I just bought a Seagate 200GB external hard drive and I found out it has been pre-formatted in FAT32 format. I tried using XP utilities to try to format the hard drive to NTFS format, but it isn't working. The OS sees the drive, but it won't give me an option to format it. Any suggestions?
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Format a new external hard drive in NTFS preformatted in FAT32
- Thread starter TOTCOM11
- Start date
BionicJohn
Technical User
Hi, TOTCOM11,
You can convert the drive/partition from FAT32 to NTFS without re-formatting.
See:
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.
A utility such as Partition Magic will also do the conversion.
If you have data on the drive/partition, make a backup copy before you start the conversion.
LIVERPOOL FC - 5 times Champions of Europe. 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005.
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.
You can convert the drive/partition from FAT32 to NTFS without re-formatting.
See:
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.
A utility such as Partition Magic will also do the conversion.
If you have data on the drive/partition, make a backup copy before you start the conversion.
LIVERPOOL FC - 5 times Champions of Europe. 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005.
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.
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