Hard Drive Formatting

lister007 · Post by **lister007** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:19 pm

Hey this seems like an obvious answer but need to make sure, if I format a FAT32 drive to a NTFS then do I loose all the data on it, or does it just get mangled? Never tried before! Any help? Cheers!

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:41 pm

yes, formating means you loose any and all data previously on that disk

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:19 pm

Yes, you erase and lose all data. No, you do not loose your data on your foes.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:21 pm

I'm pretty sure PartitionMagic can convert FAT32 partitions to NTFS without loss of data.

lister007 · Post by **lister007** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:27 pm

Do you know that for sure? Its a 500GB Hard drive which is almost full and only just realized when tried to render more than four gigs it wouldn't work and I didn't format!!!

so got nowhere to move the stuff to, format then move it back! sucks!!!

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:36 pm

Fairly certian. You can just get the program and try it out. It offers me the option to convert my NTFS partitions to FAT32 so it should go the other way. It'll warn you before it does anything damaging. I think conversion can't be done on a booting partition though.

Joe88 · Post by **Joe88** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:39 pm

this can be done within windows, no extra programs needed

1. Click Start, Run and type "cmd" in the space and click ok
2. With the Command Prompt open you can type "help convert" this shows info on how to convert the hard drive
3. "Convert C: /FS:NTFS" This will be the general command "C" will be whatever drive you are converting to NTFS.
After you have that all typed out hit Enter. The Command Prompt window will tell you when it's finished.

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:39 am

How to Convert FAT Disks to NTFS

Microsoft.com wrote:...you can convert a FAT or FAT32 volume to an NTFS volume without formatting the volume, though it is still a good idea to back up your data before you convert.

lister007 · Post by **lister007** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:18 am

There seem to be a few advantages of formating to NTFS, why would you guys use it?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:01 am

http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm
looks like a pretty good list to me
probably the biggest motivator (at least for me) is FATxx's 137GB disk limit/4GB file limit

using premiere pro (and having to export uncompressed) a 4 minute amv would probably be over 4GB