Fat 32 and defraging??

My buddys computer is formated in FAT32 and FULL! I asked if he wanted to convert it to NSTF and he decided not to cause he doesn't want to take a chance of losing any files. When we try to run MS defrag program it won't run because the HD is full. I talked him into uninstalling some programs and deleting some files....(his HD is a 30G and had 28.3 full!) just enough to let defrag run...barely!! So we went to Diskeeper pro and it's been running for about 23Hrs now and still only at 52% done. Should we let it run that long? I never had it do that before. IS it because of the FAT32? If i can get him to convert it over will it give him more room? What's the chances of any file becoming corupt and unuseable? Or the computer to Blue screen on us? Ok what's the risks??

 

A hard drive shouldn't take 23+ hours to defrag. Download and run the drive diagnostic tool from the HD manufacturer's web site. Make sure the drive is healthy. If it passes the health test, boot into safe mode and defrag. Then, using the info in the link below, convert the drive to NTFS. I've converted MANY, many drive from FAT32 to NTFS and never lost any data or ended up with a damaged Windows. Anyway- here's the links:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314097/EN-US/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881/en-us
These are for Windows XP. If you're running Windows 2000, use this link:
Win2000: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214579/EN-US/

hd2k

 

Yes it can take that long to defrag because a lack of free space to move spare files around. An option is to use/borrow and external hd, move enough to have at least 25% freespace defrag then move files back. Ideally you would always keep a 25% free space but not always possible.

 

And the ntfs conversion won't make your defrag faster, nor will it improve storage.

 

Very true. But converting to NTFS may help with performance in Windows XP, but not with the drive that full. I recommend buying a new 80gb minimum, and just copy the whole drive over to the new one..... Hard drives have really dropped price recently, and a new 80gb IDE drive shouldn't be over $70, probably a bit less....