My computer has windows xp pro, with a 60gb hard drive, and one single fat32 partition. I just recently bought a pioneer DVD recorder, and it sayst that I need to convert my fat32 partition to ntfs so I can have files larger than 4gig. The obvious answer to me is that I wont lose anything at all, but do I need to worry about losing any data when converting from fat32 to ntfs on this single partition drive?

I just wanted to make sure before I do it.

type 'convert /?' at a DOS prompt. You will get the info you need.

Edit: You won't lose anything.

Every install of Windows NT (NT 4, 2000, and XP) does this normally. It will install onto a FAT partition, then convert it to NTFS during the install if that was the filesystem choice. So yes, converting from Fat to NTFS is a safe and non data distructive procedure.

convert c: /fs:ntfs if I remember the command offhand.

Unless there is something physically wrong with the hard disk (bad sectors etc.) then you have nothing to worry about when doing the file system conversion. It will be almost transparent.

NTFS is a much better file system, too. You can do things like set security permissions on individual files and folders. It's also more tolerant of things like unexpected shutdowns.

There is one thing you need to be careful of, though:

NTFS cannot be read by DOS or Windown 95/98. So if you have multiple operating systems installed, or if you ever expect to use a DOS boot floppy to access the files on that hard disk, then you shouldn't use it.

thanks guys, just wanted to make sure. I can't wait to start recording my own DVDs!!!!

BTW, there's no included utility to revert back to FAT32, it's a one way ticket.

There are aftermarket tools to go back the other way. Powerquest makes stuff that does it.

Calvin

Yup, Partition Magic... great utility. I've used it many times myself. Very easy to use and very powerful.

Gotta love a "secure" filesystem that can be reverted back to FAT32. Anyone know what this does to encrypted files on W2K?

From the Powerquest Partition Magic documentation:
"If you receive an error message and the conversion stops, it is usually caused by one or
more of the following:
• The file system for conversion is not allowed for the current partition size. A FAT32
partition should be greater than 256 MB, and a FAT partition must be less than 2 GB.
• The NTFS partition has data in memory that has not yet been written to the hard disk.
• ·The Windows 2000/XP NTFS partition has compressed files, sparse files, reparse
points, or encrypted files. In such case, you can uncompress and/or move (or delete)
the sparse files, then repeat the conversion.
• The file system has errors, such as lost clusters and cross-linked files. You can fix
these problems, then try the conversion again.
• There is not enough temporary space in the partition to do the conversion. The
conversion will require the NTFS system and the FAT32 system files until the last
step of the conversion. Also, there is data in NTFS File Replication Services that must
be moved to external clusters and saved."

-Zeke

You can get Gordian Knot from Doom9.org, it's a free program that walks you through a lot of this. Smartrpper is one included in the package, and one thing it will do is let you pcik size limits for your files... so once it approaches near 4 Gig, it just starts another. Encoding programs like Flask or DVD2AVI have no problems with this.

I guess my point is - NTFS i better than FAT32, and you shold be safe swtiching - but I don't think you HAVE to, not if you're just ripping and encoding movies like I do that is.