Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Converting FAT or FAT32 to NTFS

On both MBR and GPT disks, you can convert FAT or FAT32 partitions, logical drives, and volumes to NTFS by using the Convert command. This preserves the file and directory structure without the need to reformat. Before you use Convert, you should check to see whether the volume is being used as the active boot volume or is a system volume containing the operating system. If it is, Convert must have exclusive access to the volume before it can begin the conversion. Because exclusive access to boot or system volumes can be obtained only during startup, you will see a prompt asking if you want to schedule the drive to be converted the next time the system starts.

As part of preparation for conversion, you should check to see if there's enough free space to perform the conversion. You'll need a block of free space that's about 25 percent of the total space used by the volume. For example, if the volume stores 12 GB of data, you should have about 3 GB of free space. Convert checks for this free space before running, and if there isn't enough, it won't convert the volume.

CAUTION: Conversion is one-way only. You can convert only from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. You can't convert from NTFS to FAT or NTFS to FAT32 without deleting the volume and re-creating it using FAT or FAT32.

You run Convert at the command line. Its syntax is as follows:

convert volume /FS:NTFS

where volume is the drive letter followed by a colon, drive path, or volume name. So, for instance, if you want to convert the E drive to NTFS, type convert e: /fs:ntfs. This starts Convert. As shown in the following example, Convert checks the current file system type and then prompts you to enter the volume label for the drive:

The type of the file system is FAT32.
Enter current volume label for drive E:

Provided you enter the correct volume label, Convert will continue as shown in the following example:

Volume CORPDATA created 4/10/2008 3:15 PM
Volume Serial Number is AA6A-D44A
Windows is verifying files and folders...
File and folder verifi cation is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
   91,827,680 KB total disk space.
   91,827,672 KB are available.

   8,192 bytes in each allocation unit.
   11,478,460 total allocation units on disk.
   11,478,459 allocation units available on disk.

Determining disk space required for file system conversion...
Total disk space: 	91927860 KB
Free space on volume: 	91929680 KB
Space required for conversion: 	12080460 KB
Converting file system
Conversion complete

Here, Convert examines the file and folder structure and then determines how much disk space is needed for the conversion. If there is enough free space, Convert performs the conversion. Otherwise, it exits with an error, stating there isn't enough free space to complete the conversion.

Several additional parameters are available as well, including /v, which tells Convert to display detailed information during the conversion, and /x, which tells Convert to force the partition or volume to dismount before the conversation if necessary. You can't dismount a boot or system drive-these drives can be converted only when the system is restarted.

On converted boot and system volumes, Convert applies default security the same as that applied during Windows setup. On other volumes, Convert sets security so the Users group has access but doesn't give access to the special group Everyone. If you don't want security to be set, you can use the /Nosecurity parameter. This parameter tells Convert to remove all security attributes and make all files and directories on the disk accessible to the group Everyone. In addition, you can use the /Cvtarea parameter to set the name of a contiguous file in the root directory to be a placeholder for NTFS system files.