clone fat 32 to ntfs on new hard drive

ejpip1 · 04-20-2007, 09:34 AM

New to the forum and need some help. Have a computer with athlon processor, winxp sp2 and 10gb hd. It runs like molasses. Added more memory, deleted some unused programs, ran disk cleanup, etc. I purchased a seagate 160mb hard drive to install and want to clone the current drive to the new drive. The current drive is FAT 32. Should I keep it that way when cloning to new drive or can it be changed to NTFS? I printed the article "How to copy your operating system....." but it talked about formatting the new drive to NTFS. What changes would I need to make. I have never done this before so any help would be appreciated. Thanks

dai · 04-20-2007, 09:51 AM

convert it to ntfs and then clone it
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...onvertfat.mspx

95five-0 · 04-20-2007, 09:52 AM

You can always convert the current drive to NTFS to avoid any possible problems. This can be done in windows with out having to format.

1. Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.

2. In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

DeadToad · 04-20-2007, 04:04 PM

For a successful operation, convert from FAT32 to NTFS, then clone the drive.

First, it is very important to realign the partition before conversion, by moving all the data area up to a 4K boundary.
Second, then restart the computer, boot Windows XP, being sure to logon as an Administrator, and defragment the disk. This ensures that there is, as far as possible, a contiguous area for the NTFS Master File Table.
Third, use the Windows XP convert tool: Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt (or, from a Run box, type CMD) and, assuming you intend to convert C:, give the command:

VOL C:

Note the name of the disk in the first line, and the Volume Serial Number (for example, 3F4E-2D1B) in the second. Then type:

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

Here's the link to the instructions
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

This produces an "error-free" conversion without any lost clusters, etc.
Good luck.

04-20-2007, 09:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
ejpip1 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 2 OS: XP	clone fat 32 to ntfs on new hard drive New to the forum and need some help. Have a computer with athlon processor, winxp sp2 and 10gb hd. It runs like molasses. Added more memory, deleted some unused programs, ran disk cleanup, etc. I purchased a seagate 160mb hard drive to install and want to clone the current drive to the new drive. The current drive is FAT 32. Should I keep it that way when cloning to new drive or can it be changed to NTFS? I printed the article "How to copy your operating system....." but it talked about formatting the new drive to NTFS. What changes would I need to make. I have never done this before so any help would be appreciated. Thanks

04-20-2007, 09:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,661 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: clone fat 32 to ntfs on new hard drive convert it to ntfs and then clone it http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...onvertfat.mspx __________________

04-20-2007, 09:52 AM	#3 (permalink)
95five-0 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Corinth, TX Posts: 1,339 OS: 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008	Re: clone fat 32 to ntfs on new hard drive You can always convert the current drive to NTFS to avoid any possible problems. This can be done in windows with out having to format. 1. Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. 2. In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 __________________ "If it's really a supercomputer, how come the bullets don't bounce off when I shoot it ?" <<PC Pitstop>><< AVG Free>><<Spybot>><<Everest 2.0>><<Trend Micro House Call>><<HijackThis How-to>>

04-20-2007, 04:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
DeadToad Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: nowhere Posts: 41 OS: 98/98SE/ME/XP	Re: clone fat 32 to ntfs on new hard drive For a successful operation, convert from FAT32 to NTFS, then clone the drive. First, it is very important to realign the partition before conversion, by moving all the data area up to a 4K boundary. Second, then restart the computer, boot Windows XP, being sure to logon as an Administrator, and defragment the disk. This ensures that there is, as far as possible, a contiguous area for the NTFS Master File Table. Third, use the Windows XP convert tool: Go to Start \| All Programs \| Accessories \| Command Prompt (or, from a Run box, type CMD) and, assuming you intend to convert C:, give the command: VOL C: Note the name of the disk in the first line, and the Volume Serial Number (for example, 3F4E-2D1B) in the second. Then type: CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS Here's the link to the instructions http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm This produces an "error-free" conversion without any lost clusters, etc. Good luck.