ntfs v fat32

[Grandpappy]

I've acquired a Western Digital 250Gb portable hard drive which is formatted to FAT32 and as this is not the same as my other storage medium, will I be able to re-format it to NTFS without causing any damage and if so ,where would I get such a programme to do the job?
I am completely in the dark here so I would really appreciate any constructive advice.
Many thanks
Grandpappy

[beso]

They come as FAT for comatibility with earlier versions of Windows. You can reformat it. Note this will remove any files you have already saved there.

Windows has the capability built in.
Instructions here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup /tips/advanced/ntfs.mspx

[rojash]

You can convert to NTFS without losing your existing data.
Just open a command prompt (start/programs/accessories/command prompt) and at the prompt type:

Convert <drive letter>: /fs:ntfs

[ChuckFickens]

What nobody has asked is why do you want to format it?

just because it's in FAT32 will make no real difference in operation to the drive at all and as an external drive it will be far more widely compatible with other systems if left in FAT32.

[hippyhoppy]

Oi chuck - fat32...? I'm 40!!!

[ChuckFickens]

and not fat!

[hippyhoppy]

^ ahh - bless you Chuck ;-)

[VHG]

When I do a Windows XP install I can never format a Fat32 drive larger than 32GB.

How do you format one of 250Gb as Fat32?

[ChuckFickens]

http://www.compuapps.com/download/Swissknife/s wissknife.htm

will do upto about 2048gb in FAT32

or a old windows 98 boot disk will also format larger than 32gb

[ACtheTROLL]

just to add to the already covered snips
fat 32 only supports files up to 4Gb
I never considered this a problem untill recently ... then my newsgroup reader stopped working ....

ntfs is (at least on paper) more resillient than fat32

my basic rule is portable fat/fat32
fixed NTFS