Reformatting and Using NTSC

Easy enough if you do a fresh install (have options to delete, create and format to NTFS or FAT32 within setup)

Or if you just want to resize/convert boot drive use partition magic. If it's non boot drive can do it within disc manager (administrative options)

NTSC is the US video format, NTFS is New Technology Filesystem for future reference

i had to use the factor restore cds, i tried a standard XP home/pro and media center, but only the restore would pick up the lan driver, in XP it would not install, even with the drivers from the cd and web site. every heard of that one? but your question, its real easy just to convert the file system, i did, heres how

Just go to the Command Prompt and execute the command:

C:\> CONVERT C: /fs:ntfs

Where C: is a name of the drive you want to convert.

After machine re-boot conversion process will start and you'll have your FAT32 converted to NTFS without of data loss.

taken from http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm

Yeah, but converted partitions are slower than original ones. So I generally would not suggest converting .

First off, slower is a relevant term. A converted partition *might* be slower than a native NTFS partition... however in standard use it is highly unlikely that the user would notice.

Secondly I read a webpage that suggests that yes, if you convert a FAT32 partition created by Win9x to NTFS, then because of some 2Kb offset the computer will be unable to use 4Kb clusters and fallback to 512byte clusters. This is suggested to be inefficient.

However, the page goes on to explain that FAT32 partitions created by WindowsXP are marked with a correct offset, therefore CONVERT.EXE is able to correctly set a 4kb cluster size. Therefore, no inefficiency.

As I would imagine all Acer laptops are built using some form of WindowsPE, the partitions *will be* created using XP.

i did convert one of my partitions, when i still had win2k on my desktop and it was damn slow. If you want to try please do.
Maybe this problem is fixed, but I didn´t want to keep this win xp home edition anyway.

btw. if you still have the link to the website, i am interested.

So anybody got anything to add? is it ok to reformat using reformat.exe or not?

I'd use convert.exe so you don't hose your existing installatio of 'Doze. Then if you want to reinstall, you can consider it as a separate issue.

- Ed

oops I meant convert.exe...But what you guys think I did some searching on the forums but still not decided. Should we convert existing drive to NTFS or Reformat, and if so should separate partitions be created?

I converted both my partitions to NTFS with convert.exe and so far I haven't had any problems. Maybe it's a liiiiittle bit slower but it might be my natural paranoia.

I like having two partitions because I use one for Windows and programs and My Documents and the other for downloads, multimedia and files i know i can erase quickly in case i need extra stroage without loosing anything really important.

Hi, generally converting drives may make them slower because of MFT fragmentation, however that can be easily remedied by using a trialversion of diskeeper or O&O defrag and running a offline defrag. There is the issue of certain programs, the more elderly ones, running slower under NTFS, but this is rare these days. Other than that the only other reason that a drive maybe slower after NTFS is that there is either a fault with the drive, the data on it or a old drive. It is accepted that NTFS is faster than FAT32 on drives larger than 400mbs, and especially on drives where the files and volume size increases.

Taken from XP myths: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

Myth - "The FAT32 file system is better than NTFS."

Reality - "NTFS is the better file system with many advantages over FAT32. NTFS features: Built-In Security, Recoverability, Alternate Streams, Custom File Attributes, Compression, Object Permissions, Economical Disk Space Usage using a more Efficient Cluster Size and Fault Tolerance. Windows 2000 and XP come with NTFS version 5 which includes even more advanced features such as: Encryption, Disk Quotas, Sparse Files, Reparse Points, Volume Mount Points. None of which is available with FAT32." - Comparison Chart

Performance
NTFS is built for speed with impressive disk I/O performance on large volumes (Over 400 MB). NTFS uses a binary tree structure for all disk directories, which reduces the number of times the system has to access the disk to locate files. This system is best for large directories, and NTFS easily outperforms FAT32 in these situations. In addition, NTFS automatically sorts files in a folder on the fly. NTFS gains an edge over FAT32 by using relatively small disk allocation units (cluster sizes) for NTFS volumes. Smaller clusters prevent wasted disk space on volumes, especially those with numerous small files. Because NTFS uses small clusters better and has a more efficient design, its performance doesn't degrade with large volumes, in contrast to FAT's. As the number of files and volume size increases NTFS performance is not effected but FAT32 continually gets worse. - Gaming Performance

Reliability
In addition to its extensive memory and application protection features, NTFS is a reliable file system. When storing data to disk, NTFS records file I/O events to a special transaction log. If the system crashes or encounters an interruption, NTFS can use this log to restore the volume and prevent corruption from an abnormal program termination or system shutdown. NTFS doesn't commit an action to disk until it verifies the successful completion of the action. This precaution helps prevent corruption of an NTFS volume. NTFS also supports hot-fixing disk sectors, where the OS automatically blocks out bad disk sectors and relocates data from these sectors. This housecleaning happens in the background. An application attempting to read or write data on a hot-fixed area will never know the disk had a problem. I only recommend and use NTFS with Windows 2000 and XP." - Source


ChrisC

Yep, I did the same... Not a reformat...I still have the 2 partitions C: & D:, but I converted both to NTFS. Everything I had read said it was preferable. I don't notice the computer running slow, and I'm coming off of a P4 3.2GHz. It's a bit slower than that one, but...it's also a laptop...and running the duo core 1.66GHz. All in all a nice little system!

Sorry for stupid question, but how do you gt convert.exe???

137,

It's actually part of Windows XP...so you probably already have it. "Borrowed" this from a post up above...but here it is again... Go to your "Start" menu, and Run...then type in "cmd"...which will give you a DOS comand prompt. Then do the following:

Just go to the Command Prompt and execute the command:

C:\> CONVERT C: /fs:ntfs

Where C: is a name of the drive you want to convert.

After machine re-boot conversion process will start and you'll have your FAT32 converted to NTFS without of data loss.

taken from http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm

Hope that helps!

Many thanks,

that actually is what I was looking for ! Thanks man!!!!!