External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS

zssz · 01-24-2009, 08:04 PM

I am trying to convert my Western Digital 500gb external hard drive's file system from FAT32 to NTFS.

The computer is running Windows XP SP3, and the operating system is not located on the external hard drive.

I get errors when doing this:

convert e: /fs:ntfs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Error

The volume may have inconsistencies. Run Chkdsk, the disk checking utility.
The conversion failed.
E: was not converted to NTFS

After running chkdsk, this is what chkdsk displays:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Output

The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume EXTERNAL created 12/19/2008 11:23 PM
Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx
Windows is verifying files and folders...
File and folder verification is complete.
488,264,736 KB total disk space.
415,040 KB in 657 hidden files.
160,224 KB in 4,949 folders.
39,684,832 KB in 76,052 files.
448,004,608 KB are available.

32,768 bytes in each allocation unit.
15,258,273 total allocation units on disk.
14,000,144 allocation units available on disk.

What am I supposed to tell from this information? How can I fix this so that I can convert from FAT32 to NTFS (and if possible, still without formatting)?

**linderman** · 01-24-2009, 08:59 PM

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb456984.aspx

**linderman** · 01-24-2009, 09:02 PM

or back up your data from the external to another hard drive with an image program like shadow protect (30 day trial) it can make an image file of only occupied data

then wipe the drive with kill disk

then repartition the drive and format with NTFS >>>>>>>>> use the hard drive manufacturer's set-up utility to do this ............... or win xp recovery console >>>>> dont use disk management from within windows!

**raptor_pa** · 01-24-2009, 09:10 PM

You could try running chkdsk /f against the drive to fix any erors... Once it starts DO NOT interrupt this process!

zssz · 01-24-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raptor_pa

You could try running chkdsk /f against the drive to fix any erors... Once it starts DO NOT interrupt this process!

I will try this.

I am trying to avoid formatting if I can as right now I don't have another drive to backup all of the information to. My main drive only has ~15gb left, so I can't do that.

I will edit this post with my results on chkdsk /f. Thanks for telling me about this, I am not really too informed on this kind of stuff.

Thanks for the chkdsk /f suggestion. This helped me and the conversion worked.

**raptor_pa** · 01-24-2009, 09:59 PM

Glad it worked!!

**linderman** · 01-25-2009, 03:34 PM

good call raptor............

01-24-2009, 08:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb456984.aspx __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

01-24-2009, 09:02 PM	#3 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS or back up your data from the external to another hard drive with an image program like shadow protect (30 day trial) it can make an image file of only occupied data then wipe the drive with kill disk then repartition the drive and format with NTFS >>>>>>>>> use the hard drive manufacturer's set-up utility to do this ............... or win xp recovery console >>>>> dont use disk management from within windows! __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

01-24-2009, 09:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,859 OS: XP	Re: External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS You could try running chkdsk /f against the drive to fix any erors... Once it starts DO NOT interrupt this process! __________________

01-24-2009, 09:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,859 OS: XP	Re: External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS Glad it worked!! __________________

01-25-2009, 03:34 PM	#7 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: External Hard Drive FAT32 to NTFS good call raptor............ __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial