Converting hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS in Horror Tech Forum

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Converting hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS

Author	Comment
strangenstein	Converting hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS	Lead	[-]
Aug 28 11 3:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Howdy friends! I have an external 750gb hard drive that came formatted as FAT32. I often need to render large files and it'll only render up to 4gbs, then begin a new file. Example, if I render a 10gb file, instead of one big file I get two 4gb files and one 2gb file. I'd like to convert the drive to NTFS, since that will hold any size file. Exactly how do I go about changing the formatting? Will I lose data? Thanks for any info you can give me. I know I could've gone to Google to get answers but I enjoy talking with fellow monster kids. Strangenstein
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CapnDunsel		#1	[-]
Aug 28 11 4:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It might help to know the make and model of your external HDD. It's a common issue because it limits file sizes to 4gb. Personally I've never needed to reformat because my old external HDD was already fixed. But I've been researching new larger HDD and there's often mention of reformatting. Some say it takes hours and should be done before you use it because it will empty out the HDD. One guy said it should only take a moment, and can be done anytime (ie it wont clear out your files) because it's just effecting some software. Anyway, (not to hijack your thread) I'd be curious if you have any HDD buying advice.
strangenstein		#2	[-]
Aug 28 11 6:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The make is Western Digital, although I don't know the exact model number. I do have most of the drive backed up on cd's and dvd's, but it would be nice to just be able to reformat without losing anything. Strangenstein
mbb10429		#3	[-]
Aug 28 11 9:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You can do it from the Command Line. Start Button Run Type "cmd" in the field provided When the command line box opens up, type "convert /?" at the C: prompt Should show you all the syntax and options you need to issue the command to convert a drive to NTFS Good luck! Mark
HalLane		#4	[-]
Aug 28 11 9:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm gonna try this too, 'cuz that 4GB limit is a real logjam.
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SiBurning		#5	[-]
Aug 29 11 3:07 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Formatting will overwrite anything on the disc, but there is software that can move things around in a way that you end up keeping what was on there. Think of a hard drive as a sandbox that you write on, then think of formatting as creating grooves to mark off containers for storing things as well as an index to locate the containers, and you can imagine how it's possible to keep what was previously in the drawer by moving stuff around. It's kind of complicated to do it in place because you're dealing with parts of two different indexing systems, so it's quite possible that you'll lose the data with that special software, and they all warn you about that, so I recommend you don't bother with it. Most formatting software just overwrites, ignoring what was there. This not only overwrites some of the data, but completely destroys the indices. Best thing to do is to move whatever you want to save to another drive, format normally, and then move the data back. Since you're switching file systems, and it's a new drive, I suggest you use the full format which takes longer. You'd use the fast format if you were sure of the drive and were just erasing or resizing it. To make an analogy with a book, a quick format basically just erases the table of contents, while a full format will also make sure that all of the pages exist and can be written on, probably by erasing all of the pages. Guide to Resources on CHFB Last Edited By: SiBurning Aug 29 11 3:17 AM. Edited 6 times.
chu	convert fat32 to ntfs without data losing	#6	[-]
Sep 29 11 3:20 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Windows only allows you format FAT32 to NTFS, but before that, you need back up all the data. so, for your problem, convert hard drive from NTFS to FAT32 without data losing, this task can be finished by the professional NTFS to FAT32 Converter, on the one hand, for PS3 and XBOX 360 fans, they could direclty convert NTFS to FAT32 without data losing, on the other hand, it could easily convert NTFS to FAT32 without data losing as well.. hope this is helpful for your problem. (:
Scoundrel		#7	[-]
Oct 24 11 10:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This freeware works quite well for what you need: http://www.partitionwizard.com/ Good luck
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