convert external hard disk fat32 with prog to ntfs

[ih]

hi
I intend buying external 2.5" hard disk which is fat32 with software.
My xp has ntfs file system. Surely i cannot just format as i will lose the software? How do i go around achiving this conversion. thanking all in advance for help/advise.(i am not expert with computers am a ok to follow step by step)
ih

 

[foxhole]

Not sure why you want to format you can save to it as is.

 

[mikeddavies]

XP has a "convert" function to do what you want without losing anything. Will even change the system disc - in this case after issuing the convert command the system restarts itself and carries out the change. NTFS is much better and stable than the archaic FAT/FAT32.
Miked

 

[Monkeh]

NTFS is no more stable than FAT32. FAT32 is a mature, well proven filesystem. It may be basic, but it works.

 

[ajrobb]

NTFS is no more stable than FAT32. FAT32 is a mature, well proven filesystem. It may be basic, but it works.

NTFS has several advantages:

• large files
  compression
  associated (meta) data
  ownership
  encryption

 

[Monkeh]

NTFS is no more stable than FAT32. FAT32 is a mature, well proven filesystem. It may be basic, but it works.

NTFS has several advantages:

• large files
  compression
  associated (meta) data
  ownership
  encryption

I didn't say it doesn't have advantages. I said it wasn't any more stable. Still, other than large files, 99% of home users don't care about any of that, and won't appreciate the performance loss of running NTFS on a slow device.

You could use exFAT to get a lot of that.

 

[ajrobb]

convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

 

[daozen]

You'll have to weigh up the options.

Fat32 compatible with all windows versions, linux and macs. Easier to data recovery.

NTFS able to store files larger the 4.3GBs better no folder limit of 65,535, arguably less corruptible.