Converting to NTFS

[Rex]

Hi there,

Want to convert my W2k o/s on my T22 from FAT32 to NTFS. I have five partitions and don't know the best way to do it.

Is formatting preferable to converting? With my 'My Documents' partition, I can of course back-up the partition, format it as NTFS and copy everything back. But if I have an image of my W2k partition, format the partition (c as NTFS and copy the image back, hence avoiding reinstalling everything, what happens?

Would my o/s be FAT32 (as the image was taken) or NTFS?

Also, I don't understand this stuff about keeping a partition as FAT32 to allow recovery because NTFS does not see DOS. I have in the past, had to use both Ghost and Acronis TI to restore an image; Ghost runs from a floppy and boots to DOS.

Grateful for any advice that will help me to understand the best (or simplest) way forward. Maybe doing nothing is a good option!

Rex

[dr_st]

Want to convert my W2k o/s on my T22 from FAT32 to NTFS. I have five partitions and don't know the best way to do it.

The built-in CONVERT program that does that, without formatting. Should do the trick.

Is formatting preferable to converting?

Never saw any issues with such conversions, you probably don't have to format.

But if I have an image of my W2k partition, format the partition (c as NTFS and copy the image back, hence avoiding reinstalling everything, what happens?

Would my o/s be FAT32 (as the image was taken) or NTFS?

I believe that cloning an entire partition via an image applies the image format to it, so it will be FAT32.

Also, I don't understand this stuff about keeping a partition as FAT32 to allow recovery because NTFS does not see DOS. I have in the past, had to use both Ghost and Acronis TI to restore an image; Ghost runs from a floppy and boots to DOS.

If you ever need to work from pure DOS, you cannot access NTFS partitions without special drivers. The DOS version of Norton Ghost naturally has those drivers built-in - as a partition management tool it has to support ALL possible file systems. There is also a program called NTFSDOS Professional, which gives full access to NTFS partitions in pure DOS mode.

[Rex]

Thanks for the reply.

So I can just run the Convert and everything should be hunky dory?

Rex

[dr_st]

Thanks for the reply.

So I can just run the Convert and everything should be hunky dory?

Rex

That's what I think.