Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to FAT32
format? The drive has data on it.

Thanks,
--
Chet Shannon

Hi Chet,

The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition Magic from
Symantec (and it's not cheap).
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to FAT32
> format? The drive has data on it.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Chet Shannon

Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able to pull
off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and still be able to
read it on a new install of win xp since I currenlty have it formatted as
NTFS.

Best regards,
--
Chet Shannon


"Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" wrote:

> Hi Chet,
>
> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition Magic from
> Symantec (and it's not cheap).
> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
> > Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to FAT32
> > format? The drive has data on it.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > --
> > Chet Shannon
>
>
>

XP can read NTFS. So why do you think you need to change?

If you do why not copy the data to your C: drive then format it? Then copy
the data back. Or- depending on how much data and what your PC has- copy it
to a DVD or CD's then format? It'll save the cost of the program for one
use.


"Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:AC36F281-1504-4407-936D-C778C201D0B2@microsoft.com...
> Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able to
> pull
> off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and still be able
> to
> read it on a new install of win xp since I currenlty have it formatted as
> NTFS.
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Chet Shannon
>
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Chet,
>>
>> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition Magic
>> from
>> Symantec (and it's not cheap).
>> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
>> > Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to FAT32
>> > format? The drive has data on it.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > --
>> > Chet Shannon
>>
>>
>>

In news:AC36F281-1504-4407-936D-C778C201D0B2@microsoft.com,
Chet Shannon <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> replied with a ;-)
> Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able
> to pull off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and
> still be able to read it on a new install of win xp since I currenlty
> have it formatted as NTFS.
>
> Best regards,
>

Not a problem, make sure you have a current backup stored externally. The
only reason to have FAT 32 would be if you wanted to access it on a Windows
98/Me system by physically connecting the hard drive.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm



>> Hi Chet,
>>
>> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition
>> Magic from Symantec (and it's not cheap).
>> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
>>> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to
>>> FAT32 format? The drive has data on it.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> --
>>> Chet Shannon

=?Utf-8?B?Q2hldCBTaGFubm9u?= wrote:
>
> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to FAT32
> format? The drive has data on it.

Not recommended and not cheap.



--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

I thought that if you take a drive from a computer A and put it on computer B
that because of the SSID that gets assigned to the drive from NTFS on
computer A that computer B with an entirely different install of Win XP can't
read the drive from computer A. (long sentence) And if you use FAT32 that
there is no SSID assigned and hence a drive with \my documents files on it is
portable from computer to computer almost like a USB drive is portable. Do I
have this wrong about the SSID assignment? (I'm no expert here by any
measure.)

What I've done is I have all my \my documents on my D drive and my computer
is currently in the throes of crashing on with win xp on drive C. But now
I'm copying all my \my documents files to an external drive which i am hoping
is going to be my backup for my D drive.

Thx Chet
--
Chet Shannon


"Michael Stevens" wrote:

> In news:AC36F281-1504-4407-936D-C778C201D0B2@microsoft.com,
> Chet Shannon <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> replied with a ;-)
> > Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able
> > to pull off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and
> > still be able to read it on a new install of win xp since I currenlty
> > have it formatted as NTFS.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
>
> Not a problem, make sure you have a current backup stored externally. The
> only reason to have FAT 32 would be if you wanted to access it on a Windows
> 98/Me system by physically connecting the hard drive.
> --
> Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
> xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
> For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm
>
>
>
> >> Hi Chet,
> >>
> >> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition
> >> Magic from Symantec (and it's not cheap).
> >> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
> >>
> >> --
> >> Best of Luck,
> >>
> >> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> >> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> >> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
> >> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> >>
> >> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> >> message news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
> >>> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to
> >>> FAT32 format? The drive has data on it.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> --
> >>> Chet Shannon
>
>
>
>

If you have encrypted the data (EFS) you need to take extra precautions or
you can permanently lose access to the data.
But otherwise the worst case is a need to Take Ownership, #9 on this link:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/adsecurity.htm

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


"Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:297832A6-8BE7-4B50-8EF3-BED0152F0CAF@microsoft.com...
>I thought that if you take a drive from a computer A and put it on computer
>B
> that because of the SSID that gets assigned to the drive from NTFS on
> computer A that computer B with an entirely different install of Win XP
> can't
> read the drive from computer A. (long sentence) And if you use FAT32
> that
> there is no SSID assigned and hence a drive with \my documents files on it
> is
> portable from computer to computer almost like a USB drive is portable.
> Do I
> have this wrong about the SSID assignment? (I'm no expert here by any
> measure.)
>
> What I've done is I have all my \my documents on my D drive and my
> computer
> is currently in the throes of crashing on with win xp on drive C. But now
> I'm copying all my \my documents files to an external drive which i am
> hoping
> is going to be my backup for my D drive.
>
> Thx Chet
> --
> Chet Shannon
>
>
> "Michael Stevens" wrote:
>
>> In news:AC36F281-1504-4407-936D-C778C201D0B2@microsoft.com,
>> Chet Shannon <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> replied with a ;-)
>> > Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able
>> > to pull off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and
>> > still be able to read it on a new install of win xp since I currenlty
>> > have it formatted as NTFS.
>> >
>> > Best regards,
>> >
>>
>> Not a problem, make sure you have a current backup stored externally. The
>> only reason to have FAT 32 would be if you wanted to access it on a
>> Windows
>> 98/Me system by physically connecting the hard drive.
>> --
>> Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
>> xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
>> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
>> For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
>> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> >> Hi Chet,
>> >>
>> >> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition
>> >> Magic from Symantec (and it's not cheap).
>> >> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Best of Luck,
>> >>
>> >> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> >> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> >> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>> >> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> >>
>> >> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> >> message news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
>> >>> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to
>> >>> FAT32 format? The drive has data on it.
>> >>>
>> >>> Thanks,
>> >>> --
>> >>> Chet Shannon
>>
>>
>>
>>

In news:297832A6-8BE7-4B50-8EF3-BED0152F0CAF@microsoft.com,
Chet Shannon <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> replied with a ;-)
> I thought that if you take a drive from a computer A and put it on
> computer B that because of the SSID that gets assigned to the drive
> from NTFS on computer A that computer B with an entirely different
> install of Win XP can't read the drive from computer A. (long
> sentence) And if you use FAT32 that there is no SSID assigned and
> hence a drive with \my documents files on it is portable from
> computer to computer almost like a USB drive is portable. Do I have
> this wrong about the SSID assignment? (I'm no expert here by any
> measure.)
>
> What I've done is I have all my \my documents on my D drive and my
> computer is currently in the throes of crashing on with win xp on
> drive C. But now I'm copying all my \my documents files to an
> external drive which i am hoping is going to be my backup for my D
> drive.
>
> Thx Chet
>

As long as the files are not encrypted, you only need to take ownership if
you are denied access. The process that converts NTFS to FAT 32 is more
likely to cause problems than being denied access. The best strategy is to
make sure you have current backups stored off the physical computer. I
suggest using imaging applications that create exact snapshots of the hard
drive to an external hard drive or DVD's.
HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308421
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm



>> In news:AC36F281-1504-4407-936D-C778C201D0B2@microsoft.com,
>> Chet Shannon <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> replied with a
>> ;-)
>>> Thx..! I'm concerned if my system does die totally I won't be able
>>> to pull off my D drive which has all my \my documents data on it and
>>> still be able to read it on a new install of win xp since I
>>> currenlty have it formatted as NTFS.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>
>> Not a problem, make sure you have a current backup stored
>> externally. The only reason to have FAT 32 would be if you wanted to
>> access it on a Windows 98/Me system by physically connecting the
>> hard drive. --
>> Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
>> xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
>> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
>> For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
>> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm
>>
>>
>>
>>>> Hi Chet,
>>>>
>>>> The only software I know of capable of that change is Partition
>>>> Magic from Symantec (and it's not cheap).
>>>> http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...formance/pm80/
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Best of Luck,
>>>>
>>>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>>>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>>>> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>>>> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>>>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>>>
>>>> "Chet Shannon" <ChetShannon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>>> message news:16892FA9-AA15-4E6C-A8BA-B4DD62836061@microsoft.com...
>>>>> Is it possible to change an active hard drive from NTFS format to
>>>>> FAT32 format? The drive has data on it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> --
>>>>> Chet Shannon

Chet Shannon wrote:

> I thought that if you take a drive from a computer A and put it on computer B
> that because of the SSID that gets assigned to the drive from NTFS on
> computer A that computer B with an entirely different install of Win XP can't
> read the drive from computer A. (long sentence) And if you use FAT32 that
> there is no SSID assigned and hence a drive with \my documents files on it is
> portable from computer to computer almost like a USB drive is portable. Do I
> have this wrong about the SSID assignment? (I'm no expert here by any
> measure.)

That's not so. You will be able to see the data after taking ownership
of the files/folders.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

However if any of the files are encrypted using XP's native EFS, then
without exporting the certificate and then importing it, you will not be
able to read the data in another system or after a repair install.

See these links for best practices if you are using EFS.

Best practices for the Encrypting File System
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=223316

How to back up the recovery agent Encrypting File System (EFS) private
key in Windows Server 2003, in Windows 2000, and in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=241201

How to add an EFS recovery agent in Windows XP Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=887414

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User