Converting an External FAT32 Drive to NFTS format?

Question

Pls can a FAT 32 External Disk Drive (Iomega 60 GB) be converted to the NFTS system, and how? Thanx

Can you change the format without loss of data?

Answer 1

the way i did it was to put my xp disk in to install on pc i then opted to install onto external hard drive . this it goes to do it asked me did i want to format my disk i did this and done it into NFTS files . any thing that you have on the external hard drive must be saved if you want to keep them . you can also put partions on it if you wish to

Answer 2

There are several ways.

If you use Linux, you can always use fdisk to manage the drive -

fdisk /dev/sda1

should bring up the details for that drive, provided it's attached to your computer. You can then format it, choosing NTFS/HPFS from the menu.

That will do it. If you're not a Linux user though, you can use Partition Magic to format it. Again, attach it to your computer, and run PTM. Select the drive from the screen, choose Format, and then just select NTFS. I've done it both ways myself, though not with an Iomega device.

Best of luck. It may not be the easiest thing in the world, but it is doable.

Answer 3

Khrewton is right...the preferred format for an external hard drive for back-up purposes is FAT32 & not NTFS..FAT32 is more compatible than NTFS. I cannot think why you have a max. size of 4meg file size. Have you found this when backing up?...or have you been told this? All my external hdds are FAT 32 & I have found no file size limit.

Answer 4

I'm not sure if it can be "converted" from FAT32 to NTFS without 3rd party software, but you can reformat it as NTFS.

To do that, go to Computer Management (control panel > admin tools) and select Disk Management. From there, you can get the fomat options.

Answer 5

not without a loss of data as it will wipe and start from scratch back it up on another hard drive or memory stick

Answer 6

Partition Magic is what to use.
http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html