Converting FAT32 to NTFS

zenmaster

Does anyone know how long it should take to convert a 500GB disk from FAT32 to NTFS using the MS "convert" utility?

I started about 10 this morning and it's still going .

Is that right or have I knackered my new drive?

TIA

pcombo

It will take sometime to format a 500GB. So i wouldn't worry about the time it takes.

closed

If it's a new drive with no data on it, just do a quick format

kwikbreaks

As above if it is an empty drive.

I've done this in the past and don't recall it taking long at all - I think all it does is build the control tables used by NTFS from the data then maybe fiddle some flags in the partition table and delete the old FAT tables.

Taking all day is definitely wrong.

zenmaster

Cheers.

I popped out to the shops and it was finished.

It had about 2G of data which was backed up elsewhere, but I naively though it would be quicker than a format.

For the record, it was between 7-8 hours.

kwikbreaks

That's strange. Was it loads of tiny files or something.

===

I had a read - http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php - and it says data may well need realigning and talks about the efficiency afterwards depending on sector size. You may want to initialise it anyway and copy in your backup....