format or just convert NTFS partition?

[instag8r]

 

[Poontos]

Converting will do. Formatting would be better. Formatting defrags the partition/hard drive you are formatting and gets rid of old and useless (possbily viruses) files.

 

[igiveup]

Formatting is better. It does "defrag" I guess, but only because it WIPES OUT anything that was there before. The cluster sizes are also smalller when doing a CONVERT command, and this could cause some slower performance on your disk access.

 

[corkyg]

If Convert works for you - that is good. Format is starting over and akin to masochism.

 

[prosaic]

instag8r,

If you tell us which OS you're running, what size the partition is, and how it was created (by FDISK from a DOS-based version of Windows, by Disk Manager in the NT-based OS, third party partitioning tool, etc.) then we can give you a more informed answer.

If this is NT or Windows 2000, then use of the CONVERT command will cause you to have 512 byte clusters. Not good for most purposes, unless the partition is really small.

The Windows XP CONVERT executable can convert a FAT partition to NTFS that has 4,096 byte clusters. That's a good thing. But it doesn't always succeed at this, depending on how the original partition was created and what size it is.

Come to think of it, your original question is vague enough to have me wondering if you're trying to convert TO NTFS or FROM NTFS. Please be more specific.

- prosaic

 

[lowtech1]

Convert if you are already in the OS that you want or just upgraded from Win9.x/me, because you will save time on reinstall the OS/drivers/apps. Only a format and clean install needed is when your computer is flaky, or ridden with viruses.