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Change Fat 32 to NTFS without data loss?

S

ShaggyDogg

Member
I am currently dual booting with a 45 gig partitioned into 15G (Win Me) and 30G (Win XP). Both are currently Fat32. Can I change the file system on Windows XP from fat32 to NTFS without losing the data on the drive? If I can, how do I go about it?
 
in XP hit start, goto run, and type cmd

then you'll need to use the convert command. type convert /? and press enter and it should give U the syntax, otherwise I think its

convert x: /fs:ntfs

where x: is the drive letter your changing.

I haven't used in in XP, but used it ALOT in NT4 and some in win2k... never had a problem with it, but you should make sure you have a data backup anyways, cause I'd hate to know what would happen if you suddenly lost power in middle of the convert or something.

 
Yes you can. You just can't go from NTFS back to FAT32. I think you right click on the drive you are wanting to change and go to proerties and di it in there. I'm not at home right now so I can not be more specific.
 
Just to be clear I am talking about converting the drive that XP is loaded on. I can do this from inside XP right? Once I have determined that win ME has outgrown it's usefulness to me can I format this area and reclaim the space or are some of my XP files located there since I am dual booting. BTW, I loaded Win Me first.
 
Been down that same path. Had ME on 3 systems . . . then installed XP Pro. Kept FAT32 for a few weeks, and then when all was cool, I deleted the ME backup folder, and then converted to NTFS using the built-in program in XP's command prompt window. I used it on each partition and it all worked perfectly on all three systems.
 
Corky, I understand now that I can CONVERT the file system no problem. But having done that can I totally erase (format) the win Me partition and then reclaim that free space for Win XP? I read somewhere that some of the files for Xp get installed in the first 8 GB of the physical hard drive (which is where I originally had Win Me. If I format that area will my system still boot?
 
If you format, you will have to run the Recovery Console (boot from the Windows XP CD) to restore the
NT boot manager to the first partition. Otherwise the system will not boot.

IIRC, Even though the XP system files can be loaded on any part of a drive, to boot there needs to be some
boot-stub or boot-loader withing the first 1024 cylinders of the drive (where the BIOS looks to boot from)
that can point the system to the real system files that need to be loaded.
 
If you just want to get rid of ME, you don't need to reformat. Just uninstall the program and delete the files.
 
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