Can I convert an external HD from FAT to NTFS *WITHOUT* erasing it?

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi there,

I'm vacationing in Europe, and I've digitized a few films on my laptop (rare family VHS tapes)...
I have a 320 GB external HD (connected via USB 2.0), and one of the films cannot be transferrd properly, since it's a bit over 4 GB... for some stupid reason, Acomdata partitioned the HD as FAT32.

I've already amassed over 200 GB of data on my external HD.
Now, my question is: can I convert it to NTFS without erasing any of the already existing data on it?

Thanks for your help...

BTW, I searched, but couldn't find a previous similar topic...

 

[MichaelD]

It sure can be. 🙂 I converted my laptop's HD that way. It came with two FAT32 partitions and it worked fine.

It's the "convert" command used in the command line.

I'm not sure on the usage though. There are switches to use after the word "convert."

Check the OS forum for more.

BINGO.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thanks! My concern is: any difference in the procedure, considering the HD is external and connected via USB?

 

[Seekermeister]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314097

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Thanks! My concern is: any difference in the procedure, considering the HD is external and connected via USB?

It shouldn't be any different. When you plug in your external drive, Windows gives it a drive letter just like any of the other drives attached (HD, CDRom, etc ).

A HD is a HD.

 

[myocardia]

If converting it with all of the data on it scares you, just buy a few dual layer DVD's, and burn all of the data that's important to them. Once you know your data/videos are safe, convert away.

 

[Missing Ghost]

I think there are utilities to split files in parts. That might be a better idea then converting a filesystem that has important data on it.

 

[ForumMaster]

you can do it without erasing anything, however as you said,

(rare family VHS tapes)...

i would do what myocardia suggested anyway just to be safe. it doesn't hurt to backup. it hurts when you don't backup and the data goes. 🙂

 

[xgsound]

This could be an excellent excuse to get an additional 320 Gb drive, format it with NTFS, and use it to start a backup system for your "rare family films". After you copy all the data to the new drive (and verify) you can reformatt or convert the old drive to NTFS and have an Acopy Bcopy backup system.

You must understand that if you actually do this, I will be jealous and hate you for a few hours, but don't let that hold you back.

Jim

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: myocardia
If converting it with all of the data on it scares you, just buy a few dual layer DVD's, and burn all of the data that's important to them. Once you know your data/videos are safe, convert away.

If you are going to go through all that trouble of backing it up, you might as well format the drive in NTFS and be done with it. Formatting the drive might be quicker than converting.

 

[Seekermeister]

If you decide to burn backup disks, use gold archival disks, and test them after the burn to make sure that all is well, before trusting them. I made some data backups once that passed the burner's verification, and were still garbage.