FAT to NTFS

[hardy]

Enter the current volume label for drive d: (or whichever drive you chose)
Enter the volume name you noted down earlier and press ENTER.

I'm having trouble with this part.

[Noahtuck]

Okay... what exactly are you doing ?

& with what ?

Because if you are trying to convert an HDD on your PC there is an easy DOS command you can use to convert from FAT to NTFS without losing any information or files that may be on that drive.

[hardy]

Converting and external drive from FAT32 to NTFS

open command prompt
type - convert x: /fs:ntfs
then it ask you for the current volume label
what do i put?

[hardy]

If you use Convert.exe to convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS and the volume has a label, the following message is displayed:

The type of the file system is FAT32.
Enter current volume label for Drive X:

What is the volume label?

[Baldrick]

You can just hit enter or name the volume label/partition name whatever you like or use same volume label as the current one(see in windows explorer or type vol in cmd).

[drjtech]

Use to DIR command to see what the current label is. For example,

C:\>dir c:
Volume in drive C has no label.


C:\>dir d:
Volume in drive D is Data

In this case drive C: has no label and drive D: has the label Data. If I recall correctly this is to help ensure you are converting the volume you think you are converting. If you use the command "convert c: /fs:ntfs" and reply that the current label is "Data" you should get a warning.

If your drive has no label, just hit enter.

-drjtech

[Noahtuck]

Yeah i don't even have my drives labeled... other then C: D: E: ect. ect.

[hardy]

Use to DIR command to see what the current label is. For example,

C:\>dir c:
Volume in drive C has no label.


C:\>dir d:
Volume in drive D is Data

In this case drive C: has no label and drive D: has the label Data. If I recall correctly this is to help ensure you are converting the volume you think you are converting. If you use the command "convert c: /fs:ntfs" and reply that the current label is "Data" you should get a warning.

If your drive has no label, just hit enter.

-drjtech

Thanks, I will give a try.

[hardy]

After entering the label and pressing enter it gave me this.

This drive is dirty and cannot be converted. You will need to clear the dirty bit on this drive by running CHKDSK /F or alowing the AUTOCHK to run on it the next time you reboot.
The conversion failed.
X: was no converted to NTFS

What should I do now?

[CHKDSK] & [AUTOCHK] isn't working with my external drive.

[Noahtuck]

This is also how i have done it several times on various machines,

Q: Is it possible to convert a FAT32 Hard Drive to NTFS without losing all data on the
drive? I like to change from FAT32 to NTFS, my operating system is Windows XP PRO,
how can I do that? Without the lost of my programs?

A: Standard Windows utility that is called CONVERT serves this purpose

Just go to the Command Prompt and execute the command:

C:\> CONVERT C: /fs:ntfs

Where C: is a name of the drive you want to convert.

After machine re-boot conversion process will start and you'll
have your FAT32 converted to NTFS without of data loss.

[hardy]

X:\CHKDSK /X
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Windows can set log file size on NTFS volumes only.

[bevills1]

If a drive has no label, you can right click the drive and select properties which will show a box for label where a a label for the volume can be entered. My C drive is labeled DISK1_VOL1, but that can be changed or removed by leaving the box blank as you wish.

To run "chkdsk /f" on a drive you need to enter "chkdsk /f x:" where "x" is the letter of the drive you wish to check. This will give message that the drive cannot be locked and ask if you want to do it on the next restart. Answer "Y" for yes and restart.

[hardy]

[hardy]

I converted the drive.
Thank you all for the help!