Hello everybody!
In this video, I’m going to tell you about FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems.
How to convert a USB drive, a memory card or an external hard disk from one file system
into another and back, why you may need it, and how you can do it without losing data.
The disadvantages of FAT32 If you see an error “the file is too big”
when copying a large file or a film, but the flash drive is big enough to copy the file,
it happens because your USB drive has the FAT32 file system.
Everyone knows that this system has one very big drawback - it doesn’t support files
larger than 4 Gb.
What can you do to fix this problem?
You just need to convert the device from FAT32 to NTFS.
Which file system is used?
First of all, you have to know for sure which file system is in use.
You can do it by going to This PC, right-clicking on the drive and select Properties.
After you’ve seen that your drive is running FAT32 system, you can start converting it.
How to convert This operation doesn’t need any additional
software - all tools are already in the operating system.
Right-click on the disk to be converted, select Format, specify NTSF as the desired file system,
and the cluster size if necessary.
Cluster size A cluster is a minimal size that can be allocated
for a file on the disk.
For example, smaller files will take up less space on the disk with a smaller cluster size.
The larger is the cluster size, the quicker are input-output operations, that is, read
and write speeds are higher.
With this in mind, if the disk is used for storing large files and videos, it makes sense
to choose a larger cluster size, from 32 Kb and more.
If the disk will be used to transfer small files or documents, you should go for smaller
cluster sizes, from 4 Kb and less.
If you are not sure which is better, just stick to default options.
How to convert
Set the volume label if necessary, the formatting method and click Start.
After that, you will see a warning that all data on this disk will be deleted, and confirm
your choice by clicking OK.
That’s all: now your drive has the NTFS file system.
But you must have noticed that in our case all the data was erased.
Converting disks without losing data To keep data after converting, let’s use
another method - with the Command Prompt.
You can see there some files on the disk and it’s important to preserve them during the
conversion.
To do it, go to the Command Prompt as an administrator, enter the command “cmd" and then enter the
following command convert E: /FS:NTFS
convert, space, drive letter, in my case, it’s disk Е, column, space, slash, FS,
column, NTFS and press Enter.
Specify the volume label and press Enter again, and the converting process starts.
The conversion is over.
Let’s open Properties, and you can see that the drive has been converted into NTFS, and
the data on the disk has been preserved.
If you have important data on the disk, the first thing you should do is to backup it
to another disk to prevent data loss in case of a failure or an error.
After converting, such drive can become unavailable for other devices.
That’s why before converting it you should decide for yourself why you need to change
the file system, and if the device you’re going to use the drive with can support the
new file system.
You can find this information in the manual for your device.
Problems when converting Converting without losing data is impossible
if the flash drive is full because this process requires some free space.
In this case, you’ll have to delete something.
You cannot convert a drive back from NTFS to FAT32 without losing data if you use Windows
tools only.
You’ll have to use some additional software, and I recommend the free utility AOMEI NTFS
to FAT32 Converter; you can find the download link in the description.
https://www.disk-partition.com/AOMEI-n2f.html – AOMEI NTFS to FAT32 Converter.
It’s got an English language interface, easy to use and user-friendly.
Run the program, select conversion type, click “Next,” select the disk, click “Next,”
then “Proceed” and “Yes” to confirm the operation, and when it’s over, you’ll
see the window saying “The operation has been completed successfully!”, OK.
As you can see, the disk has been converted back into FAT32, and all the data was preserved.
exFAT file system As you noticed, when I showed you the first
method of converting with Windows tools, there was a third file system option – exFAT.
It’s a new file system by Microsoft meant primarily for flash drives.
Basically, it’s the same FAT32 but without some limitations, including the file size.
However, it’s got some disadvantages too: many home appliances and old phones will not
recognize it, and the same happens to computers running Windows XP unless they have an additional
patch KB955704 installed, but later versions beginning with Windows 7 will not have any
problems.
If your flash memory card has the exFAT file system, and the device you want to use with
it doesn’t support exFAT, and for some reason you can’t convert the card with Windows
built-in tools (such problem usually strikes SD cards)
Use the free utility AOMEI Partition Assistant; you can find the download link in the description.
https://www.disk-partition.com/download.html – AOMEI Partition Assistant
To convert the card, right-click on it, Format partition, select the file system and click
OK, then Apply and Proceed to start the process.
When it’s over, you’ll see a window saying “Congratulations!
All operations have been completed successfully.”
As you can see, the card now has the format you need but the data is lost.
Conclusions Let’s summarize: if you have a small card
or drive, format it into FAT32; exFAT is recommended for larger flash drives, and experts say it’s
not so hard on the media and extends its lifespan in comparison with NTFS; meanwhile, large
external hard disks should be formatted into NTFS.
That is all for now.
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Good luck.