Converting FAT32 to NTFS

[Good Companion]

A few caveats before I get started ... I'm not sure if this belongs here or in Storage; mods: feel free to move if I goofed it up. Also, I did search to see if my question was previously answered, but didn't come up with anything directly on point.

I've got an AMD Athlon 1700XP system running Win2k. The hard drive is formatted as FAT32. In the past, I've kept it FAT32 to ensure compatibility with games, which I play on occasion. (No title in particular, just wanted to to be sure I wouldn't have any problems.)

I'm considering purchasing a DVD burner and making family movies, etc. I understand that FAT32 will not recognize a file larger than 4GB, which may make converting to NTFS more attractive.

My concerns are: game compatibility, and the ability to boot from disk if my system kooks up. Are these valid concerns or am I behind the times and they have already been fixed?

Thanks in advance,
Dana

[Scott Tiger]

FAT16 will not recognize drives larger than 4GB - I'm not sure wha the limit is for FAT32 is but it's quite high. If you're just installing Windows XP or 2000 it will limit you to 32GB though.

Personally I wouldn't even think of running an XP or 2000 system with FAT32 - NTFS just hasn't done me wrong yet (knock on wood) and I've never had any problems with games using it.

The ONLY reason I could think of to not use NTFS is if you're dual-booting Windows and Linux. Others may have different opinions though.

[meese]

Scott Tiger,

I thought the limit for FAT16 was 2GB? Or is this a DOS limitation?

[Bill in SD, CA]

Depending on your version of Windows, each partition uses one of three file systems--FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS--to determine how files on the partition are stored, named, and organized. The oldest of the three, FAT16, limits files and partitions to 2GB; FAT32 limits individual files to 4GB, although partitions can be as large as 2 terabytes. NTFS is the most flexible of the systems, as it allows files up to a gargantuan 16 billion gigabytes (16 exabytes) in size. Only Windows XP, 2000, and NT recognize NTFS.

http://pcworld.shopping.yahoo.com/ya...66,pg,3,00.asp

Bill

[Scott Tiger]

I'm sorry guys - I was thinking partition size - not file size. Good catch both of you. Esp so early in the morning.

[John Prophet]

Just out of curiousity...I passed the 70-210 test the other day and one of the questions was about hardware requirements for upgrading to W2k......to me, the test engine was messed up cuz it would call the question "incomplete" unless I checked off ALL the answers.

So two of the answers I was "forced" to check were saying that for W95 and (W98 or NT4) that you had to convert fat16 to fat32 before you could upgrade......??

Is there such a thing as conversion from fat 16 to fat 32?? If there is I must be drawing a blank..I only really remember conversion as being from fat32 etc to ntfs.

Was the test engine just messed up?? (it also made me check the answer stating that you MUST upgrade to a faster cpu than a P166...when every requirement Ive ever seen says P133 or just 'pentium class')

Is there fat16 to fat32 conversion? JP

[bailey]

yes there is, I belive it is included in w98

[meese]

Yes,

When win95 first came out most it used fat16 but later used fat32 so you had an option similar to converting fat32 to ntfs.

[John Prophet]

Im aghast

[Good Companion]

Thanks for the info, guys!

Dana