Format Drive

cob · Jan 15, 2006

Hmmmmm. I have a 200 gig external hard drive loaded with data and want to format it to a NTFS file system. How can I do this with out messing up the data that is already on that drive.
Also, do I have to buy more pricey software to accomplish this? Is there a good web site for reference?

Many thanks,
cob

vetter83 · Jan 15, 2006

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1494

Good site with plenty of information that is easy to understand. Good luck.

cob · Jan 16, 2006

Great site, but it does not tell me how to go to NTFS file system without losing my data that is already on that drive(at least not that I could find).
Any other suggustions?

As always.. Thanks,
Cob

vetter83 · Jan 16, 2006

Sorry it didnt tell you.... you dont lose any information in the process... unless something goes horribly wrong...
I have re-formatted 2 drives from Fat32-NTSB without a hitch... (I'd much rather be lucky than good..... )

DavidGP · Jan 16, 2006

This is free method.. it does leave the 512kb cluster size of FAT32 tho, opposed to the default 12kb clusters of NTFS, but you still gain the security features of using NTFS.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/convertfat.mspx

other options cost, Partition Magic is one such app.

but whatever method you use do please backup your important data first as no method is truely 100% safe.. things happen!

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