How to Convert a FAT32 Disk to NTFS

NTFS is the file system that the Windows NT operating system family uses for storing and retrieving files on a hard disk. The NTFS file system offers a number of improvements over Fat and  HPFS (High Performance File System), in terms of performance, extendibility, the file systems that it superseded, such as advanced data structures to improve performance, reliability, and disk space utilization, plus additional extensions, such as security access control lists (ACL) and file system journaling.

The NTFS file system support for very large files (up to 2 to the 64th power or approximately 16 billion bytes in size). The maximum theoretical file size on NTFS is 16 EB (16 × 10246 or 264 bytes) minus 1 kB or 18,446,744,073,709,550,592 bytes. With Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, the maximum file size implemented is 256 TB minus 64 KB or 281,474,976,645,120 bytes.


NTFS is more powerful than FAT or FAT32, and includes features required for hosting Active Directory as well as other important security features. You can use features such as Active Directory and domain-based security only by choosing NTFS as your file system.

Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size that’s the maximum. A FAT32 partition must also be less than 2 TiB (with 512 byte sectors), 8 TiB (with 2 KiB sectors and 32 KiB clusters), 16 TiB (with 4 KiB sectors and 64 KiB clusters), which is less of a limitations but still a noticeable one if you have a new, high-capacity storage drive. Windows cannot format drives and partitions larger than 32GB in FAT32.

Fat32 compatible with all versions of Windows, Mac, Linux, game consoles, and practically anything with a USB port.

It is easy to convert partitions to NTFS. The Convert command-line utility makes conversion easy, whether your partitions used FAT, FAT32 file systems. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition). If you do not need to keep your files intact and you have a FAT or FAT32 partition, it is recommended that you format the partition with NTFS rather than convert from FAT or FAT32. Formatting a partition erases all data on the partition and allows you to start with a clean drive.


The Convert.exe utility is supplied with Windows to convert a FAT partition into an NTFS partition. Use of Convert.exe is straight forward, but there are considerations that should be taken into account before using the utility.

The following limitations should be recognized before converting a FAT partition to NTFS:

 

  • The conversion is a one-way process. After a partition has been converted to NTFS, it is not possible to convert the partition back to a FAT partition. To restore the partition as a FAT partition, the partition would have to be reformatted as FAT (which would erase all data from the partition) and then data can be restored from backup.
       
       
       
  • The system partition of a RISC-based computer cannot be changed to NTFS. The ARC specification requires that the system partition be FAT. It is possible to create a small (1 MB) FAT partition for the system partition and install Windows on an NTFS partition (the boot partition).

     
  • The conversion of a disk partition from the FAT file system to NTFS requires a certain amount of free disk space be available in order to build the NTFS disk structures.



Follow below steps to convert Fat or Fat32 file systems to NTFS file system.


  1. Open the Command Prompt by clicking Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt, and open it as an administrator. In Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 simply hold down the How to Convert a FAT32 Disk to NTFS BxVxp04 + X keys and select the option “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu.


  2. Within Command Prompt type below command:


Code:

Convert   X:   /fs:ntfs


Replace X: drive letter with the drive letter of the partition or the storage drive you want to convert to NTFS file system.

If the Convert command-line cannot lock the drive, you will be prompted to convert the storage drive at during next reboot. You should type Yes and press Enter key.