FAT32 and NTFS

culpepper

With NTFS you can have larger file sizes.I used to use my computer to capture video from a VHS machine and encode to DVD,fat32 just cant handle anything big enough.

Chippy_Minton

DonnyDave wrote:

I've just got an Acer Aspire 5622 Laptop and found it's FAT32. Can't work out whether that's good or bad.

What's more, it has two partitions; the everyday one and one 'factory restore' one. Both are 35GB which means that my available space if therefore 35GB and not 80GB as the specification states.

I've just burned a restore DVD, as the eRecovery software advised. Can I remove or reduce the size of this 'hidden' partition to gain more space on the main one?

FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4GB and the maximum volume (partition) size that can be formatted is 32GB.

You can use Convert.exe to convert FAT32 to NTFS. Programs like Partition Magic and BootIt NG can also convert and resize partitions. I've used the latter to resize partitions without losing any data.

John_Gray

Point to bear in mind that CONVERT changes the cluster/allocation size to 512 bytes. (Yes, it is entirely brainless!). To get it back to the default of 4 KB, I ran Partition Magic (once I had found where they had hidden the option to do this action!)

John

wolfman

CIS wrote:

Being able to access a disk in DOS can sometimes give you little bit extra when your drive goes belly up.

Depends upon the circumstances. NTFS is better regarding recovery, or you're more likely to get something back.

With regards to access, then yes I would agree. Especially if using Linux which is able to read ok, but writing still isn't fully stable.

I always keep my Windows (and apps) install completely seperate (which you should) from my files. So if Windows falls over, I don't have to worry about my files, I just need to recover via my ghost image. And if my drive/partition with my files falls over, then I just run some recovery software via Windows.

If the whole drive dies (if you have windows on one partition and your files on another) then you'll need either a second hard drive, or to plug it into another computer anyway.

Anything_for_nothing_2

I have a Compaq Presario I picked up a virus recently which hijacked my web homepage and couldn't get on Internet Explorer so I did a recovery, during the aftermath I was reshuffling my folders and, thinking I'd seen duplicate folders I've accidently deleted important folders with years of family photos and music files... i've tried a DIY data recovery but am not a techie so am now really struggling. I got a couple of quotes from 3rd party Data Recovery companies starting at £500 !! so I downloaded a free trial of runtime recovery but it's way too technical e.g. sectors etc. .....also really frustrating I downloaded some free software to view the drives and can actually see the deleted files but have no idea how to recover them or what to do now... can anyone advise and explain in simple terms what I can do ??

Quincy_3

1, Try this http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

2, Always make a new thread when a new problem arises. :beer:

You could start a new one in the Techie Forum as that will probably get more results.

albertross_2

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html