Fat32 But want to change to NTFS - How?

[onlymel]

Hi, - I have a duel boot running Win 98SE on "C" drive and XP Home (upgrade) on "D" drive. Both op systems are Fat32 at present.
I want to change XP to NTFS but does this mean I will have to reformat "D" drive before I can achieve this??

Any help would be appreciated.

Mel.

 

[Freestone]

This can be achieved by opening a command prompt and using the convert command. Just be sure you do not convert your C: drive, otherwise your 98SE will be unavailable. Also, once D: is converted, the 98SE operating system will not be able to access anything on it.

The command you'll probably want is:

CONVERT D: /FS:NTFS

I suggest reading this KB article before committing:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314097

 

[edemiere]

Yeah, and of course, the major drag that if XP ever borks on you getting your data off that disk is next to impossible (though it can be done).

The benefit vs. risk of using NTFS in a home environment just isn't worth the hassle.

Just my 2 cents

Cheers!

 

[onlymel]

Hi edemiere

Was just about to start converting and your mail came through. - wow. - When you say getting my data off that disk, do you mean that if ever I need to re-format NTFS then I cannot? - Or what?

Thanks for a speedy reply.

 

[edemiere]

No, I mean if you want to recover a .pst file from your email program, or any individual file.

With Fat32 you can just boot with a boot disk and copy and move files around to save them before you format, with NTFS you can't just boot off a boot disk and do that.

Just a tidbit for you. Personally, I wouldn't use NTFS if God himself used it.

Unless you *need* high security on that partition then NTFS doesn't really offer you much over Fat32.

Cheers!

 

[onlymel]

Hi Edemire

Thanks for coming straight back and hmmmmmmmm, I hear what you are saying. The reason I was wanting to do this was because I have the whole family (3 others) with their own desktops and I wanted to password my docs folder. Taking on board what you have said, I now ask myself, "IS IT WORTH IT" - Once again, thanks for the input.

Mel in the UK.

 

[edemiere]

Well, you might consider looking at something like:

http://www.hide-folder.com/order/

http://softstack.com/hff.html

http://www.cryptoforge.com/description.htm

The cost for some of these seems relatively low and I am by no means endorsing these products, as I have never used them. Years ago when I was using Windows 95 I used to use Norton Your Eyes Only (which was discontinued and ONLY supports Windows 95).

Just pointing out there are alternatives for password protecting or encrypting files/folders without using NTFS and advanced security stuff.

You might even be able to find some freeware out there if you search hard enough.

The Google search I used is here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=password+protecting+folders+with+fat32

Either way, good luck with whatever you choose...

Cheers!