Converting from FAT32 to NTFS on XP Home

[Hokie]

What would be the best way to do this? Specifically, is there any way to do this without re-installing Windows XP and all the applications? One thought I had was to buy another HD and use one of the disk utilities to move everything over but I was not sure if these just did an image and would maintain FAT32.

The reason I want to do this is for security. If you set up multiple accounts you can only block the guest account from seeing other local files if you have NTFS.

On edit:

OK, I found I might be able to do this http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm
Will this work with XP Home? Has anyone done this?

[dhuss]

1. yeah that will work fine w/ home...

The only thing really different between the two are some network things... file systems should work the same way, but I have had pro for a while.

D.H.

[Hokie]

2. One difference is remote desktop

With Pro you can run remote desktop server. I would like to have that. Other than that Home is fine for a small home network.

[hobbit709]

3. Main reason for NTFS

is in FAT32 file size is limited to 4 Gigabytes. If you want to do any video editing that really cramps you.

[Hokie]

4. Convert did not work

I tried to run it and during the middle of the conversion process it aborts with the error "Not enough disk space or file corrupted" and the computer then reboots back into XP FAT32. I know I have enough disk space. I am only using 30 GB on an 80 GB drive. This is way more than Convert says it needs. The convert utility runs checkdisk before it converts and did not find any errors. Any ideas?

[Hokie]

5. Update on converting to NTFS

Well I was finally successful. I think the problem was that I needed to defrag the disk first. There is more to this than I thought including dealing with the dreaded Microsoft anti-piracy BS. If anyone is interested in doing this I suggest checking out this site:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

[DS1]

6. How is MS anti-piracy BS involved?

I've never heard of that. Yes, it's always wise to empty out all your temp files, system and browser, and any other junk you can think of, then defrag before making a big change like this.

[Hokie]

7. Converting changes the volume label

Converting from FAT32 to NTFS changes the volume label of the partition. This is one of the things that Windows Product Application monitors to determine if the software is installed on the original machine. A link on the site I posted explains this:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

I ran the Volume ID utility and changed the volume serial number back tot he original value. So far I have not been asked to reactivate Windows. If you do not change the volume serial back then this might count as one "hit" against you on WPA.