmented the disk, no
> problems. I've checked the sectors on the disk are all lined up ok, no
> problems. Yet it will still not convert to NTFS reporting that the drive
> is "dirty". No idea what this means. Google search brings up nothing. I've
> also told device manager to run it as performance instead of hot swap,
> still no joy. PLEASE HELP ME!!
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> "Stephen Aldous" <blah.blah@no.spam.thankyou.com> wrote in message
> news:CuedncTQZaXOlYLfRVnyvA@pipex.net...
>>I have Win XP Pro SP2
>> I also have an external Lacie 250GB hard disk I want to store my Virtual
>> PC files on. But, it is formatted at FAT32 and I can't put a file on
>> there that is over 4GB. So, I tried to convert the drive to NTFS, but
>> Windows won't let me do this. It keeps telling me the disk is dirty and
>> to run chkdsk / f. Which I have done and completes fine finding no
>> problems on the drive. Yet convert e: /fs:NTFS still does not convert the
>> drive reporting it is dirty. What is causing this and how do I fix it? I
>> have tons of data on the drive so I can't re-partition it as I don't want
>> to loose that data. I need to convert it to NTFS.
>>
>> Any help appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
>
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 13:36:04 -0000, Stephen Aldous wrote:

> ANYONE? SOMEONE MUST KNOW WHAT TO DO..

No idea. Have been several posts in the last month about this brand of
drive (LaCie) so may be something specific to how they are prepared or some
special extra added by the manufacturer. Suggest checking with their tech
support.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
 
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Guest

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I had the same problem on a Western Digital 400gb external usb hard drive. The convert command kept giving error drive is dirty. The first time I ran CHKDSK, that gave an error too that the disk is in use etc.

I unplugged the drive and tried CHKDSK again and this time it ran. There were no errors. After that I again tried CONVERT and it converted successfully.

Try unplugging and plugging back in these cases and performing CHKDSK /f even if it does not fix anything.